Personally in IMTU the TC Scouts ditch the NCO ranks entirely, but the ranked exec/admin stuff is great fun. Why eliminate the hilarity of Scouts outsmarting their own bureaucracy?
Be practically a rite of passage or even a form of training in the individualistic 'get er done' ethos of the service.
Hmmm, though, now that I think of it, how would Scouts show accomplishment and count coup without the rank and medals?
Ahh, I got it. Mission patches.
For difficult, strenuous, dangerous, important and/or endurance missions, the Scouts would make a mission patch. This would be a combination of the NASA mission patch, unofficial military/intel unit patches, and plane nose art.
Unofficially recognized or awarded, the mission patches would tell the story of the mission, sometimes having the mission member names around it like an Apollo patch, sometimes profane or lewd, sometimes heartbreaking as it records fellow member losses.
The Scouts would put these all on their mission jacket, typically a standard issue survival jacket.
They still have their official dress uniform for ceremonies and impressing the inspectors or nobles that need to be assured the Scout Service can clean up well, but the mission jacket is the internally recognized 'dress jacket', often lovingly protected or left at base for safekeeping.
When scouts gather, or perhaps at the start of a mission during intros to the team, they wear the mission jacket. Provides a fast assessment of what the other scouts have done, a natural talking point, and is often a more effective resume then the official record.
Surviving mission leaders typically 'approve' the mission patch, but any of the members can design it. Usually done after the mission, as most missions are 'routine' and not considered worthy of patches.
Most scouts will have only one X-boat patch with a number indicating years and typically an image playing up either the relaxation of the x-boat posting, or going stir crazy.
Assuming the mission jacket survives the wearer's demise, they are often treasured heirlooms and represent the sum total of the scout's career, official and detached duty.
