Okpik

There's an argument that goes: "why be a green shirt Venturer when you can do all that and more as a Sea Scout?" As noted by the OP under the old advancement policies Sea Scouts could pursue all of the Venturing awards, but green shirts couldn't pursue actual Sea Scout advancement and earn Quartermaster. As said above "Sea Scouts has its own distinct language, customs, and advancement track" and rightfully so as the BSA's oldest Senior Scout program it should have some honors that are distinctive to itself. That said as BSA's somewhat more ubiquitous flagship Senior Scouting program so should Venturing. Without being attached to Venturing I think Sea Scouting will continue to attract and capture the imagination of many young people who will carry its august traditions forward to new generations. After the better part of two decades I feel mainstream Venturing is still working on living up to its great potential and I think ending the marriage of convenience with Sea Scouting will give both programs an opportunity to hone the clarity of purpose they need.

Maroon was also the color of the Boy Scout Venture activity shirts back in the 90s. I could see it!

What it comes down to is that the BSA is basically a franchise operation that offers its product to the various COs so they can suit their own needs in regards to youth outreach. Now obviously you can't mess around with the program too much after you start running it, a Big Mac still needs to be recognizable as a Big Mac right? So a Boy Scout still must be recognizable as a Boy Scout! But if they want to restrict membership or add new policy in a way that doesn't make them unrecognizable as Boy Scouts... Then they can! It's their branch of the franchise! All that said every CO has their own aims and reasons for employing the Boy Scout program (or Cub Scout, or Venturing, etc!). If those aims and reasons aren't in line with the values and beliefs you want to impart on your child: I say have a frank chat with your son and look someplace else! Heck your current troop being hopefully Friendly, Courteous and Kind folk may even have some recommendations for you! Anyhow it sounds like you're on the right track already and a lot of folks here have given you some solid advice! Good luck and good Scouting to you and your son!

I think having one or two shirts with Life Scout rank sewn on the pocket is a fine idea! Maybe get in cahoots with a couple other crews in your district and split the costs with them!

With Boy Scouts getting green shoulder loops on the centennial uniform do folks think new versions of the Venturing uniform will get red loops? There is a precedent for green to be the Boy Scout color and red to be the Senior scout/Exploring/Venturing color. (Just look at your service star backings!) Also the old garter tabs that held up the old style socks followed the same color conventions as the service stars (or so the grey-beards say!). I think the red loops would stand out more on the Venturing green uniforms and it seems silly to me to have two different shades of green for shoulder loops! Anyhow this is mostly just good natured speculation and theorycraft...