Uniform Inspection at Court of Honor

[kraut-60 10]

The troop I serve as SM had its Court of Honor this last monday night. We traditionally have a pot-luck dinner (well attended and growing) and a uniform inspection before the awards portion of the program.

 

We ask a uniformed Scouter from a neighboring unit or a district/coucil level Scouter to be the guest inspector normally...for this recent inspection I was able to have a former Boy Scout and Sea Scout who is now on active duty with the United States Air Force as A Senior Airman conduct the inspection. James was in his dress blue uniform and looked like a million dollars...most of the new and younger scouts didnt know who he was. Several of the oldest guys did though.

 

You should have seen how the Scouts made the extra last minute effort to look sharp when they seen that Airman Harmon was the inspector. He talked with each scout and praised them for what was correct and asked what some of the badges were for. The scouts in our newest patrol were shaking his hand and thanking him while standing inspection.

 

The best part of this was after the last scout had been looked over, Airman James Harmon then addressed the gathered scouts and told them that they all looked pretty sharp and he was honored to be able to do their inspection. he further stated that people will judge you by how you appear and that its important to pay attention to detail and try to be as correct as you can when wearing a uniform and to treat wearing a uniform as a priviledge, not a burden.

 

I have heard nothing but positive feedback from parents and family members who were in attendance at our CoH regarding having a service-person be the guest inspector.

 

It should be noted that on tuesday morning, Airman Harmon flew out to his next duty station in the Republic of Korea...he spent his last night on leave with a troop of Boy Scouts.

 

What a great example that Scouting builds men.

[Argyle 10]

Excellent post! In January our ship's first boatswain, now a 3rd Class Petty Officer, was home on leave after a tour on Crete and then heading for the middle east. We went to our chartered org for dinner with him and his date, and invited the entire ship to join us and tell him hello. Almost the entire ship turned out, we had a great dinner talking about old times and everyone enjoyed him telling about his new experiences. I'm pretty sure and hoping he'll come back to us as an adult leader when he finishes with the Navy.

[fgoodwin 23]

In two different Cub Packs I was involved in (one as CC and the other as ACM), we did a uniform inspection in December as part of the Pack's service project, collecting toys for Toys for Tots. After we collected our toys, a uniformed US Marine would come pick them up, and while he was there, we asked him to inspect our boys.

 

Obviously, the boys were impressed by the spit-and-polish of a member of our uniformed military, but you never saw such chests being pushed as by those boys (and their proud parents), when that Marine walked the line and asked each Cub about his various awards and patches.

 

If you're pack (or troop) is having trouble getting your boys to wear their uniforms (or wear them properly), announce that the military will do their next inspection and see if their attitude towards wearing the uniform doesn't improve!