Name Badges and Dog Tags

[SpaceCanada]

Do I recall correctly when I remember first-timers having to wear their flight suit name badges upside down? After graduation you may wear their upright. Being alumni I was allowed to wear my name badge upright, is this the case with all counsellors or was it just Jeremy who let alumni do that?

As for the identification name badges, does anyone have any tricks to get their ID name badge to hang nicely off of the clip at the end of the lanyards? Mine always goes crooked unless I clip it to my sleeve or my dog tag chain.

Dog tags aren't quite name badges, but they're fun. I bought some my first time at camp. (Unfortunately, the dog tag machine was in need of repair the second time I went to camp ) If you have bought dog tags before, what did you get printed on them?

[monkeynautt]

You are supposed to wear your name badge upside down until grad but some counsellors don't care and you can wear it right side up.

[Vincent]

Truthfully, I had never, ever heard of that until this year...I wonder if they didn't just come up with this "tradition."

[monkeynautt]

All the times I went this was supposed to happen but sometimes the counsellor doesn't care and you can wear it right.

[SpaceCanada]

In all the photos I see, everyone has their name badges upside down until graduation. I am guessing this is a long-standing tradition since it has been noted since 1998, and I have seen photos of the upside down name badges as far back as 1996 and as recent as April 2004. Alumni were allowed to wear their name badges upright because they had theoretically graduated already.

[Boomerang]

Ok this tradition cant go back but so far. I went 4 times between 1991 and 1998 and never saw anyo0ne with an upside down name tag. The first year i went i had a flight suit and never had to wear it upside down neither did the other personm on the team who had one. 93 a couple of us had them the other person who diod was a first timer andnever had to wear it upside down. At AC in 96 we all got name tags from our counselors with our callsigns and none of the first timkers had to wear them upside down. 98 i was the only one who had a name tag left over from an old flight suit so i couldn't really speak to that but i never saw anyone else wearing theirs upside down on other teams. And i never have infact this is the first time i've ever heard of that.

[spacemusician]

i always remember haveing name badges upside down. i remeber when i went 3 years ago and there was a large discussion about whether graduating from academy counted as being a gradute. so its at least that old.

[Space Nerd]

For as long as i have been going to camp its always been traditional to wear your badge upside down until grad. Last year however i was able to con my counselor into letting me wear it rightside up since i had in fact graduated 3 times before.

[meg]

i was told (thanks boost!) that no matter how many times you graduate from any form of camp, you may not wear them right side up till graduation.

[Space Nerd]

She didnt bother me! lol. Oh well i guess it dosnt really matter much. I also realized that i forgot to say anything about dog tags. One year i got them with my name, date, and program on them. The next year they gave me a set as an award for the pilot award. I havnt gotten any since then.

[Drumrollz]

Most everyone during last week's 8-day decided that since it was Alum-only, we might as well just wear them rightsideup all week.

[spacecampaddict28]

Not that we wore the correct name tags on our flight suits anyway haha...we switched all the time and wore them right side up

[ethlar04]

the whole upside down name badge is a somewhat lost and forgotten tradition, most people dont know or dont care enough to do it

[monkeynautt]

There were some 6 day people that wore it upside down. Tony didn't care so we all wore ours right side up. It depends on the counsellor.

[SpaceCanada]

Everyone at 8-day camp were alumnae, so they should wear their name badge uprigt since they have obviously graduated before.

I still see pictures floating around the internet with upside down name badges. They are modtly educator and adult groups but also some of the SCI-VIS groups.

Anywho, it is nice to know that some people (campers and counsellors alike) still have goofey traditions at camp.

[ethlar04]

Some people say that just cause you are an alum of the program doesnt mean you can wear your badge right side up, they say you havnt graduated that week yet

[SpaceCanada]

I am sure it also depends on how many alumni there are on your team and who your counsellor is. I was the only alumnus at camp my second week and I had the same counsellor as my first week, so he let me wear mine upright.

My flight suit is different than everyone else's too because I swapped the US flag for a Canada one and I swapped the USSRC badge for a Canadian Astronaut Programme patch. I guess I like to be the odd-ball of the group!

[monkeynautt]

Anyone at the alumni camp has technically never done it before because it is new.

[kap]

I know that down at the lake all of my counselor insisted on having us wear our name tags upside down, and at graduation they switched them for us. This was always a moment of pride in my life, because as my counselors explained it, we were joining an elite group and becoming their equals. As for my dog tags i got them several times but they always followed the same pattern:

A****, Kim (name)
Bubbles (callsign)
Triple nickels (team)

[Boomerang]

Well Kap at AC that is no longer done. I don't know if it started before this summer or this was the first summer but AC trainees no longer wear there name tag upside down. We were told in counselor training it was because we get real pilots who come to graduation and we won'tdisrespect them by wearing wings upside down at ac.