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What stays on a boy's uniform when he


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He can wear his AOL patch below the left pocket, and his religious award above the left pocket if he earned it as a Cub Scout. Also, any service pins from his Cub years (with the yellow backing) are okay.

 

The best guide that's probably handy to you and him all the time are the uniform item placement templates inside both covers of his Boy Scout Handbook. If there's something he wore on his Cub Scout uniform that isn't on the templates, I'd leave it off his Boy Scout uniform!

 

KS

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The information for which you are looking can be found on page 66 of the Cub Scout Webelos Handbook, BSA's Insignia Guide, and (I would imagine) the Boy Scout Handbook.

 

I am assuming that he already uses the tan shirt based on the wording of your question. First, be sure to change the blue shoulder loops to the red ones.

 

Additionally, you retain the Council Shoulder Patch if he is staying in the same council, and if he is going to an LDS troop in the same ward, the troop number will be the same as the pack number. Otherwise, you will need to change the red unit numerals to those of the new troop. He would also keep the World Crest, of course. If he earned the Arrow of Light, he will have the Scout rank patch centered on his left pocket, and the Arrow of Light patch below that. If he did not earn the Arrow, nothing goes on the pocket.

 

If he wants to wear a service star with a gold backing to indicate the number of years he was a Cub Scout, that is worn over the left pocket as found on pages 41-42 of the Insignia Guide.

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Two other knots while rare to see can be on the Cub shirt and stay on the Boy Scout shirt, the knots for heroism or honor medal and the knot for the James E. West Award. The first time I saw the knot over ten years ago was on a young scout uniform, his grandfather had given $1,000 to the endowment fund in the young scout's name.

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Echoing what acco40 said, the brown Scout badge (not a rank) is not earned as a Cub. The boy must earn it after he joins the troop. "I did those requirements for my AOL" doesn't work. But if he learned them for his AOL, it shouldn't take him more than 2 minutes to earn the Scout badge.

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Also, don't forget the purple "religious" knot. If earned in Cubs, it may still be worn as a Boy Scout.

 

May not be kosher but my boys, for COH sometimes, put on their Pinewood derby medals on their Boy Scout uniform with all of their other regalia.

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Not only does the religious award (square knot)stay on his uniform as a Boy Scout, but if he decides to become a Scouter (say, Jr. Assistant Scoutmaster at 18) he can continue to wear the youth religious knot. There is also a knot for AOL award and one for Eagle rank that a Scouter can wear if he earned them as a youth, but I do not think a Scout would wear both the knot and the actual award, would he? I never made it to Eagle as a Scout, but I proudly wear my AOL red-and-green square knot on my Scouter uniform. As an Asst. Cubmaster, the Cubs often ask me what it is for and I am happy to tell them, yes, I was a Cub Scout and earned my AOL.

 

Other than that, I would think that any special patches earned as a Cub Scout could still be worn on the right pocket as a "temporary" patch, but he might catch flack for wearing a "Cub Scout" patch on his Boy Scout uniform. Besides, there will soon be plenty of Scout patches he will want to wear there, Camporees, Summer Camp, Philmont Arrowhead, etc., but only one patch is allowed at a time. To solve this, some Scouts, and some Scouters, buy special clear plastic patch holders that button onto the right pocket.

 

Glad to see you take such an interest in proper insignia wear. I hope you have the same interest in seeing that he is fully uniformed, including uniform pants, socks, and hat.

 

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He had uniform pants (and shorts) until about 3 months ago when he out grew them. He has a hat, neckerchief (not the one for his troop yet because they were out), slide, shirt (with red loops), and belt. No uniform pants at the moment (but I am looking for a pair). He had never had a pair of the socks.

 

Not to brag, but he was 1 of only 2 boys in our Pack to weear their uniform to den meetings).

 

I was wondering about the insignia because he was told that he would have to take his religous knot off until he earned it as a Boy Scout. I was supposed to go to training this weekend, but once again something has come up to change my plans.

 

 

 

 

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While you might think that the Arrow of Light does not equal the Scout badge, and the requirements are not identical, nevertheless, the Arrow of Light does automatically confer the Scout badge, at least according to my son's Boy Scout Handbook.

 

"A graduating Webelos Scout who has earned the Arrow of Light Award has completed the Boy Scout joining requirements. With the approval of his Scoutmaster, he will receive the Boy Scout badge upon joining the troop."

 

Oak Tree

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Bravo! Good answer and good info Oak Tree!

 

Kittle, congrats, yet I am appalled that your pack was so poorly uniformed. Tell whoever told you he had to take off his religious knot to go check the BSA Insignia Guide. Not only can he wear his knot, but if he earns it multiple times at different age/grade levels, he can wear a pin device in the knot indicating additional awards for each addition award, but not more than one youth religious square knot. I think there are Cub, Webelos, Boys Scout, and Venturing devices which can be worn indicating previously earned awards at those levels.

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Oak Tree - "... nevertheless, the Arrow of Light does automatically confer the Scout badge, at least according to my son's Boy Scout Handbook."

 

That is not correct. The Handbook does NOT say AOL automatically confers the Scout badge. It does say MOST of the requirements have been met, and it says the Scoutmaster must approve.

 

Boys that have earned the AOL should no problem earning the Scout badge since they have already learned the requirements. It takes about about two minutes to go down the list (on page 4 of the Handbook) and check them off. But if a boy can't recite the Pledge of Allegiance or tie a square knot, I refer him to pages 5-11 and tell him we'll go over it at the next meeting.

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FScouter,

The top of page 5 of the 11th Edition is what I believe Oak Tree was refering to. The word "most" does not appear there. It simply says "A graduating Weblos Scout who has earned the Arrow of Ligh Award has completed the Boy Scout joining requirements. With the approval of his scoutmaster, he will receive the Boy Scout badge upon joining the troop".(page 5, very top, 11th ed. 2nd printing)

So, while yes, it is up to the Scoutmaster, it does say that they have met all the requirments, so the SM could just give them the badge.

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Maybe its time for me to get a new book. My copy of the eleventh edition (first printing) includes the word "most". The point is though that it does NOT say the Scout badge is automatically conferred by virtue of earning AOL. If that were the case it might as well be presented by the den leader.

 

I think it is important for the Scoutmaster to go down the checklist with the boy and do a brief Scoutmaster conference, AFTER he joins the troop. This gets the boy acquainted with how the rank requirements are set up in the Handbook. The joining section starts with the requirements list, immediately followed with the pages that explain exactly how to fulfill each requirement.

 

The joining requirements on page 4 are very basic and easy. When I go over this with a boy, he sees how easy it is to complete requirements and earn a badge. We then flip over to page 32 and look over the list of Tenderfoot requirements, and he is off and running.

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