Troop Trailer questions

[Kemosabe 10]

What can anyone tell me about:

 

1.) Displaying the Troop number/Troop logo on the side of the trailer (concerns about vandalism/theft?

 

2.) Placing the full names of Eagle Scouts on the side of the trailer? (Have seen some Troops that actually do this).

 

Thank you!

[SemperParatus 1]

Our troop has our number and logo on the trailer. It sits hidden at our charter org facility so we are not too concerned about vandalism. As far as theft - it would probably be a lot easier to find with the large identification plastered on the side then without it.

 

We do not put names of scouts on the trailer to respect the boys' privacy. I have seen other troops do that, but our committee decided against it.

[Kemosabe 10]

Once again, Thanks Semper! I appreciate your no-nonsense replies to my posts.

[nldscout 18]

Troop number yes, names of eagles NO. It would look bad after a while if you had a bunch of names

 

[Ever Onward 10]

Instead of names, maybe a troop could put some kind of insignia (Eagle symobol?) on the trailer to indicate the number of Eagle Scouts from the troop. Kind of like symbols on the side of a football helmet or on the side of an aircraft.

[beaver1onit 10]

We have our troop number and logo on our trailer. Haven't had any concerns with theft or vandalism, it is parked in my yard.

As for putting the names of Eagle scouts on the trailer. We asked them if they wanted their names and year they made Eagle and they all said YES! We went to the committe and asked if it was ok and the committe had no problem with it, if thats what the boys wanted it was their trailer. Actually the younger scouts are looking forward to see their names on the trailer

 

[scoutldr 732]

It is BSA policy not to reveal the full names of youth members on unit web sites. I would think that rationale would extend to the sides of trailers, unless you limit it to those over 18. I like the idea of an Eagle symbol...that's more classy.

[anarchist 10]

Troop trailer...

BIG BRIGHT TROOP IDENTIFICATION, BSA LOGO and TROOP CO and LOCATION!

 

BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA, 'emblem', troop ZZZZ', 'west some town', 'some state'!

 

BIG and Proud!

 

That said, then hide it!...If you can not secure the trailer where vandals can't get it...(ie. no 'on street parking'), IT WILL EVENTUALLY GET TRASHED, BROKEN INTO OR STOLEN! Sad to say but truer than not. We tried leaving it in the well-lit lot of our CO (a church); one paint job later it is now at a leaders house, in the country next to his garage, nearly a mile off the road...but safe...sure looks great roll'n down the road though!

 

[OldGreyEagle 5]

fighter pilots often have symbols along the cockpit window demonstrating a symbol for each victory, maybe a decal of the Eagle badge and a date under it of the BOR or COH to make it special for each scout.

 

then again, and as devils advocate, would not such a tradition make it seem the goal in scouting is to make eagle, when it isnt ? Isnt the goal in scouting to develop citizenship, charactor and personal fitness? If you decide to do the Eagle thing, please also add text along the lines of

 

"Troop (your number here) Developing able bodied cititzens of charactor since (date of inception)

[EagleInKY 14]

Yes, put the logo, name, troop number, charter organization... you name it. Put it on it. In fact, putting this information on it reduces the likelihood of theft. It's the number one deterent, I've been told. A troop close to us had their trailer stolen. Actually, they had two trailers, one with logo, one without. The one without was stolen.

 

As for the names, we've talked about it. We're probably two years away from having an Eagle, so we've got some time to decide. I think the Eagle decals idea is cool.

[Trevorum 24]

I've seen troop trailers with the sundry names of backers/supporters. "Sponsored by Joe's Hardware Store, First National Bank, Lulu's Cafe, etc... It sort of looks like NASCAR, but on the other hand it a great way to attract troop donations and let the community see that Scouting has lots of supporters.

[packsaddle 753]

I have heard noises from council about sponsoring businesses ...to the effect that we are not allowed to solicit such sponsorship. Therefore, we have no such advertisements on our trailer. Other troops do though. I suppose they merely failed to ask permission.

[Trevorum 24]

hmmm... hadn't thought of that angle - (don't want to step on council's toes!) - thanks for the heads up. We saw this on an out-of-council trailer at summer camp and we thought it was an intriquing idea but haven't taken it any further.

[SR540Beaver 116]

Pack,

 

The problem is FOS. Council solicits donations from companies and sometimes those companies say, "oh, we donated XYZ to Troop XXX this year" and they don't want to donate anything else to scouting. Then Council gets very unhappy with an individual Troop taking away funding they have counted on for years. I raised the question about soliciting funds for Jamboree from local companies earlier this year. While we ended up not doing it, I did obtain permission from the Council as long as we made it clear to the company that the donation is over and above their FOS donation.

[SemperParatus 1]

If you would ask the units that have sponsor names on the trailer, I think you will find that in the majority of the cases the donation was made because the business owner already has a relation to the troop (son in the troop, an alumni, etc.) and that they were not 'solicited' out of the blue, but merely trying to help their own unit and get a little advertising too. In most cases, the sponsor is probably not giving to or being approached by FOS anyway.