Scouts practice communication skills, officiating ceremonies at flag retirement

Jun. 16—While retiring flags is a way that scouts can serve the community, Kirtland Scoutmaster Doug Knoop believes it also teaches them valuable life skills.

"It's a great opportunity for the scouts to really learn how to conduct a reverent ceremony, how to present themselves in public, while doing this valuable service," Knoop said.

The boys of Scout Troop 286 recently had an opportunity to publicly practice those skills during a flag retirement ceremony on June 12, two days before Flag Day. Under sunny skies at the Kirtland Area Veterans Memorial, troop members carefully retired two worn cotton flags.

"We've come together to retire a flag which is no longer serviceable," said troop member Gavin Noonan at the start of the ceremony. "This flag has served us as a reminder of our nation and those who have defended our freedom. It has served us well."

After the scouts presented the colors, Noonan discussed the procedure for retiring a worn flag as presented in the U.S. Flag Code. They cut off the blue field and representative red and white stripes to burn those before cutting the remainder of the flag into segments to burn.

"I think it's really important that we show respect to the flags that are not fit to fly anymore and having the ceremony brings together a little part of the community and shows a lot of respect in the right way," said troop member Josh Stewart.

Knoop added that conducting the flag retirement ceremony allows the scouts to demonstrate reverence in front of the community.

"We also have to show them that we're reverent, that we honor the things that we stand for," he said. "We're here showing these older people that the young people today get it, and you have to show them that you understand the importance of these matters."

Knoop added that the ceremony also allows scouts to practice planning and running a ceremony, along with skills such as speaking in public. Scouts need to serve as masters of ceremonies to earn their communication badge, which is required to earn the rank of Eagle Scout.

"As the scoutmaster, I am really pushing the boys to do the leading of the planning, the logistics and then actual scripting of the event with a rotating cast of the scouts so that they can get that experience to do these kind of things," he said. "It's an important part of growing up, as you know, to take leadership of something and make it happen and see how it goes."

The recent ceremony was the troop's third consecutive year retiring flags at the site, Knoop said. The area for burning the flag was constructed at the Veterans Memorial in 2022 by Eagle Scout James Gotch.

"It's nice to see the site being used and attention from local veterans to come and see flags retired in a ceremonial way," Gotch said.

"I wanted to do an Eagle Scout project that would be more permanent, long-term, something that would be maybe remembered for longer, something that would be helpful," he added.

The scouts only burned cotton flags. Knoop said that they accepted synthetic flags but would retire those at a later date.

He said that the ceremony provides an opportunity to interact with other members of the community, including representatives from the American Legion and Kirtland Kiwanis. A number of veterans also attended the recent flag retirement ceremony.

"It means a lot to me, and I've attended quite a few of these, so I appreciate that," said Navy veteran Richard Steudel.

"It's good to see the younger generation starting to understand the history of what's going on with the flag and what it means and the symbolism, and it's good for them to know that," he added.

Army veteran Randal Eveland appreciated the ceremony's reverence.

"It reminded me of why we're here in memory and service of our country, and those people who we served with in the wars who didn't come back," he said.