Hi John
Welcome to the forum. Ironically I am also a new member despite having joined in 2014 - I am not quite sure how this works but perhaps I have to earn the equivalent of a LSGC medal before the moderators will promote me! It is a great forum and everybody seems very polite and helpful. I would recommend specialising in a particular area of collecting rather than the blunderbuss approach to collecting badges, the latter is the surest way to amass a large number of fake badges, especially if you frequent a well known internet auction site. Anyway, welcome to BMBF and glad to have a fellow newbie!
Cheers
Mike
(The Quartermaster)
www.qmsmilitaria.com