Flag Day Disaster

[Kahuna 172]

Posting this under program rather than uniform because it really has more to do with that.

 

On Sunday before Flag Day, the local Elks organization held a flag ceremony on the fantail of the USS Missouri at Pearl Harbor. Not really well attended unfortunately, but the Pacific Fleet Band was there and lots of people were touring the ship. As I was making my rounds with a group, a lady offered us a program and invited all to participate. We finished our tour and I returned to slip in at the back. A local Boy Scout troop was carrying the flags as the Elks did the program. What an embarrassment! None of the Scouts were in the same uniform. About half had no socks, white socks or those low socks you can't see. At least a third were wearing jeans or other non-Scout pants. No effort at decorum, they were scratching and snickering as they stood along the sidelines. The leaders were just as bad. I just slunk away. No point saying anything to them, as they wouldn't have gotten the point.

 

Just venting, really. I have posted in other places about my willingness to be more flexible than some in uniforming standards, but if a unit is to be part of public ceremony in a national landmark, you would really think . . . Anyway, I'm not going to the SE or Council Commissioner or anyone and since the unit had nothing to do with battleship, I have only mentioned to the higher ups there that it didn't reflect well on them either.

 

Grumble, grumble.

[AwHeck 10]

I have had similar thoughts, unfortunately at our District Dinner. The District Dinner acknowledges the Eagle Scouts from the prior year and all those able to attend participate in the opening and closing flag ceremony. Our troop typically has the "standard" of uniform shirt and "green" pants for regular troop meetings but scouts are expected to be in FULL uniform for Boards of Review and Courts of Honor. It saddens me to see that the majority of Eagle Scouts who participate in the flag ceremonies at the District Dinner wear only their uniform shirt, usually with jeans.

[SeattlePioneer 144]

The boys in the troop I work with often have a somewhat casual approach to uniforming, and have often been rather awkward with flag ceremonies, too.

 

The troop was invited to assist the cub pack I also work with with their pack overnight camping trip, and the Scouts were asked to do the flag ceremony for the Cubs.

 

That worried me somewhat, since it also could have been a disaster. However, the Scouts chose to practice their flag ceremony using the church flagpole for the two meetings before the campout, and before the Cub Scouts arrived at the campsite.

 

The flag being used was a large 48 star flag more than fifty years old, and the Cubmaster had a history of that flag he wanted to read during the ceremony.

 

When the SPL called "attention," their practice paid off. The Scouts marched off very well, and when the SPL directed "present the colors," they snapped open the flag and held it open on display. The Cubmaster then read out his story and the flag was snappily raised.

 

The Cubmaster later said he was impressed with the job the Scouts had done and had seen lots of flag ceremonies done by Eagle Scouts that compared unfavorably. I agreed.

 

Later on, a Bear Den begged for coaching in how to retire the colors, and they did the closing ceremony.

 

The Scouts mostly didn't have uniform pants on, but I think they provided an impressive ceremony despite that.

 

 

 

Seattle Pioneer

[madkins007 10]

Yeah... within a few days of each event, I saw both examples locally.

 

During a patriotic/historic event a local cemetary, covered in the news, I watched what appeared to be a crack team of Scouts in nearly perfect uniforms carry out a well-rehearsed color ceremony.

 

Speaking to a ASM after, I discovered that the event is an annual one for the troop and that practice is built in to their program. Participation is purely voluntary and based on performance and presentation during practices- flag handling, simople drill, and uniforming. It is such an honor that on the day of the event, there are Scouts in the wings hoping that one o fthe other Scouts will show in sub-par uniform and they will be tapped to serve.

 

Unfortunately, I did not have the opportunity to talk to them about how they made it such a desireable position! (Although they DID have a unique woggle for the color guard team).

 

A little later, at a district dinner, I watched as a pretty dang sloppy group of Scouts shuffled up to limp through a ceremony- a couple were in jeans, one's shirt was untucked, etc. I hesitate to admit that I believe they were OA.

 

To add a bit of insult, the newest Eagles were introduced and they looked even worse- between the unforms and body posture, I thought they looked more like a police line-up than our top line Scouts.

[matuawarrior 10]

Wow!! All this time council was getting on our district's unit's backs in not being in proper uniform whenever the council bigwigs come out here for thier once in a blue moon visit.

 

Maybe they should look closer to units near the Council HQ before they start with us a couple of thousand miles away, although it is sad being the council's black sheep district.(This message has been edited by matuawarrior)

[SemperParatus 1]

What a wasted opportunity to show off scouting to the public. Somebody let those boys down by not teaching the proper attitude of pride, respect and courteousness. A real shame.

[Kahuna 172]

What a wasted opportunity to show off scouting to the public. Somebody let those boys down by not teaching the proper attitude of pride, respect and courteousness. A real shame.

 

 

My thoughts, exactly!!

[scoutldr 739]

Eagle COH, same scenario. Troop looked like they had just come in from a weekend campout and threw on their scout shirts. Had not rehearsed the ceremony, and the SPL flubbed his lines. Not even the DE, CC, or SM were properly uniformed. I spent a couple of hours cleaning and pressing my uniform and getting everything pinned on properly. I was embarrassed to be a part of the same organization.

[SR540Beaver 116]

Take heart! At least one unit knows what they are doing. We attended Camp Pioneer in Arkansas last week. Friday night was parents night complete with a catered meal of BBQ and fried chicken. The unit that retired the colors were in perfectly matching uniforms complete with campaign hats and white gloves. They even had a drummer and bugler. It was quite impressive. I wish I'd got their unit number and home town and I'd recognize them here.

[SWScouter 34]

Just a quick note on term retire since it has been used incorrectly a couple times so far in this thread. To retire the colors means that the flag is being retired from service and will not be used again. Frequently, the flag is burned during a retirement ceremony. One retrieves the colors at the end of the day or the end of the meeting.

 

I hope this helps,

SWScouter

[ozemu 10]

I too dislike sloppy dress in public. Our Troop wears a uniform of the right colours but they voted to not require official items. Green shots are green shorts they reckon.

 

However what is more important at public events (I noticed one poster refer to this)?

 

Correct uniform

 

or

 

Correct manner

 

 

Yes I know both would be great but as a principle which is more offensive/commendable?

 

[Kahuna 172]

With a little work, you can achieve both, but given a choice of only one, I will go with manner every time. The impression of perfect uniform can be wrecked completely by bad behavior.

[Fuzzy Bear 12]

Showing proper respect for the flag is a good way to define how Scouts dress for raising or lowering the flag.

 

One night at a Troop meeting, our Scouts were not showing what I thought to be proper respect for the flag. It didn't have anything to do with their dress but their behavior. We had just finished the Pledge. I asked to have a moment to explain what we were doing. I began with the blue field and the stars and then the strips. I left my friends for the last. The Scouts behavior and respect improved after that minute.

 

I will always remember mostly because I can't forget.

 

FB(This message has been edited by Fuzzy Bear)