Your Patrol Traditions

Make Memories That Last

Patrol traditions are a bit tricker to make than the rest of the stuff that creates patrol spirit and keeps it alive. Traditions are time-honored practices; something you did once and just kept doing for whatever reason. A patrol tradition can be just about anything, from always going to a certain campsite in May, to always starting patrol meetings with your cheer.

The tricky part about traditions is that they tend to just happen. You can try to create them, and sometimes that works, but most of the time you'll just start doing things a certain way and before long it becomes a tradition. Sometimes the whole patrol will be involved, sometimes it may be just one Scout who starts the tradition.

So it takes time to develop traditions in the patrol, but remember they're time honored practices. That means they're in the patrol's memory as something they did. The best traditions are the one's that start because of a fond memory the patrol has of a particular campout, hike, or other activity.

Remember the Lone Pine Patrol from Troop 901? They have a tradition. Every year, in the spring, they hike out to that farm and camp under that same pine tree. At night, they build a small campfire and sit around it telling stories about their adventures. That's how traditions are born. It started with that first campout, listening to the stories the PL's grandfather told about his days as a Scout. The next year they went back, not really planning on starting a tradition, but just looking to have some fun. They listened to more of the grandfather's stories, and told him some of theirs. And the next year they went back, it had become a tradition.

Today, the Lone Pine Patrol still exists. All of the original nine Scouts are gone, most of them in college or married. The farm is gone now too, but I wouldn't doubt that tree is still there. The patrol, though, still exists. They still camp out under a "lone pine" tree every year and tell stories, it's just a different tree.

Put It In The Log

There's one tradition you can make starting right now. That is to put together a Patrol Log Book and keep track of the things you do, the places you go, and even the people you meet. A patrol log book is simply a scrap book filled with the memories the patrol accumulates. Put in a description of the meeting when you decided on your name, the different flag designs you considered, your first campout, or your first Court of Awards. Put every menu the patrol ever planned, and have someone in the patrol write a review of that menu.

The only limits for the patrol log book are the limits of your imagination. It can be neat, tidy, perfectly typed, with nothing hanging out the sides, or it could look just like a pile of old papers. Whatever the patrol decides, that's what it should be.

Use the log to keep your memories, photographs of the patrol, ideas the patrol had, awards the patrol received from troop competitions, camp-o-rees, or anything else. All of these things could lead to lasting memories for each member of the patrol. They could lead to a tradition. With the log your patrol will have a history you can share with new members. It doesn't even have to be portable - you wouldn't want to drag something that valuable on every campout would you?

You can start one right now. All you need is a piece of paper and something to write with. Write down some of your fondest memories in your patrol and, at the next patrol meeting, have someone else write down their fondest memories. Pretty soon you'll have plenty to start your patrol log book with. Once you have one, you, the members of your patrol, even your Scout leaders will be able to see your patrol spirit in the pages of your log.