I went to work on another burning question yesterday."Why don't our O.A. youth have leadership badges like their adult counterparts?"
After several phone calls and a bunch of emails, I finally came up with this:
OA youth officers are Boy Scouts (or sometimes Venturers who were once Boy Scouts). They are registered in Scouting with a troop, team or crew, and they should be active in that unit. The only office position patch that should appear on their uniforms is the one related to their position in their unit.The National Order of the Arrow Committee would have to request that the BSA Uniform & Insignia Committee (I think that's still what it is called) approve position patches for OA youth officers. The reason we do not is because such insignia would indicate that we are somehow a program unto ourselves, rather than a part of the Boy Scout program. For example, the OA Troop/Team Representative position patch is a unit position patch, not an OA position patch, as the representative is selected by the unit. That leadership position is one that counts toward Boy Scout advancement requirements, while other OA leadership positions do not. Adults are different. The chapter, lodge and section adviser and associate adviser patches are the OA-specific adult position patches. Those individuals usually take on such roles as their primary Scouting roles. Youth members do not take on the OA as their primary Scouting role (other than the national officers and regional chiefs).The OA national chief, national vice chief and region chiefs serve on the national or regional executive boards and wear gold shoulder loops and national or regional committee position patches. They also register in Scouting as members of the national council. All other OA youth officers should be wearing red, green or orange loops. I am aware that some lodge chiefs incorrectly wear silver loops and some section chiefs incorrectly wear gold loops, but unless I am mistaken, they should be wearing the loops corresponding to their primary Scouting registration--their units.
I'll accept this, but I'm not sure that I agree?
