THE EVOLUTION OF THE ASSOCIATION BADGES
The ability to recognize Shipmates and their guests during the reunions, gatherings and other STERETT events is a must! The Association for years had printed one-sided cards and placed in a plastic pouch such as the one below:
The process was time consuming and former President Steve Hayes would often express his desire to have a better product. During the 2019 Jacksonville reunion, it was expressed by many who attended that the Association badges were ineffective as the badges often flip around and the writing on them was difficult to read. In addition, when Shipmates would attend other gatherings such as funerals or DDG-104 Changes of Command, the badges were not useful as they were associated with reunions (location and dates). Many expressed the need to upgrade the badges, but desired not to lose the reunion location for many had collected them over the years. The Association leadership went to work and developed the badges seen below:
The badges today denote the rank that the Association member left USS STERETT, their name, warfare earned while onboard, and their membership status (Lifetime Member, Member, etc.). The information is printed on both sides, in color and in large font for easier reading. The new badges were revealed in the 2022 San Antonio and were a huge hit. The only problem was finding a way to denote reunion location and that’s where idea came to place the reunion site to the reunion hat pins (see picture below). Check out how the reunion pin evolved here.
There you have it STERETT Family, that’s how we got to today’s Assocation Badge that we use today at various events, not just reunions, but at gatherings such as change of commands, funerals, etc. The cost is $13 (includes shipping) per badge, but if you pick up your badge at the reunion, there is no shipping fee. You can order as many badges as you’d like. For a Navy family member, the Navy family logo will replace the rank, and the words “Guest” will be inscribed.
