A LOT of former Scouters have been writing me this past week. Many of them are like Jeff, who wrote to me a year ago and asked:
“I was an active, registered Scout and Scouter through my early 20’s: Arrow of Light, Eagle Scout, Order of the Arrow (Brotherhood), summer camp staff, ’81 National Jamboree participant, Wood Badge (NE-III-108, Bear), Assistant Scoutmaster. I have not been an active, registered Scouter for some time. My three daughters, now 8, 6, and 4, keep me very busy, as I am heavily involved in their activities.
I attended church this Sunday, Scout Sunday. As my church charters a Scout troop and pack, boys from the troop and pack attended and participated in the service. I was considering wearing my old Scout uniform (I did wear my Eagle Scout necktie). However, I am not currently a registered Scouter. Is it ever appropriate (or explicitly inappropriate) for a formerly registered Scouter (who is no longer a registered Scouter) to wear his Scout uniform? I have been unable to obtain any information on this specific issue.”
I’ll share with you the OFFICIAL answer and the answer which MAKES SENSE AND IS MOST APPROPRIATE:
The official answer is that “only those with a current registration certificate of membership shall be entitled to own and or wear the official Boy Scouts of America uniforms, insignia and other items…” This comes from the BSA’s Charter and Bylaws and has never been updated (we don’t issue “registration certificates” and most local Councils don’t even issue the small business-card sized registration cards any more; and local BSA merchants, to include our own Scout Shops(tm) don’t even ask for “proof of registration”). There has been cases whereby the more unhonest of men and women have used BSA uniforms as “fronts” for a variety of criminal and civil activity and depending on where you live, the BSA’s professional and volunteer leadership has cast evil eyes over anyone who’s not recently or even currently associated with the movement in some way.
The common (“Scouter”) sense answer is that if you have your old Eagle Scout card, and maybe your old OA card in your wallet (if you’re like me, you always have it — mine is old and greyed out but it’s still sitting in my wallet next to my NESA life membership card), you can and should wear (if you can still fit into it) your Scout uniform with those items applying to your former membership in the movement. When those belonging to the “Patch Police” contact you, you can pull out your Eagle Scout card along with your OA card…and demostrate “association with the BSA” to them — which is what they’re looking for.
Here’s a way that you can wear your uniform officially while maintaining your distance. Actually two ways:
– become a “Sustaining member” of your local Council. This catagory of membership is more than just giving the local Council some money to sustain their programming on a yearly basis. This also allows you to get mailings from the local Council and invites to some of the local Council activities — in which you are perfectly welcome to wear your old field uniform because in essence, you ARE a member of the local council (just not registered as a volunteer). Thi catagory is not a registration catagory but a supporting catagory.
– become a life member of the National Eagle Scout Association (NESA). This entitles you to a special version of the Eagle Scout square knot insignia to wear on your uniform — and keeps that association with Scouting active with you. You also get some mailings and other information from the BSA — and you are certainly invited to attend Scouting events (in which you may wear your old field uniform if you desire).
The BSA wants you to establish some sort of registration status because the uniform serves as a visual cue to that registration and support. However, the rules — the official policy — says that only those who are registered in some manner with the BSA through a local Council (you can’t register with “national” any more) are the only ones who are supposed to wear the field uniform. But like those thousands of veterans who are no longer in our armed services, very few people will question your support and association with the BSA as long as you use that support and association in positive manners consistant with what the BSA stands for and works toward.
Thank you again for asking me and I do encourage you to continue to serve as a registered Scouter as much as you active gals and your life will allow.
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Since that question was posed and I answered it, the BSA has developed an Alumni Connection program which allows you and others to continue your association with the BSA even with such busy lives as many of you have. It doesn’t require your registration with the BSA but it DOES require you to provide them with some baseline information about your Scouting experiences — no matter how long ago it was. The website has been up and down over the past six months, because one of the components — a special Alumni Search square knot emblem — is being handed over to local Councils to administer. But if you do a search for “BSA Alumni”, you’ll get to some of the resources still there to assist you.
And if nobody else says it to your face — thank you very much for your Scouting service. I hope that Scout Sunday will spur you onward to becoming a volunteer (again) in some sort with the Boy Scouts of America!!
Settummanque!
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