Is “Boy Scout” a rank or something else? (15 Oct 10)

The question posed was:

“USScouts (the U.S. Scouting Service Project, Inc.) says that the Scout badge is not a “rank”. The uniform inspection sheet at http://www.scouting.org/filestore/pdf/34283.pdf says that the center of the left pocket is for Badges of Rank. So is it appropriate to put the Scout badge where the Badges of Rank would go on the uniform (i.e. the center of the left pocket). If not, does it go somewhere else on the uniform?”

Scout is NOT a rank, but an acknowledgement that the Scout has met the requirements to become a Boy Scout.

The Scout emblem is the first of seven emblems which are placed centered on the left pocket of the field uniform — it serves as a placeholder until the Scout earns his first rank, Tenderfoot.

The short background is this: when the BSA revised the advancement program, they adjusted the requirements for Tenderfoot (which used to be the first emblem a Scout would earn and wear on the uniform) and created the “place holder” called “Scout” (later to be called “Boy Scout”) to go on the uniform. The justification is that the BSA knew that every Scout wants to “wear something when they first become a member of a Troop”; they cannot wear Tenderfoot because they have to EARN IT first. So the Scout badge was created.

YES, as others have explained (and the BSA’s Insignia Guide states) the emblem is worn centered on the left pocket of the field uniform and is worn until the Scout earns his first rank — Tenderfoot.

Oops…when the Scout earns Tenderfoot, the Boy Scout badge is *removed* and the Tenderfoot emblem is placed there *in its place*.

I didn’t say that to someone a few years back, and — no lie — a parent sewed the Tenderfoot badge ON TOP OF the Scout badge; and when the Scout became Second Class, yep, the parent sewed the Second Class emblem ON TOP OF the Tenderfoot badge; and again when the Scout became a First Class Scout, they sewed the First Class rank badge ON TOP OF the Second Class badge of rank. They finally wrote me and asked “isn’t it just better to replace the emblem with the current rank instead of sewing them all on top of each other?? That pocket is getting mighty heavy otherwise.”

*smiling*

Settummanque!