When did wearing marksmanship badges become the norm?

CPT Charles Creed — Tue, 29 Dec 2020 16:20:04 -0500

I was browsing the "Why don't officers wear marksmanship badges?" thread, to much amusement, and started down the rabbit hole of the history of the badges, changes made, etc. But when I started to look for pictures of the badges being worn it is extremely hard to see anyone in WWI or WWII wearing them. Even found this very helpful uniforms, weapons, and equipment history file from army.mil (https://history.army.mil/html/museums/uniforms/survey_uwa.pdf) which only mentions the marksmanship badges once.
It appears to me that it started becoming more normative with the introduction of the green Class A in the late 1950's, but I'm still not 100% sure.
Any information gained might help us once and for all understand why officers (generally) don't wear their marksmanship badges.

survey_uwa.pdf)

Response by SGT Joseph Gunderson made Dec 29 at 2020 8:46 PM

SGT Joseph Gunderson — Tue, 29 Dec 2020 20:46:42 -0500

It might have something to do with the fact that many of those who served in the two world wars were drafted or were last minute enlistees. These individuals would never have had the opportunity or ever had the desire to wear such accoutrements. It may also be the burgeoning of the "professional soldier" after veitnam played a role in promoting the wear of such things. Just spitting out ideas, but both would make perfect sense.

Response by LTC John Griscom made Dec 29 at 2020 9:18 PM

LTC John Griscom — Tue, 29 Dec 2020 21:18:43 -0500

The Army began using marksmanship qualification badges in 1881 starting with the Marksman Button. That led to a variety of different U.S. Army branch-specific marksmanship badges until 1897 when the Rifle Marksmanship Badges were implemented Army-wide. The U.S. Army's Pistol Marksmanship Badges were implemented ten years later in 1907.

Response by SGT Steve McFarland made Dec 30 at 2020 8:07 AM

SGT Steve McFarland — Wed, 30 Dec 2020 08:07:50 -0500

I wore mine in '74-'77.

Response by LTC Raymond Buenteo made Dec 30 at 2020 10:01 AM

LTC Raymond Buenteo — Wed, 30 Dec 2020 10:01:59 -0500

Everyone wants to wear a symbol of accomplishment?

Response by SPC Richard Iseminger made Dec 30 at 2020 3:08 PM

SPC Richard Iseminger — Wed, 30 Dec 2020 15:08:31 -0500

When I was active, the only thing we didn’t wear was grenade badges.

Response by 1SG Private RallyPoint Member made Dec 30 at 2020 11:48 PM

1SG Private RallyPoint Member — Wed, 30 Dec 2020 23:48:22 -0500

Silly for officers to unofficially not wear marksmanship badges. General Groves certainly liked to wear his badge.