Wear it in the rain for a weekend. He'll hate it.

Smokey's are better

Wore them as a youth. Never had a problem.

But, your son needs to understand that changes in uniform by-laws require a good bit of consensus building.

Every bright idea has a cost, and if too many people think it too high for little value, they may undermine his objective. Early discouragements make getting up and taking the lead that much harder.

Uniform by-laws?

Nahh - just needs the PLC to decide to switch to the mighty red berets, or, in an "adult by-law centered unit" for all the Scouts to start showing up at meetings wearing the red beret.(This message has been edited by calicopenn)

CP: a rose by any other name ...

At some point, a decision has to be approved. Everybody has to be able to reference it and communicate it.

For example what do you communicate the boys about to cross over? The parents might ask "is it smokeys, pith helmets, or berets?" The answer you don't want to have is "well, this term's SPL was barets, no clue what next term's will be!" (Unless, of course, the boys really want to change style every six months, set a budget for it, and have the design process as part of their activities.)

Moreover, this isn't reviewing next month's hike plan. This is deciding how every youth in the unit is going to appear at every significant troop occasion. You don't just need PLC buy-in, you need the larger portion of the troop to be happy with the decision. If 95% percent of the boys think "SPL Irsapson is making us look like stupid 70's throwbacks," it's a real problem.

If the boys are *all* positive about it, that's a different story. Time for Irsap to bury his fashion sense and post a link to pictures as soon as everyone's outfitted.

Written or otherwise, it's a change in by-laws. Teach the boy to build consensus.

I would be very careful, not everyone has the style, verse or panache to wear a beret and do it well, those of us who have it, we few, we lucky few, we band of brothers are used to being mocked for having talents others only dream of

My son wore my old red beret to a lot of meetings - he loved it. Another Scout wears his father's garrison cap, and his patrol has worked on tracking down more of them over time for the Patrol members.

If the SPL wants to wear the beret - great. Tell him to get the PLC to adopt it as a symbol of their role as the PLC (fun way to ID the elected and selected leaders).

I don't really have anything against the beret as a fashion issue, per se... but I just don't like them from a functional standpoint.

Really, what does a beret do? It gets wet when it rains and soaks your head. It provides nothing in the way of sunblock for your forhead, ears, or neck. They freeze your ears in cold weather. Maybe approach him to thing about function before suggesting the change. They look cool when worn correctly, but they offer very little in way of function or head protection.

Dean

Do they REALLY want to evoke Maurice Chevalier?

Tell him to get with the times, wear a Buff and be the most hip troop in the council.

http://www.buffusa.com/sports/collections/filter/hiking

http://www.buffusa.com/wear/ways_to_wear_a_buff

http://www.buffwear.com/

I just concluded an NYLT as Course Director and this is what I really wanted to supply the participants with instead of a hat like our WB courses. The buffs were too costly for our budget and we went with different colored bandanas instead. I own two buffs and love them. One is a 2010 Jambo buff and the other has the Appalachian Trail map printed on it that I won from a Scouting magazine drawing.(This message has been edited by sr540beaver)

OGE said it best--wearing a beret take a special "something!"

I was a scout back in the beret's glory days. Some scouts wore them like Special Forces, all squared away...others adopted The Poet Look...then there was the passive-aggressive I Hate Beret Style wherein the scout just plopped the beret, lumpy and mishapen, on his skull any old way. It was all a source of amusement, at times.

I would not worry about functionality. Berets and garrison caps, in the field, are very nearly utterly useless. I recall using both, depending on the hat policy of whatever troop I was in, as a handy hot pot holder if nothing else was available to take the pot of beans off the camp fire.

Campaign hats used to be functional, but aren't any more. No longer dusty, sweat stained, and shaped uniquely to the wearer's personal tastes, they are now formal wear. This trend started a couple decades ago, it seems to me.
(This message has been edited by desertrat77)

Man Am I Glad I was in a Small Misfit Troop as a Scout..We always had fun

Headgear..Not Required..Wore What we wanted to
Our Rules were simple
1. No profanity
2. No Vulgarity
3. Never worn indoors
3. Never Worn During outdoor church Services

I wore a Straw Cowboy Hat.

DeanRx wrote
""
I don't really have anything against the beret as a fashion issue, per se... but I just don't like them from a functional standpoint.

Really, what does a beret do? It gets wet when it rains and soaks your head. It provides nothing in the way of sunblock for your forhead, ears, or neck. They freeze your ears in cold weather. Maybe approach him to thing about function before suggesting the change. They look cool when worn correctly, but they offer very little in way of function or head protection.

Dean ""

Very Few Hats do any or all of the Above..
Hats very Simply help prevent body Warms loss during cold weather and not very efficiently

>>I just don't like them from a functional standpoint.