A Flag Ceremony for Cub Scouts

Duty to Country is an integral part of the scouting program. To honor this, most meetings and formal gathering open and close with a flag ceremony. But what is the proper flag ceremony for cub scouts?

This is something I struggled with when I took over as Cubmaster. I found a lot of references to the importance of including a flag ceremony and having cub scouts observe or participate in a flag ceremony, but no one specific script to follow. Some unit have a clear flag ceremony that has been passed down in their unit. Others do a quick Google search before each meeting and follow whatever script they can find on the fly. And there are a lot of scripts out there, so how do you know which one you should use?

Choosing a Flag Ceremony for Your Cub Scout Pack

The short answer is, there is no one right script. At least not that I have found from an official resource. So I did what I usually do when BSA resources are vague and unclear: I scour the internet for as much information and as many examples as I could find. I read up on the symbolism and looked through scripts other scouting units posted and compared them to scripts used by other organizations, including the US Military. I then used this to inform the development of my own script.

Is it right? Honestly, I have no idea. As is often the case with Cub Scouts, I return to the motto of “Do your best.” This is my best effort to deliver a respectful flag ceremony for cub scouts that my cubs feel comfortable and confident leading and participating in. You can download the script and diagram to follow along and teach your Cubs. Hopefully it is pretty self explanatory, but I have included a detailed walk through here. I’ve tried to include the information I shared with my cubs while I taught them along with answer to some of the questions they had as they practiced it.

Before practicing, I invite cubs to let me know if they feel comfortable reading out loud and leading the ceremony. I also let them know they will have chances to fill multiple different positions and role throughout the year. I generally have one reader/leader, one carry the American flag, one carry the Pack flag, one stationed at the front where each flag is to be posted (their job is to squat down near the ground and help guide the flag pole into the hole in the stand). To practice flag ceremony, I have used wooden dowels with older cubs and pool noodles with younger cubs. No matter what I use, they turn into swords or light sabers at least once. This is the way.

Opening Flag Ceremony

To kick off any meeting, I usually go to the front, hold up the scout sign, and wait for the room to quiet. I typically thank people for coming and tell the cubs we have some fun activities coming, but lets remember to be respectful of the flag and our fellow cubs through the flag ceremony. I then turn the show over to the cub who will be leading flag ceremony.

Color Guard, Attention! Will the audience please rise.

The ceremony leader should wait for all audience members to stand and ensure the color guard is ready and paying attention in the back.

Scout Salute. Those not in uniform, please place your right hand over your heart.

This is a good time to remind your scouts what a Scout Salute looks like. Talk to your older scouts ahead of time if you can to show them how to salute with and without a hat on. Many of the scripts I read simply say “Scout Salute.” We added the second sentence to help provide guidance for newer scouts and parents. It is a great reminder on how they can respectfully participate even if not in uniform.

Color Guard, advance.

Slowly. It is not a race and it is meant to be respectful. Yes, it may take a moment if you are coming from the back of a larger room, but that is okay. Make sure the flags either walk side by side or the American flag walks in front of the unit flag. Those carrying the flag should be mindful the ceiling if it is low and anything that may be hanging from the ceiling.

The flags should proceed until they reach the front of the audience. We try to leave a good amount of space at the front of our meeting room. This allows to be in front of the audience without being all the way to the wall in the front of the room.

Color Guard, halt. Present the colors.

The scout leading the flag ceremony should instruct those carrying the flag to “Halt!” when they have reached the designated spot in the front of the room. If they are just learning, masking tape or painters tape on the floor can be a great reminder of where the stopping point is.

How they “Present the colors” with vary a bit depending on how they walked in. If the flags had room to come in side by side, the scouts holding them will simply turn in place to face the audience and tilt the flag forward slightly so that the flag is displayed a bit more than it was while being carrier. Scouts should be reminded to take care to not tilt it so far forward they have a hard time holding it or the flag is touching the ground.

If the flags came in with the unit flag behind the American flag, the scout carrying the American flag can turn in place like described above while the unit flag is walked over to stand side by side and then turned to face the audience and tilted forward slightly.

Please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to…

This part is pretty self explanatory. The one point is to make sure your leader doesn’t get flustered. I’ve found different kids have learned to say the pledge at different paces and with different breaks depending on the school they attend. It’s kind of fun to hear them all do it together but differently. Reassure your ceremony leader to do it at their pace and give everyone time to finish before proceeding with the ceremony.

Color Guard, post the colors.

Time for the flags to walk to their final posting location. The American flag should go first with the unit flag crossing the front of the room after. This one takes a bit of practice for some kids to feel like they have the timing right and aren’t bumping into each other.

When they get to the posts, the assigned scouts should get down by the ground to help guide the bottom of the flag pole into the hole in the post. It seems easy enough, but I have seen so many scouts get frustrated trying to hold the flag up nicely while getting it in the stand. This little bit of help can go a long way.

Color Guard, honor your colors. (salute the American flag)

After the flags are posted, the ceremony leader instructs those participating in the flag ceremony (carrying the flags) to turn to the American Flag and salute. This now gets to you a point where everyone in the room is either saluting the flag or has their hand over their heart.

Two.

Scouts drop their salute. Your younger and newer cubs are likely going to look a little lost here. It is okay, just model the drop of the salute and they catch on pretty quickly.

Scout Sign. Please join us in reciting the Scout Oath and Scout Law.

All scouts in the color guard stay where they are and hold up the Scout Sign. This is another spot where I sometimes see my ceremony leader get a nervous. It can be helpful to remind them they only have to remember “On my honor…” and “A scout is…” and the Pack will take it from there.

Many of the younger and newer cubs will stumble through, especially in the early part of the scouting year. But it is always very cool to see the other cubs and parents carry the unit through. It can also be a good talking point for a lesson on how individually, we may struggle, but with the support of the Pack and our fellow cubs, we will get it done together.

As for which order to do these in, I just defer to which one the leading scout happens to say first. You could add it all in, but they seem to do fine picking whichever one they feel more comfortable doing first. After they finish both the Scout Oath and Scout Law, they can drop the Scout Sign.

Color Guard, Retreat. The audience may be seated.

The color guard walks back out the way they came. Cub Scouts, families, and anyone else in the audience can sit back down. The ceremony leader/reader can step aside and the Cubmaster or whoever is leading the meeting can step in to proceed with meeting or event.

Closing Flag Ceremony

The closing ceremony is much shorter, but is a nice way to officially end the meeting or event. It is a respectful way to retire the flags and a polite way to tell cubs and parents they don’t have to go home, but they can’t stay here.

Color Guard, Attention! Will the audience please rise.

All of the scouts participating in the flag ceremony should be in the back of the room and ready to go. This includes the scouts who help post the flags. The scout leading the ceremony should wait for everyone to be standing quietly to proceed.

Color Guard, advance. Scout Salute.

All scouts and leaders in uniform should salute. The scouts in the ceremony should walk to the front of the audience.

Color Guard, halt.

You can either have them halt where they did in the opening, or proceed all the way to their respective flags and then halt. My scouts have done it both ways, mostly because by the end of the meeting they are tired and forget their role a bit. I try to pick one to be consistent, but it can be helpful to let the scout leading the ceremony to not get too concerned and just roll with it.

Retire the colors.

Scouts proceed to their flags if they halted at the front of the audience. If they are already at the flags, they simply remove them from the flag stand and proceed back out the way they came. Remind the scout the American flag goes first.

Two.  

Once both flags are at the back of your meeting space, scouts drop their salute.

Congratulations! You made it through a scout flag ceremony.