The Uniform
The official Boy Scout uniform can be purchased at any Houston area Scout Shop. They have locations on Loop 610, Stafford, Champions area, and Conroe (Camp Strake). The Troop also has a uniform and hiking boot recycle program (see details in the attachments). A short sleeved shirt is most practical but always get one at least a size larger than necessary so you will not have to move all those patches more than once a year. The official field (Class A) uniform consists of a scout shirt, shorts or pants, socks, belt and brown leather shoes or boots. The scout should also purchase a merit badge sash after he has received 5-6 merit badges. The scout shirt should have red shoulder loops, council strip, World Crest emblem, Troop 641 numerals, patrol patch, and rank patches as appropriate. The only patches from Cub Scouts that are allowed on the Boy Scout uniform are religious knots and Arrow of Light patch.
The merit badge sash should be worn to all Scoutmaster Conferences, Boards of Review and Courts of Honor as well as other special scouting occasions. Hiking boots are to be worn at all scout functions. Scouts wear their hiking boots to break them in prior to attending a campout. The Troop also issues a red Troop cap and two red Troop t-shirts. Those will be worn when Class B uniforms are appropriate. Please help us make the scout understand that no part of the scout uniform, including the cap, should ever be defaced or altered. Replacement caps can be purchased for a cost of $10. Scouts are expected to wear the red t-shirts and caps to all campouts and activities when the full uniform is not required.
Each scout is expected to have his own copy of the Scout Handbook that is his own personal record of his Scouting history. The Scout's name should be clear and legible on the inside and with a Sharpie on the outside edges. You may want to put it in a cover, which can be purchased at the Scout Shop, and enclose it in a baggie on camp outs to protect it from the weather. Personal camping equipment is discussed in an attachment to this handbook.
The following are the Troop 641 uniform requirements:
Class A Field Uniform
Boy Scout slacks or short pants
Boy Scout green socks
Boy Scout belt
Hiking boots
Boy Scout shirt with proper rank and other insignia properly displayed
Boy Scout merit badge sash (Court of Honor, Scoutmaster Conference and Board of Review)
Class B Activity Uniform:
Boy Scout slacks or short pants
Red Troop 641 t-shirt
Boy Scout green socks
Hiking boots
Boy Scout belt
Red Troop 641 cap
Why Do We Wear Uniforms?
Click here to download pdf document illustrating proper scout uniform insignia placement.
The Boy Scouts of America has always been a uniformed body. There are many reasons for this. One reason stands out above all the rest. We wear the uniform because it is a means of identifying ourselves openly with the principles to which we are committed-character development, citizenship training, and physical and mental fitness.
The fact that youth and adult members of Scouting wear a uniform doesn't mean that we're all alike. We come from different ethnic and racial backgrounds. We have our own religious beliefs and political views. We are each individuals with our own family traditions and loyalties. So the uniform is not intended to hide our individuality. But it is a way we give each other strength and support. It is a bond that ties us together in spite of our differences. It is a way of making visible our commitment to a belief in God, loyalty to country, and to helping other people.
The Scouting movement is built on positive values. As we wear the uniform, we are openly identifying ourselves with those values where everyone can see us. We stand together, not alone, in encouraging others to live by those same principles. Boys and adults alike should take pride in belonging to such a movement and wear the uniform as it is intended.
The Scouting program in America has always included uniforms for its members and volunteers to identify members and show they are part of the Boy Scouts of America. Scouts and leaders should wear their uniforms to all patrol meetings, Troop meetings, and scout outings.
The tan and green Boy Scout uniform is a well-known symbol of American scouting. All Scouts in the program wear the same uniform with the major differences being the badges each scout has earned. Scouts in uniform are conscious of their rank and make a greater effort to advance. Only the uniform provides a place for display of badges - important symbols of achievement. Scouts have more fun, stay longer, feel greater pride in advancement. It is not the purpose of the Scout uniform to hide the differences between the boys or make them feel that they are all the same. There is one way in which all Scouts are alike. Whenever a Scout sees another person in a Scout uniform he knows he is like that person because both have committed themselves principles of the Scout Oath and Law. The Scout Oath and Law bind all Scouts of the world together in a common purpose.
By wearing the uniform, Scouts give each other strength and support. Beyond accenting the common bond between Scouts, by wearing the uniform, Scouts are declaring their faith and commitment to some important beliefs that bind them to all people. It is a way of making visible their belief in God, their loyalty to our country and their commitment to helping other people who need them.
How the uniform can help the Troop:
- When smartly worn, the uniform can help build good Troop spirit.
- By investing in a uniform, a scout and his parents are really making a kind of a commitment to take Scouting seriously.
- The uniform makes the Troop visible as a force for good in the community.
- When properly worn on the correct occasions, it can attract new members.
- Scouts in uniform create a strong, positive, youth image in the neighborhood, thus helping to counteract the negative feeling some adults have about youth.
Why Do We Wear Boots?
Proper Footwear Rule:
All Scouts are required to wear hiking boots or brown leather shoes, with proper socks, to all Scout meetings.
Explanation from the Scoutmaster:
Of all the groups I have served as a leader, I can tell you that Scouting poses the most challenging of them all. Mix in parents who are passionate about their sons, events that involve health and safety concerns, achievement that is based on performance, rules that are made on a national level, Scoutmasters that implement the program, and you have quite a mixture for huge set of headaches and disagreements.
Scouting is a structure-based program that is made up of rules, policies and procedures. In order to be a member of any organization, especially Boy Scouts, a member must agree to abide by the stated rules. Any Scout or parent has the right to disagree with the rules set forth and healthy debate is absolutely respected and honored. Those debates are to be held in an appropriate setting where Scoutmasters and Troop Committee members are available for healthy discussion. Respect for opinions is required, but ultimately, a decision has to be made, and in this case, the decision rests with the Scoutmaster.
At times, rules are interpreted as threatening, which is unfortunate as they are not meant to threaten. I would encourage any adult to run a youth program for a year and see how simply stated rules just don’t make any impact. After stating the rules plainly, one has the expectation that boys and parents adhere to the rules. Unfortunately, in some cases, it appears that some feel they don’t need to follow the rules, quietly protesting by not abiding by the rule, hoping the rule will be changed. That just won’t work. Most don’t understand the root of the rules I’m putting forth, because most haven’t been in the program, start to finish. It’s a progressive program, teaching the kids from the start, the importance of many life lessons.
Proper clothing, including footwear, is in that group. To better understand this, you will have to walk in my boots on some campouts, spend some time on the trail, apply first aid to the many blisters that develop, hold your nose because of the stink, and listen to the kids groan about their feet. Then, and only then, you will understand the foundation of this rule.
If Scouts wear their boots on a regular basis, even for two hours per week at a Scout meeting, the likelihood of their feet being in trouble on a campout is greatly reduced. The soft spots on their feet turn hard, the heels get used to the rubbing, the boot conforms to their feet, and before they know it, their feet don’t hurt. I can hike with the other Scoutmasters, whistling along, knowing that I’m not going to be on the ground with one of those guys, breaking out the moleskin as all the other Scouts are scampering about because the whole hike just came to a screeching halt.
Take it one step further and see how one child’s feet problems can change the whole dynamic on a Scout hike or campout, and you’ll realize the rule makes sense. One Scout who has to stop on a hike to treat his foot, causes the whole Troop to slow down, two Scoutmasters to stay with the Scout, other Scouts to either carry him back or assist him back to the campsite, and the Troop medic to get to work. All because a child and or parent decided that wearing boots to a Scout meeting was a problem.
If you want your son to grow up with the knowledge that Scouting teaches, you will see that our rules actually benefit them in the long run. The Scouts don’t know that, they’re too young. That’s why I hope that all parents who join Scouting understand that they don’t know all the reasons why certain things are done, but they agree to abide by those rules, trusting that the reasons are sound.
Should I soften my approach? I will If you can guarantee me that one simple statement would suffice. Frankly, that's just unrealistic. I grew up with directness from my coaches in sports and when they said to do something, I did it, and then asked later why I had to. I can’t tell any of you that my methods are going to please everybody. In fact, I know they won’t. I do know that when I’m out in the wilderness with your son and I tell him to do something, I need to know that he will do it without asking questions, and that attitude develops when they are in their first years of Scouting. If I manage a group of adults who surround your son with care and knowledge, supporting the notion that a rule is a rule, your son will benefit greatly and grow into a solid young man, ready to face the world that is full of cheats and frauds who don’t know the first thing about right and wrong and following rules.
I hope this helps communicate the reasons for why we demand that all Scouts wear hiking boots to meetings and campouts.
Yours in Scouting,
Scoutmaster Bone