Patrol Themes in a troop

[Buffalo Skipper 13]

With the expected expansion of patrols in our troop and the fact that our two current patrols want to change their names, I thought this would be a good time to bring up an idea which has been festering for some time now.

 

I had an idea several years ago which I filed away to use at a later date (now may be the best opportunity). One of the men with whom I work was a member of the same troop 30+ year ago. After talking to him and checking the records I found that for many years, the troop had a core of patrols which were all, in one way or another, linked, like a theme: Warrior, Aztec, Cherokee, Frontiersman and other similar patrol names. These survived in the troop nearly 2 decades from the early 1960s through the late 80s.

 

I thought it would be great to have a theme in the troop, so that all the patrols would all each have a common bond. With all the non-standard patches available from some websites, examples might be marine animals, with the Makos, Hammerheads, Orcas, or Sting Rays; birds with Pelicans, Eagles, Ospreys, or Buzzards; or perhaps even mythical creatures like Dragons, Minotaurs or Werewolves. As a Scoutmaster, I would never impose an idea like this on the troop, but I would be willing to pitch the idea to the PLC to see if they wanted to choose a theme to adopt.

 

Has anyone ever seen a patrols theme in a troop before?

[BrentAllen 10]

I haven't seen themes before, but I just wanted to state that I think patrol identity is a huge part of patrol spirit and the patrol method.

 

Our guys have been a little slack in getting patrol patches for their new members, and I rarely see patrol flags. We just started a new Honor Patrol competition Tuesday, and if a patrol didn't have 100% patrol emblems on uniforms, they lost 10 points. If they didn't have their patrol flag at opening formation, they lost 10 points. I had been mentioning this at PLC meetings for the past two months, so it wasn't a complete surprise. We'll see what they look like next week. :-)

[Buffalo Skipper 13]

At this weekend's PLC, the group decided to adopt a troop "theme": Florida Wildlife. While prehaps more broad than I had anticipated, this does make sense; actually this topic really does not do much to limit the patrol names, especially when you look at patches available from patchtown.com and classb.com. Everything from manatees to pelicans to pine trees to bears, bobcats and sharks. Including the official emblems, this gives about 50 options, plus whatever they can come up with themselves. They agreed that the PLC had to approve all patrol names within the broad guidelines.

 

But leave it to our scouts to be creative, in ways one does not anticipate. Our two patrols are now the Pink Flamingos and the Mosquitos.

 

On a side note, but related, our growth prospects are increasing. We have 1 new recruit and one transfer, as well as another transfer and 3 new recruits being courted; the two Webelos 2 dens from our two packs are growing as well with maybe as many as 12 potential transfering webelos. That could give us as many as 28 scouts (4 patrols of 7 each)!

 

Maybe it pays when we make an effort to do somthing right....