V/r-
-SJBill

http://www.thomas.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d110:s.01877:

Hate to be pedantic but the difference *is* important.

We all thought we were pretty cool razzing the other service recruits for being wimps, whiners, and such. Then we met the ‘Man’. Life changed…just a little.

When the flag is presented at a meeting or parade you stand up and salute. If in uniform, you give the BSA salute. If not in uniform or not a member of the BSA, you put your hand over your heart. The old rule was from 7 steps before the flag gets to you until 7 steps after it goes by.

When we have a meeting such as a Court of Honor, when the boys are getting their awards and thus a number of non-BSA registered parents are present, I tell the Scout running the ceremony to announce “Please stand for the presentation of the colors”. I also tell him “Then wait until everyone actually stands up before you tell the color guard ‘Color guard, advance’, and if someone doesn’t stand up look at them and wait until they do.”

Because when that hasn’t been done, some of them actually just sit there like dummies while the flag goes by and when we say the Pledge of Allegiance.

The Scouts are also told that if they are in uniform at a BSA function they are permitted to wear their hats indoors unless the local custom (e.g., if they are in a church) is otherwise. If they are not in uniform and are wearing a non-BSA hat, you take it off indoors. Of course, their parents hardly set a good example in such cases, so I’m swimming upstream on that one.

Me, I almost always keep one hand free when I’m carrying something in case I have to open a door or in case I stumble. When we go hiking, I tell the kids that anything they have to carry goes in a pack or on a carabiner on their belt; only a Tenderfoot has their hands full on the trail.