Post date: Jan 16, 2018 5:53:51 AM
“A Scout should value his honour most of anything.”
Lieut.-General R.S.S. Baden-Powel, C.B., F.R.G.S.,“Scouting For Boys”, London, 1908, p. 223
It is only mid-January, yet Americans on both sides of the continent have already faced with different kinds of natural disasters, a mudslide in the west and a bomb cyclone in the east. These could partly be attributed to the global climate change. However, there is another shocker that has nothing to do with the phenomenon just hit a small part of the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) family, namely the Vietnamese units of this National Scout Organization.
The shocker is a very troubling email sent to Michael J. Lo Vecchio, the Program-Advancement Specialist with the BSA. The email, included verbatim at the end of this writing, was written by Tran Anh-Tuan, a self-proclaimed scout.
Following are a few observations.
First of all, Mr. Tran Anh-Tuan has failed to understand the fundamentals of salutation in letter writing, be it formal, semi-formal or informal. In addressing Mr. Michael J. Lo Vecchio, Mr. Tran Anh-Tuan omitted the word “Dear” and the courtesy title, “Mr.”
Also, the last name of the addressee in the email is “Lo Vecchio” not just “Vecchio.” Using “Vecchio” alone, the addresser is ignorant of the multiculturalism in the United State of America.
Mr. Tran Anh-Tuan’s salutation style is non-existent in any language used by anyone with a minimal education. Tran Anh-Tuan is Trần Anh-Tuấn in Vietnamese. Could the Vietnamese equivalent to the salutation “Vecchio:” be “Tuấn mày:”? That salutation is only used by bullies in the schoolyard.
Secondly, Mr. Tran Anh-Tuan self-proclaimed credential as an “oath-taking scout” of a certain scouting movement shows that first, he is not a member of the BSA, and second, he understands nothing of the scouting language in the English speaking world. He also does not seem to understand the Movement and the Organization of the World Scouting. A person who pledges himself or herself to the Scout Oath is an invested Scout.
There could be a great possibility that Mr. Tran Anh-Tuan misunderstood the motto “Once a Scout, always a Scout” that Lord Horatio Herbert Kitchener used in his address to the scouts of Leicestershire, England on April 19, 1911. In later editions of “Scouting for Boys”, Baden-Powell did further explain what Lord Kitchener meant when he said, “Once a Scout, always a Scout”. B.-P. wrote,
“Lord Kitchener said to the Boy Scouts: “There is one thought I would like to impress upon you all – ONCE A SCOUT, ALWAYS A SCOUT”. By this he meant that when you are grown up you must still carry out what you learned as a Scout – and especially that you will go on being honourable and trustworthy.”[1]
That is exactly what it meant. It has nothing to do with being a member of any scouting movement forever, as often misunderstood.
To the BSA, a federally “Title 36” chartered corporation in America, an accredited NSO and a founding member of the World Organization of the Scout Movement (WOSM), Mr. Tran Anh-Tuan is a big nobody of concern.
Despite his lack of knowledge in English and on Scouting, he should understand the Vietnamese saying “Quốc hữu quốc pháp, gia hữu gia quy” – A country has its rule of law, and a family has its regulations.
Certainly in the USA, one of the greatest democracies on earth with its rule of law, the BSA also has its own Bylaws, Rules and Regulations, Policies and Guidelines.
Mr. Lo Vecchio, by his letter dated January 9, 2018, to all Vietnamese Unit Leaders simply reiterates some of the BSA guidelines to remind its members how and what insignias authorized by the BSA to be worn on the official uniforms of this National Scouting Organization.
Mr. Tran Anh-Tuan certainly revels in his freedom of expression in the USA; nevertheless, it does not mean that he could gratuitously insult and attack Mr. Lo Vecchio personally for simply carrying out his responsibility.
The reasons for Mr. Tran Anh-Tuan’s many fallacies in his argument
Thirdly, Mr. Tran Anh-Tuan establishes his ESL power by equating “Vietnamese Unit” with “Huong Dao Viet Nam”. Even Google translate knows that “Vietnamese unit” is “Đơn vị người Việt” in Vietnamese. Putting it in the context of Mr. Lo Vecchio's letter, it involves those units that have BSA members of Vietnamese cultural heritage. The youth of these units are most likely all American-born. In that nonsensical argument, Mr. Tran Anh-Tuan should have used the word “literally” instead of “literarily” as written.
The issue of insignias and uniforms are unquestionably part of the BSA policies applicable to all of its registered members in good standing[2].
This writer believes that any members who are registered and in good standing that might have an issue with the BSA policies could convey them to their local Councils. If needed they could contact the National Council for frank discussion, proposition, consideration, and resolution.
The BSA policies are its internal affairs with its membership. It is not the concern of any non-members.
Lastly, it is quite an irony that an “oath-taking scout” since 1957 jumped on the box to lecture about scouting policies to not only a professional Scouter of an NSO but also a veteran volunteer who has been a Cub Scout, a Boy Scout, an Eagle Scout, and a volunteer Scout leader. He has been a Scout for almost 60 years and has held various leadership responsibilities with the BSA. It makes one wonder, what kind of services to the Scout Movement has the “oath-taking scout” done since 1957. Mr. Tran Anh-Tuan certainly does not show that he still carries out what he learned as a Scout and – and especially he does not go on being honourable and trustworthy as the Founder had explained Lord Kitchener’s motto.
Showing off obsolete and unrelated work-related positions while using abusive, insulting, uncivilized, uneducated language and behaviour in his email is not only an infantile farce but also an affront to the Vietnamese cultural heritage. Mr. Tran Anh-Tuan, indeed, does not carry out what he learned as a student of Cầu Kho, Hồ Ngọc Cẩn, Chu Văn An, Saigon Pedagogical University and Faculty of Literature – and especially he does not go on being honourable and trustworthy.
Montréal, January 15th, 2018.
[1] Sir Robert Baden-Powell, “Scouting for Boys”, Campfire Yarn Number 21 - Self Discipline. Source: http://rover_scout.webs.com/scoutingforboyspt2.htm, accessed December 10, 2011.
[2] “Alteration of Badges and Insignia
Clause 10. No alteration of, or additions to, the official badges and insignia or in the rules and regulations governing their use or their location upon the uniform may be authorized by any Scouting official, local council, local executive board, or committee except the National Executive Board of the Boy Scouts of America and committees specifically authorized thereof.
Proprietary backing is to be used on all official BSA patches and emblems. Products without appropriate backing are considered illegal.” (BSA, “Guide To Awards and Insignia”, ©2015 Boy Scouts of America.
From: Tran Anh-Tuan <att411@comcast.net>
To: Michael.lovecchio@scouting.org
Date: January 12, 2018 at 5:37 AM
Subject: Your letter dated January 9, 2018
Michael J. Lo Vecchio
Program-Advancement Specialist
Pilots and Program Development Department
Boy Scouts of America
1325 West Walnut Hill Lane
PO Box 152079
Irving, TX 75015-2079
www.scouting.org
Vecchio:
This is Tran Anh-Tuan, an oath-taking scout since 1957. I am currently not a scout leader, but a member of the Vietnamese scouting movement in the Free World.
I have just been forwarded your letter dated January 9, 2018 regarding the, as you mentioned, "unauthorized insignia" of HƯỚNG ĐẠO VIỆT NAM as part of a scout's uniform.
I take issue with the content of that letter and here is my voice.
I, for one, found the letter penned by you on behalf of BSA National Council is not only insensitive but also ignorant if not stupid.
Let me clearly explain for your understanding.
Firstly, the above-mentioned insignia has been consistently worn by Vietnamese-American scouts all over the Free World since 1983 to the day you wrote the letter. I am wondering where you have been on that long span of time, i.e. at least 35 years, from 1983 until 2018? In your capacities of a National Council official, I can be certain that you have been in meetings with Vietnamese-American scouts in so many an occasion. In jamborees. At campsites. In training... In all those meetings, you had never seen that particular insignia on the Vietnamese-American scouts' uniform from Sam Houston to National Capital, from Orange County to Silicon Valley Monterey Bay, from USA to Canada, from Australia to New Zealand, from United Kingdom to Germany, from France to the Netherlands..? You do have two eyes, just like any other human being, or else? Why and how do you come to see the insignia as a problem NOW?
Secondly, you addressed the letter to "All Vietnamese Unit Leaders." Are you kidding? "VIETNAMESE UNIT" is literarily "HUONG DAO VIET NAM." How come you name the phrase in English and order others not to name it in Vietnamese?
You concluded your letter asking us Vietnamese-American scouts to understand and cooperate. Well, I now fully understand your insensitivity. But I myself as a scout can not and will not cooperate with who or what is stupid.
For your info., I have also cc this letter to some who are among my scout brothers.
Sóc Lý-luận Trần Anh-Tuấn
Formerly Professor of History, University of Saigon
Specialist, Oakland Unified School District, California (ret.)
Lecturer, The College of Alameda, California (ret.)