Girl Scouts Overseas for 100 Years

Girl Scouts Overseas for 100 Years

For 100 years, Girl Scout Overseas programs have organized troops especially for girls living outside the United States.

Ann Robertson

May 1, 2025

2–3 minutes

Girl Scouts, Girl Scouts of the USA, GSUSA, Troops on Foreign Soil

Happy Birthday to Girl Scouts Overseas!

Last weekend I attended a celebration marking 100 years of USA Girl Scouts Overseas.

Girl Scouts Overseas 100 Years Patch — USAGSO 100 Years Patch

This program allows girls to continue being active Girl Scouts when their families move abroad. Thanks to USAGSO-sponsored troops around the world, Girls Scouts will have new friends waiting for them upon arrival. Together, troops carry out familiar activities in an unfamiliar setting, easing the transition.

Originally, most of the overseas Girl Scouts came from military families. Today, about 40 percent of these troops are military, the other families have moved abroad to work at US embassies, to staff multinational companies, or missionary work.

Overseas programs have evolved and reorganized to keep up with changing family needs, travel patterns, and economic flows.

Troops on Foreign Soil

The first Lone Troop on Foreign Soil formed in 1925 with 18 girls in Shanghai, China. Troops in Mexico, Guam, and Lebanon soon followed, and the name changed to Troops on Foreign Soil (TOFS).

In 1984, these troops were organized under the name United States of America Girl Scouts Overseas (USAGSO). The program is led by staff at the GSUSA headquarters in New York City, and organized into four geographical divisions:

North Atlantic (serving Europe)
West Pacific (Japan, Okinawa, Korea)
US Virgin Islands
Guam

USAGSO currently has more than 10,000 members in 60+ countries.

Carrying on with Camp and Cookies

Girls registered in USA AGO troops have the full Girl Scout experience, from camping to cookies.

USAGSO troops may create their own Troop Crest or badges to discover and share the culture of their new home abroad.

My Council’s Own website includes some of these special emblems, which are also shown in the banner photo above. The oldest of these include Ryukyuan, Japan (1957) and Sudan (1966). Leader magazine did a feature on a Troop’s Own Sudan badge in May 1966 (pages 14, 15, 20), but did not include an illustration of the badge!

Girl Scouts overseas Okinawa Friendship Clipping — *Morning Star (April 11, 1957)*

Guests at the USAGSO Centennial Celebration brought their own memorabilia to share.

I set up a table as well, using patches and other items mainly from my personal collection.

Preserving Girl Scouts’ Overseas Memories

The Girl Scout Council of the Nation’s Capital has long welcomed families stationed in the Washington region between overseas postings. We are extremely fortunate that many have entrusted their international Girl Scout memories with us.

We have albums and scrapbooks from Okinawa, Japan, for example. We also have photographs, newspaper clippings, and more from troops in Hawaii and the Panama Canal Zone at the outbreak of World War II. We have bilingual calendars from the Middle East.

We hope to grow our collection in the coming years so that future Girl Scouts may learn more about this storied program.

6 responses to “Girl Scouts Overseas for 100 Years”

Gail Lamotte

May 1, 2025 at 11:20 am

Great article, Ann. Thank you!

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Betsy Urbik

May 1, 2025 at 2:29 pm

Thanks for the great info! I was an Overseas Girl Scout for two years in the mid 1970’s – the first in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, and the second in Manila, Philippines. Girl Scouts in Brazil are part of the Brazilian National Bandeirantes Program and not TOFS, so very few American patches and pins are available. (I do still have my Bandeirantes pin.) I have a patch and a couple of pins from Manila. These programs give ex-pats and their families a way to tie into a community where they may be completely on their own.

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Stanley Myles

May 2, 2025 at 10:31 am

My daughter began her 13 years in Girl Scouting as a Daisy in Lone Troop 3 in Montevideo, Uruguay in 2000. Creation of Lone Troops had began a few years earlier at the Uruguayan-American School, which my daughter attended from 2000 to 2002. The troop membership was a mix of girls from families assigned to the American Embassy and local representatives of US companies and international organizations, as well as Uruguayan students at the school. Although the troop’s charter was granted by GSUSA, we otherwise had no direct support. We were able to order Daisy and Brownie handbooks, uniform vests, and patches for delivery to the Army Post Office (APO) at the American Embassy, but APO regulations at the time did not allow us to receive cookies. This differed from my experience in Naples, Italy, where GS troops at the US Navy base there were able to receive cookies through the Fleet Post Office (FPO) and sell them at the base.

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Anna Batz

May 4, 2025 at 10:44 am

Serving on the OCMT of USAGSO in Yokosuka, Japan was the highlight of my 37 years (and counting) in Girl Scouts. Amazing program and amazing, dedicated volunteers. Would love to see a highlight of their Kiryu Friendship Exchange! They have had a relationship with the Kiryu Girl Scouts (Girl Scouts of Gunma) for over 60 years (I was there for #55). Japanese Girl Scouts spend a weekend with American Girl Scouts and families immersed in American culture, and the American Girl Scouts spend a weekend with Japanese Girl Scouts and families, immersed in Japanese culture. Hands down, best Girl Scout experience of my life – and I’ve had an amazing Girl Scout life, so that’s a high bar.

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Carol Youssif

June 11, 2026 at 11:59 am

I’ve been working with the USAGSO Taipei community for seven years, and I’ve been digging into our own past. This was very helpful, thank you!

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1. Ann Robertson
  
  June 12, 2026 at 8:00 pm
  
  You’re welcome!!
  
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