Hello all, actually my first post here.
About badges that are officially unofficial, i can say that we had kinda the same thing in Iraq with the Royal Danish Army.
There was a endurance march called "100km march", nicknamed the deathmarch.
It was a 100km march during racetrack curcuits at Shaibah LOG base in Southern Iraq.
You had 24 hours to complete the 100km, going from 1200 to 1200 in combat uniform with fragvest, combat vest, rifle and ammo.
If you completed the march you got a unofficial medal that was a skull.
The medal was award at a formal ceromony but was not allowed to be worn at any official occasions or in day-to-day service in the military.
You had to complete the march and still be able to report for duty the next day, so only a handfull got the medal, because practically you only had 15-18 hours to complete it, and reporting in sick the next day due to the march was considered an attempt to avoid service without legal reason.
Therefore only so few was actually able to complete it and receive the medal.
Of course conspiracy theories arose among ignorants and people fanatically opposed to anything military, that claimed that you got the medal when you had killed 100 enemies.
The military officially denied any knowledge of the medal and no official statement ever supported its existence, only feeding those conspiracytheorists.
But since the military never officially issued the medal and it was not awarded through a official ceremony, it "did not exist".
But it did.
That story may give a reason for why some badges are not officially recognised or worn outside bases and on "off-duty" uniforms.
Of course each badge have its own story, only a few truly know the reason for.