Uniform Inspection By Commissioners

[moosetracker 132]

I only heard about this with Basement complaining of a Commissioner who walked in and tried to do a uniform inspection to their pack.. Causing upset parents & cubs.. And Basement blowing a gasket or two.

 

So I am redoing the CS Committee specific training. I get to a quiz and this question I am stumped with..

 

Who schedules a periodic uniform inspection with the Commissioner.. "What! No one!, If you want to do that, it is done by the CM..".. (Well that is my answer, but I don't even have that choice. I get 4 choices.. None, can I think of as doing this call.

 

A) Outdoor Chair

B) Secretary

C) Membership & Rechartering Chair

D) Committee Chair

 

(So I guessed Secretary as it was scheduling and appointment.. Next guess would have been Committee Chair as the other two positions have nothing to do with overseeing of uniforms.)

 

Wrong! Membership & Rechartering Chair..

 

First of all, who has that many on the committee that they have the luxury of having this position? Second off, what does this have to do with uniforms?

 

Not to mention the original question of why would the Commissioner have to be called in to do a uniform inspection? What do you not trust the CM to accurately perform one? Does this needed to be recorded for the benifit of someone at District? I know on our District Committee night, our District commissioner never reported on the annual uniform inspection results.

 

What is the purpose of this whole process?(This message has been edited by moosetracker)

[Papadaddy 121]

Traditionally (in these parts, anyway), the annual uniform inspection was done at the same time as the annual charter presentation...by the Unit Commissioner. Over the years, we saw very little of the UC (if we even had one), and our charter was handed to us at Roundtable and it went in the SM's briefcase where it would stay until replaced the next year.

[UCEagle72 10]

In the 35+ years I have been a Commissioner, I have done maybe 5 uniform inspections, and none in the last 25 years. The last one I did was for a Troop that was going to be an honor guard at a revolutionary war fort, and they wanted to ensure they were ready.

 

If I am asked to do one, I would - as long as the Unit Leader was good with it happening.

 

(BTW - if you look at Commissioner Training, they say you should be doing a uniform inspection as part of the "process" of the recharter [which is not just the actual online process], so that explains the answer to your on-line question.)(This message has been edited by UCEagle72)

[Basementdweller 608]

Blowing a gasket???? Were you there?????

 

NO

 

I pulled him a side and told him to leave........He was out of line

 

I never, ever make a scene or raise my voice in front of the scouts, leaders or families.......as a matter of fact I have never raised my voice to anyone in scouting....

 

So how do you have a uniform inspection when your boys don't have uniforms???????

 

That is a separate discussion about parental priorities, council paper work and the generosity of the pack leadership.

 

What is a Charter Presentation????? I get my charter in a plain brown wrapper

 

[Scoutfish 16]

WOW! You get a wrapper?

 

Ours are handed out at RT and just have a big paperclip hooked to them.

[moosetracker 132]

We don't even get the paperclip.. My son picked up the one for the pack with other papers, and started writing notes on the back of it last month.. "Ooops!"

 

Sorry Basement.. Let me rephrase.. Blew a gasket with us on this forum about it.. Don't know about you causing a scene or anything, but I had thought this was the time you asked the Commissioner not to return "like ever".. But maybe I am wrong.. But, I do know you were not a happy camper about the situation when you reported about it on the forum.

[desertrat77 1144]

Having been a UC in four different councils over the years, I've never done a uniform inspection, nor do I intend to. Yes, I'm trained. But I won't do it. If a troop wants an inspection, that's something the SPL and PLs should do. Having the UC inspect is a leftover tradition for yesteryear that can fade away.

[Eagle92 110]

In these parts, the uniform inspection is done with the Boy Scouts only, at the district camporee, and is an event run by the commissioners usually, every now and then the commissioners organize it, but someone else does the actual inspection and scoring. No one really cared about the Cub Scouts though.

 

COOLEST inspections were the District Uniform Inspection and Museums Day in my district growing up. Every unit got together at one location that had a meeting area, and a bunch of museums. Whether you had a complete uniform or not, you got a patch, and that patch was your admission ticket to the museums in the area for that day.

[momof2cubs 10]

Having a yearly uniform inspection is one of the requirements for our district specific quality unit award (it's not called that -- it is a district award for units that go beyond what BSA now calls journey to excellence). It includes several other requirements that our district believes are what make a quality unit and that go beyond just raising money for national/council and just adding names to our roaster. Things like, having service projects, training leaders, having summer pack events, etc.

 

At any rate, I am not sure if it really falls under the UC's responsibilities but he does uniform inspections every year for us at B&G. The man is a gem and after reading some of the comments here, I thank our lucky stars every day that we have such an awesome UC.

[moosetracker 132]

Eagle92 wrote "..In these parts, the uniform inspection is done with the Boy Scouts only, at the district camporee..."

 

That did restore a past nugget of memory.. Our CS did have uniform inspection as part of their Chuckwagon event day.. But I think it was just whoever they chose to run that station. Not a UC, although it just may have happened to be a UC.

 

Don't get me wrong, I am not saying a UC can't do the uniform inspection, if a pack would like that. It is just something I would think would be rare for a pack to do.. I was shocked that this was not only listed as a responsibility of theirs, but it was considered so important as to make it one out of the 9 questions to ask during a mini quiz.

[Basementdweller 608]

yes I was super pissed at the guy...... I did tell him to never return.....

 

We have another unit commissioner, Never met him.......

 

Let me tell you about our mandatory FOS presentation.

 

 

 

[desertrat77 1144]

Basement, kudos for voting that UC off the island...a good walk up call for him and his chums.

[ScoutNut 147]

Our Pack invites our UC to do a uniform inspection as part of our November Pack meeting every year.

 

A very nice gentleman, and a good friend to the Pack.

 

 

[click23 66]

I have never been asked to do one as a commissioner. I figure once I help the unit solve all of its problems then I can think about asking to do a uniform inspection, until then I have other things that I can be doing.

[Jeffrey H 25]

In my pack, uniform inspections are performed at the Den level at the DL's discretion. When performed, they are done in a friendly and fun environment. I've discovered that occassional reminders about good uniforming are better than having inspections.

 

There is nothing to be gained by emabrassing a cub scout and his parents in front of everyone by pointing out that something is out-of-place on his uniform. If something is blantantly wrong with his uniform, you can mention it quietly and politely with the parents and then move on to more important matters.

 

Uniform inspections performed by UC's in our Distirct are unheard of and not expected.