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 National flaps are different from regular lodge flaps in that they are worn by arrowmen from lodges all across the country. Issued by the National Executive Secretary of the National Committee of the Order of the Arrow, these flaps are only worn by an individual while serving in the capacity indicated by the flap and have traditionally been restricted to two per person. National flaps have been issued for members of the National Committee, and the OA Service Corps for the 1977, 1981, 1985, 1989, 1993, 1997, 2001, 2005, 2010, 2013, and 2017 National Jamborees (Miura). Matching armbands were also issued for the 1989, 1993, 2005, and 2010 National Jamborees. The OA has provided service troops since the 1950 National Jamboree. These early troops were issued armbands instead of flaps at the 1950, 1953, 1957, 1960, 1964, and 1973 Jamborees (Aldridge). In 2018 and 2020, flaps were issued for the OA Summit Experience at SBR, the OA Trail Crew at Philmont, the OA Ocean Adventure at Florida Sea Base, the OA Wilderness Voyage at Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, and the OA Canadian Odyssey at Quetico Provincial Park. At the 2015 NOAC, endowment flaps were sold to celebrate recipients of the OA Distinguished Service Award and the Founder's Award. In 2019 the National Council created Wewikit Lodge, mainly for professionals and the National Chief and National Vice-Chief. Volunteers and professionals attending the National Planning Meeting in December were each given a flap badge from this lodge (Minnihan and Shelley). According to patchscan.com, 350 were manufactured by Moritz Embroidery in July of that year. In my opinion, these are more akin to the discontinued National Committee flaps. |
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National OA Committee, NCf1  red rolled edge on black twill, black reverse aka "the black flap" Discontinued in 1995 or 1996 |
National OA Committee, NCf2 red rolled edge on black twill, white reverse aka "the black flap" Discontinued in 1995 or 1996 image courtesy of Robert C. Evans |
2009 NOAC National Committee |
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Wewikit Lodge, s1 2019 (350 made) |
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 2010 NSJ BSA 100th Anniv. flap & thank you card |
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| 2010 NSJ OA Service Corps s1 silver mylar border staff flap, 2 ea. |
2010 NSJ Mysterium Compass s? silver mylar border staff flap, 2 ea. |
2010 NSJ Indian Village flap s? silver mylar border staff flap, 2 ea. image from eBay |
2010 NSJ Thank You s2 "Thank You," w/ gold mylar border OA area administration and leaders, strict 1 per person image courtesy of Robert C. Evans |
 2005 NSJ OA Service Corps s1 white border trader flap, 2 per staff |
 2005 OA Service Staff s2 red border staff flap (400 made) |
 2005 OA Service Staff s3 gold border special recognition flap (150 made) image courtesy of Robert C. Evans |
 2001 OA Service Staff s1 white solid flap with dark blue border trader flap, 2 per staff (1,500 made) |
 2001 OA Service Staff s2 white solid flap with red border 1 per staff (150 made) |
 2001 OA Service Staff s3 white solid flap with yellow border special recognition flap |
 1997 OA Service Staff s1 teal border, all OA Staff including TOAP, Indian Village, Odyssey (approx. 2,000) |
 1997 OA Service Staff s2 red border, 1 per staff (150 made) |
 1993 OA Service Corps f1 service corps & youth services staff 3 ea. (approx. 375 made) |
 1989 OA Service Corps f1 light blue twill (NT) flap with blue border extra star top left above arrow shaft |
 1989 OA Service Corps f1 light blue twill (NT) flap with blue border no left star above arrow |
 1989 OA Service Corps x1 |
A genuine flap has a light blue or powder blue background, and the bottom text is aligned parallel to the bottom border. Authentic flaps have two varieties, with and without an extra star in the top left above the arrow shaft. |
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 1989 OA Service Corps, zfNT fake, blue twill (NT) flap with blue border image courtesy of Robert C. Evans |
 1989 OA Service Corps, zfTLS fake, blue twill (TLS) flap with blue border image courtesy of Robert C. Evans |
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Fakes of the 1989 Service Corps flap appeared during the Jamboree (Evans). According to a post by Destry Hoffard at The Scout Patch Auction, all those who were dealing fakes at the Jamboree were arrested. Ron Aldridge documented the TLS fake (12-702), and Robert C. Evans found an additional fake, another NT. | |
 1985 OA Service Corps s1 dark blue solid flap with gold border |
 1981 OA Service Corps f1 orange-gold twill flap |
 1977 OA Service Corps f1 white twill flap with blue border |
Jamboree Armbands
 2017 National Jamboree Operation Arrowhead/ OA Exhibit Display Staff armband |
 2010 OA Service Corps armband set images from eBay |
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2005 OA Service Corps armband |
1993 OA Service Corps armband |
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1989 OA Service Corps armband |
1973 OA Service Corps armband |
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1964 OA GHQ Service Troops armband "Estimated 150 armbands made." (Aldridge 12-684) image from eBay |
1960 Jamboree Service Troops armband "... the Order provided 80 arrowmen to man two service troops.... The third service troop was manned by Alpha Phi Omega. All three service troops wore the same armband this time, with an estimated 120 armbands made." (Aldridge 12-682) image from eBay |
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| 1957 OA GHQ Service Troop armband "Estimated 25 made with approximately 6-8 known in collections." (Aldridge 12-680) |
1953 OA GHQ Service Troop armband "36 made, 20 presented, with approximately 6-8 known in collections." (Aldridge 12-678) image from oa-archive.org |
 1950 Jamboree Service Troop armband "Estimated 50 made with approximately 12 known in collections." (Aldridge 12-676) image from eBay |
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| Staff Troop #3260 Troop 4-- John Hartman, SM | ||||
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The 1993 Jamboree OA Service Corps (Staff Troop #3260) was made up of four troops, and also included support staff and key members of the National Committee. It's my guess that there were only 125 of us total, in addition to the Youth Services staff.
We were housed at Longstreet Camp, Youth Services HQ near the OA Indian Village and Trading Post C. We had the privilege to work with a lot of cool people, including Del Loder, National Chief Brian Beaverstock, Ed Pease, Allen Mossman, and Dr. Carl Marchetti. While the rain was pretty bad for a day or two, we all had a really memorable time.
Initially, we could purchase two service corps flaps, and were also issued the armband (only one each). During the Jamboree, we were given the option to purchase a third flap. All of the extras were distributed to the rest of Youth Services.
 My Complete Set of National Flaps |
Works Cited:
