My son is the Patrol Leader of the newest Scouts in his troop for the next 6 months.  He was told that he doesn't get that patrol's patch, that he is to wear the patch of the patrol that he is normally in.  It was my understanding that he is supposed to wear the patrol patch of the patrol he is in now, and then at the end of his six months, he goes back to his old patrol.  Am I misunderstanding?  Please advise...

 

If he is a patrol leader he is a member of that patrol and should be wearing that patrol's patch. Just out of curiosity, how old and what rank is your son? Maybe he is really a Troop Guide but they are calling him a Patrol Leader. That is just speculation on my part.

@@ScoutMom23

 

First of all, welcome to the forum!

 

From the way you express it, your son should wear the new patrol's patch.  However, like @@NJCubScouter mentions, make sure he is the patrol leader and not the Troop Guide which is NOT part of the patrol, but an "outside" mentor to the new scouts.

 

There's a lot of sewing going on with this, but maybe your son could learn to sew his patches on as he goes.

 

ScoutMasters who do a lot of shuffling around of patrol members, this could get annoying, but if one is a member of a certain patrol, all members are to wear the patrol's patch.

Agreed.  If your son is the troop guide, the patrol should have their own patrol leader.  That being the case, your son is still a member of his original patrol, and should be wearing that patch.  If he's the new patrol's patrol leader, then the Scouts are being treated more like a den.  If he's holding the patrol leader for only six months, my recommendation would be that the Scoutmaster read his Handbook.  Good luck with that one.   

Yep, your son should respectfully ask to either wear a troop guide patch and the patch of his patrol of origin, or the patrol leader patch and the patch of the patrol he's leading. He may already be seeing a natural leader among the boys, so he may want to recommend to the SM that that boy be PL. Or, he may suggest that the boy be his assistant PL. His argument could be "Sir, when I'm old and forgetful, I'd like to pull out my patch box and remember my scouting journey exactly how it was. This will help."

 

Regardless, you should be proud that the SM trusts your kid with this responsibility.

ScoutMom23, welcome to the forums!

 

You will find that in this forum, sometimes you ask one question and get answers to questions you didn't even think you were asking - which is what has happened here. It seems that the issue here is at least as much about what your son's position actually is, as it is about what patrol patch he should be wearing.