# Explain patrol spirit

Part of the Scout guide: [Introduction & Overview](https://scouting.university/scouts-bsa/ranks/scout/guide/index.md)

*3. Patrol Method*

> **3b.** Become familiar with your patrol name, emblem, flag, and yell. Explain how these items create patrol spirit.

Every patrol picks its own name (often an animal — Wolves, Hawks, Foxes), designs an emblem to go with it, and often has its own flag and a yell it uses at competitions and campouts. None of these are required by rank requirements outside this one — patrols choose them for themselves.

These traditions matter because they turn a random assignment of Scouts into a team with its own identity. Shouting your patrol's yell before a competition, or seeing your patrol's flag flying at a campsite, builds the kind of loyalty and teamwork the patrol method depends on. If your patrol doesn't have a name, emblem, or yell yet, this requirement is a good reason to help create one.

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