What the heck? BSA Website.

[SR540Beaver 116]

I just pulled up the official BSA website at www.scouting.org to be greeted by an adult Asian in a Venturing uniform shirt, Boy Scout red shoulder tabs, a campaign hat and a Woodbadge working neckerchief. Red tabs with a Venturing shirt on the front page of the official site?

 

WHAT THE HECK???

[Aardvark 10]

Putting on my UP shirt-where's the emblem on the "SMokey" hat?

 

[Narraticong 15]

Many years ago as a boy, I lived a couple blocks from the National Headquarters in New Jersey. My fellow scouts and I were often used as models for various BSA publications (I was much better looking as a boy). The people in charge of the photo shoot would usually make whatever uniform changes gave us the "look" they wanted. One particular time I had to wear one of those awful red berets I would not have been caught dead in!

 

Anyway, I imagine the story is the same today. Obviously the art folks at BSA are not part of the Unifirm Police!

[Beavah 205]

Yah, the green frootloops on the green Venturing shirt just don't look good, eh?

 

Red is better, especially for nice contrast in a photo shoot, but a bit too Christmas-tree for my taste.

 

I like wearin' my grey tabs with the Venturing green shirt. I think those look best, and they match my grey pants and my grey beard.

 

 

[jmenand 10]

Even though he's wearing the working WB necker, he's also wearing the beads. I picture this actor showing up at the photo shoot and the photographer pulling out a box of random uniform parts and slapping them together.

[scoutldr 726]

As I've stated before, I think we on this forum take the uniform a lot more seriously than the folks in Irving do. Just take a look at any issue of Boys' Life, Scouting or Eagletter.

[VentureScoutNY 10]

 

Anyone else Laugh Out Loud when they opened up the BSA website!!?? I'm still laughing, that is one funny picture!

 

Looks to me he's too happy to be wearing the uniform incorrectly!

 

My questions is what is in his right hand?

 

YIS

[emb021 16]

Actually, I worn pretty much the same outfit when I was on Wood Badge staff as a troop guide.

 

I only have green venturing uniforms as I am only involved in Venturing and the OA.

 

All staffers wear the participant neckerchief during the course.

 

They wanted ALL the Troop Guides to wear red loops (and thus the red slide. I was planning on wearing silver loops and slide as I'm at the council level). I didn't like it, but that's what I was told to do. During the course the Troop Guides get moved to a Venturing crew and we switch our loops to green. All the other guides are in tan. green loops on tan is not proper for youth (they are specifically barred from wearing the tan BSA uniform. Its ok for adults).

 

 

[SR540Beaver 116]

emb021,

 

Odd, I'm a troop guide for the course this fall and our WB Committee and course director are adamant that the entire staff dress identically in the Boy Scout uniform down to the belt buckle and sock length. All shirts are to be striped of insignia except for CSP, flag and world crest. The only thing we will change is the shoulder tabs for the short time we are cubs abd venturers. That is the way our council has done it at least since the WB for 21st Century came along.

[hendrickms24 20]

SR540Beaver,

 

Did you ask them for the money to buy the new uniform or at least to sew back on all your patches when the course is over? I would be happy to have people ready to help and wearing their own unit uniforms.

 

Mark M.

 

[John-in-KC 311]

Looks like a tempest in a teapot to me.

 

I see a young Lady of the Venturing persuasion in what I perceive to be her Crew's uniform (or her Crew's Class B uniform).

[jmenand 10]

Hah! They changed it. They must have sensed a disturbance in the scouting force...

[emb021 16]

"Odd, I'm a troop guide for the course this fall and our WB Committee and course director are adamant that the entire staff dress identically in the Boy Scout uniform down to the belt buckle and sock length. All shirts are to be striped of insignia except for CSP, flag and world crest. The only thing we will change is the shoulder tabs for the short time we are cubs abd venturers. That is the way our council has done it at least since the WB for 21st Century came along. "

 

My uniform was stripped. At the time, stripped uniforms was the norm. HOWEVER, you wore the uniform of your program. My program was Venturing, not Boy Scouting, so wearing the green (as a couple of other staffers did) was ok.

 

However, that was in 2004. In the most recent revision of the course syllabus that came out within the last year, stripped uniforms for staffers has ended. I hope your council is aware of this as they ARE required to follow the syllabus (personally, they weren't to require non-Boy Scout leaders to wear the Boy Scout uniform. I know, because I asked some people at National about this, after I heard that one of the other staffers wasn't happy about my wearing green instead of tan).

 

Frankly, asking someone in Venturing (or Sea Scouting) to get a whole Boy Scout uniform to staff the course is a bit excessive. This would have meant for me to get a tan shirt, web belt, green shorts, socks, hat, new insignia, etc. A complete uniform I would not use again and haven't used since, oh the mid-1990s.

 

 

[scoutldr 726]

I would think the folks in Irving would be monitoring this forum constantly. What better way to get a cross-section of opinions from Scouters across the country (and other countries!).

[SR540Beaver 116]

emb021,

 

Yes, we are aware of the "non-stripped" uniform. We as staff decided that we like the stripped shirts and agreed to do it for this course. We will however wear out unit shirts on the last day of the course.

 

We do have some Venturing folks on staff, but they all are involved in troops as well and already have the tan shirt(s).