Quote Originally Posted by tomcherv
Thanks for the comments everyone.

Yes, the hose are the official Scout Hose, so that's why I wore them. ...

As a side note, I'm looking into taking the Wood Badge leadership course. ...

Once a scouter completes the course, they become eligible for an associate (non-voting) membership in the Clan McLaren Society of North America. ...
Since I'm new to this board, I just picked up this thread, which has been of great interest to me for some years. For the group's consideration are two relevant links.

The first one is a link to the Policy Organisation and Rules (POR) of the United Kingdom scouting organization, particularly the section that deals with the wearing of the kilt or tartan as part of the uniforming for Scottish or Irish scouts. This is their current rule.

http://www.scoutbase.org.uk/library/...2005/10_17.htm

The second link is to a post on Scout-L, a list server, several years ago. The poster refers to a conversation made by a MacLaren regarding the MacLaren tartan, for which no further referance was cited. (Who is the resident historian or reference librarian on this board?)

http://listserv.tcu.edu/cgi-bin/wa.e...-3&S=&P=136358

My congratulations to Tomcherv on his signing up for Wood Badge in May, as he posted in another thread. Boy Scouts of America (BSA) will train you strictly on uniforming, for you to use as an essential element in the training of boys in a unit, whether it be a pack, troop, team, or crew. The spirit of uniformity is to erase class distinctions of any kind.

The green socks with red tops are currently official uniforming for use with scout shorts. A T-shirt showing is not part of the official field uniform and will be discouraged (try a scoop neck undershirt). Differing neckerchiefs can be adopted by differing units, but should be uniform within the unit.

The British rule on kilts and tartans has, in practice, created a second UK uniform, but it has no bearing on the BSA uniform. Adoption of kilt wearing in the BSA is a silly, sentimental, personal revision of the BSA rules... but it's a silly, sappy departure which I have happily made.

Lastly, I have been a member of Clan MacLaren of North America for a couple years now and have had great fun with them at gatherings. To honor the MacLaren/Scouting connection their by-laws set up a special non-voting membership class. Wood Badgers are encouraged to wear their scout shirts and MacLaren kilts to participate in the clan marches. In fact, last summer I represented the clan in the kilted mile at the Woodland, CA games. (Not bad for a guy over 50.) See, more great opportunities to wear your kilt.

Kilt on!!!

Mark Twain wrote in Tom Sawyer, "Often, the less there is to justify a traditional custom the harder it is to get rid of it."