Am I becoming the uniform police ??

[Eagle92 110]

Well since i am the one who started the "..You Might Be a Up" thread, I can tell you it was all in jest. For the original post on MYSCOUTING.ORG, the original poster there said he was making fun of himself. Apparently he takes the uniform a little too seriously.

[emb021 16]

"Don't forget about the Venturing Advisor who wears venturing loops and insignia on a tan shirt. I know he knows better."

 

Maybe. Maybe not. Some Venturing leaders don't understand that the forest green loops are not to worn on the tan uniform. They assume they can still wear their old tan uniform as Venturing leader.

 

 

As to service stars. I used to wear several (to show my cub scout, boy scout, explorer, and adult service), and wanted them in proper line. So I used a sheet of thin, clear plastic (which was used to hold the collars of dress shirts up that you bought at the stores. I used this to properly space the stars, and I left an edge below them to give me the proper spacing above my knot.

 

As I got more knots, I pretty much stopped wearing them.

 

[AG_Scouter 10]

It has been my experience that it boils down to what you are seeing and why you're bothered. I see a POR patch in about the right spot, but not level, on a Scout's uniform. My thought has now become "Hey this is GREAT!!" I will find a way to talk to that Scout, I make a point of letting him know that I think he did good. Almost always I hear that he tried, and it's not right, but it's too hard to fix. We talk about straight pins for trying next time, but I make a point of telling him I'm glad he tried himself.

 

It has been my experience that boys rise to the level of uniforming their adults hold. When I was an ASM, my SM was retired military. His uniform was starched and nice. The Scouts looked that way too. When I was an SM, my troop didn't look that way, but they looked right. Now as a council volunteer, I see all sorts of things.

 

Do we think of shooting people that volunteer their time simply because they don't read the whole darn book? I sure hope not. We need them too. I think as we try to help them, not berate them, we can get a lot better traction.

 

Hasn't it been your experience that we get more flies with honey rather than vinegar? I think "U.P." deal too much with negativity and intimidation. Those are behaviors we need to try and avoid, don't we?

[Oak Tree 15]

I like the idea of rewarding those who wear the uniform well.

 

I enjoyed the "You might be a member of the Uniform Police if..." thread. But when I hear the term Uniform Police, it really makes me think of people who tell others that their uniform is wrong. Just as the real police will approach someone who is committing a crime, the Uniform Police will approach someone who is committing a uniform midemeanor.

[BDPT00 41]

I get tired of hearing people refer to some obscure person out there as uniform police. I would much prefer that someone point out a mistake (my wife tonight pointed out to someone that their universal arrow ribbon with Vigil pin was on backward ... back of pin was showing). Is it better to let him walk around all night to discover later that it was wrong? There are some who would argue that it's not wrong. In this case, the individual was very pleased that he was able to fix it right away.

Worse to me than pointing out that something is incorrect is someone who says, "Yes, I know, and I don't care. I like it this way."

Thank you, WestCoastScouter for caring. Good luck in your future policing career.

BDPT00