What sort of badges do you put on old Soviet Side Caps / Garrison Caps?

by OscarKnight

Today in a memorabilia shop, I found an old Soviet Pilotka with three patches on the side. It has a communist emblem at the front as well.

I did a quick search for them online and found that some had badges and patches put on the other side of the cap, and I was wondering what sort of stuff you put there, if you even do? And if so, was this just a normal thing old Soviet soldiers did?

I also noticed that the other side of the cap had a couple of holes as if some badges were removed.

Picture of the cap: https://imgur.com/a/Hw9gVJj

TankArchives

The pilotka cap throughout its existence only had one type of pin on the front: a red star with a hammer and sickle in it. The hat you have has a cockade from a peaked cap installed for some reason. This style of pin was introduced in 1950-60 (depending on the service branch), until then the peaked cap had a star as well.

There was no authorized provision for adding any kind of patch on the pilotka, especially not sleeve patches like these. Not that the ones you have make any sense: the bright blue one is air force, the black one is motorized infantry.

Sources:

https://forma-odezhda.ru/encyclopedia/razvitie-pogranichnoj-formy-v-sssr/

http://yro05.narod.ru/for8.html

Museum of National Military History blog post, March 4th 2020