History

Beginning in 1966 with the Eagle and Silver Beaver square knots, BSA began making square knots with dark green backgrounds to match the Explorer uniform.  Shortly after, they also included with the dark green backgrounds, the Scouter's Key and Scouter's Training Award knots.  These knots were in addition to the khaki background knots that they continued to make.  They made these four knots with this background until 1979.  BSA also had been making square knots with a navy blue and a white background for the Sea Scout uniforms for a number of years.  They also discontinued these in 1979.  It is worth noting here that all four of these awards could be earned in each of the various scouting programs.

Venturing

When the Venturing program begin in 1998, there was a big demand for knots with dark green backgrounds and a knot for the Ranger Award.  However, BSA chose not to make them.

The original Ranger award square knot was made from 1950-51.  BSA's tradition is to only make a knot for the highest award in a program so they will not be reissuing a Ranger knot for today Venturing program.  For more information on the original Ranger award, please visit "Scouting's First Ranger Award."

If BSA had issued knots with dark green backgrounds, the common knots they make with tan backgrounds would look like the follow:

The two knots BSA has issued for the Venturing program are for the Venturing Silver Award and the Venturing Leadership Award.

Eagle - NESA Life Membership

More recently, BSA issued an Eagle square knot with a silver Mylar border to represent Eagles who are life members of NESA.  If BSA had followed the tradition of making knots which match the uniform, the Eagle NESA knots would look like the following:

Girl Scout Gold Award

Because there are a good number of young ladies from Girl Scouts that have joined Venturing, a request was made to BSA to issue a Gold Award knot for any girl who earned the award in Girl Scouts.  BSA chose not to issue a knot but allowed girls to wear some identification for the award on the Venturing uniform.  Many have chosen to wear the knot to the right which represents the highest award in Girl Scouts even though it is not an official BSA knot.  However, there has been spirited debate as to whether it is within uniform code to wear anything but the official Gold Award pin.  In any case, if you are interested in this knot, you are welcome to contact me at TheHiker@SageVenture.com (can't respond unless you do).

American Heritage Girls Stars & Stripes Award

The American Heritage Girls (AHG) was presented a Memorandum of Mutual Support by the Boy Scouts of America at the AHG National Leadership Conference on Friday, June 12, 2009.  This Memorandum is historic in nature as it is the first presented to an all girls' organization in the one hundred year history of the Boy Scouts of America.

As a result of this Memorandum, many of the older girls in AHG Troops are now dual registering as Venturers.  Some of these girls have earned or are in the process of earning the Stars & Stripes Award which is the highest award in AHG.  To recognize the Venturers who have earned this award, a prototype square knot has been developed for the Venturing uniform (red and white knot on a dark blue background with a silver border).  This prototype knot is not supported or endorsed by BSA.

Questions

This is a brief summary of square knot information.  If you are have more interest in history, please visit "Illustrated History of BSA Square Knot Evolution and Private Issues."  If you have any question, please feel free to e-mail Craig Murray, TheHiker@SageVenture.com.  I promptly respond to all questions.

This is not an official site of the Boy Scouts of America.  The information is from research I have done and may not align with current BSA policy.