Why you don't wear Military Insignia you haven't earned..

[Lucrius]

Its taken me a while to read all this, but at the end I'm still confused as to my own verdict. SOme things fly with me and others dont, those that dont would not allow me to fly off the handle, but certainly if the accused was telling tales about what ever it was, then a casual reminder might be in order. Unit badges are fine, even ones depicting yourself as a navy seal, or Delta Force, because we know (or at least assume) That you are not a member of the Special forces and have time for Airsoft. I have to say that seeing people with Ranger Tabs, CSOR, or Jump wings/ Maroon Beret does get me ruffled inside. Most times the patch isn't worn properly, which if you were trying to honor someone by wearing it, you are succeeding in certainly not honoring it and opening yourself to scrutiny. Some courses, Jump course, and Ranger course are extremely hard even for those in the forces and may be a career long goal, so it is hard to say whether a ranger 'has' to be ok with someone wearing it.. That being said Nothing someone wears should open them to verbal abuse, or worse. That is not to say that you are not allowed to disagree with what they are wearing. Personally I do not like those who pretend to jump. But I wont attack them, just not fully asppreciate their efforts perhaps. Its tough to decide if you will be offended by someone wearing something or not, but it should certainly not lead to verbal abuse. As a member of the CF I know some guys who will hate imitator's, and the older guys you cant help but understand why, but for the younger generation, we should be more civil about it, but certainly do not have to like what some people do or wear.

FYI, the US Army are the only ones who wear unit insignia on their uniforms(them an Air Crew in the other services have Sqn patches on their flight suits).

That TRIDENT(SEAL badge) isn't a unit patch, it's a qualication badge, much like a Ranger or Special Forces tab or Airborne Wings.


If you want to know what the guys who have earned those badges feel about non qualified people wearing them head on over to SOCNET or armyranger.com and ask. Same with wearing SSI (unit/combat patches) - this is regardless if you are wearing a Ranger Scroll or 1st Infantry Division patch.

Originally Posted by -MikeL-

Since Sturmer mentioned it, I'm kinda wondering the same thing.


Why do people feel the need that they have to have these patches? Would you still not look like a Soldier, or whatever look you're going for without them?

And, some people say they do it because they respect the real troops, etc but, if wearing the insignia pisses off real soldiers isn't that kinda defeating the point?


Also, would any of you wear a Police Badge for a game?

Still interested in getting a response for these questions.

[gallantcorey]

same reason some people choose ACU over Marpat. They want to look the part.

Piss off real soldiers? Im no jumper/jtf/csor... but it does not piss me off at all. Lack of pride? Not at all. Get over it.

A police badge is a totally different thing. Your talking about an item that shows people that you would have peace officer status.

Again it goes back to the fact that he is an airsofter... on an airsoft field. He isnt going around downtown asking people for free coffee because hes a soldier.

[Drake]

Wow this is still going on.

Around here I actually don't even see that many people wearing official patches; those wearing patches are either team patches and/or various moral patches and other non-official stuff (Ghost Recon etc).

I can only speak from my own observations and opinions, but I'll take a stab at answering Mike's questions:

Why do people feel the need that they have to have these patches? Would you still not look like a Soldier, or whatever look you're going for without them?

I think it's easy to get caught up in trying to get an impression "right." I do a lot of USMC stuff myself; I recently found myself getting hung up about shit like Coyote Brown actually being USMC Coyote 499 (or at least very close to it), and not Khaki, Tan, MJK or other color, when picking a vest. But THEN, I found a pic of a Force Recon dude wearing an MBSS that looked more like BHI's khaki-coyote (he was flanked by Marines wearing IBAs so it was a perfect reference).

So now BHI's not-so-Coyote-Brown (and similar counterparts) is an acceptable option to me.

Is this symptomatic of a form of mental illness? Maybe. I've been exposed to more than my fair share of Krylon fumes over the past decade. But point in case is it's easy to get really anal about little details. I can easily see how some people would think it's cool to nail the look perfectly, patches and all.

As I've mentioned before, I find it a bit too poser-ish and am uncomfortable wearing any sort of unit or rank. As for "Ranger", "Airborne", SF tabs, etc.. I think the media (movies, games, etc) have seriously made the value of that go down the toilet, so I can easily see how people now wouldn't think twice before slapping that on.

And, some people say they do it because they respect the real troops, etc but, if wearing the insignia pisses off real soldiers isn't that kinda defeating the point?

I'm not sure that a lot of people know it pisses off soldiers, from the start. I doubt most people who don't know see (or intend) any harm to it. Again, as mentioned before, you really don't need to look very far or have very deep pockets to get all this stuff. When I worked at the surplus I saw people do a half assed job of it every Halloween: Brit BDUs with a mix of US and Canadian patches and pins, or whatever, throw on a USN squadron patch for good measure cuz they look bad ass.

At least airsofters generally try to get it right. And if it was getting worn in public I could see them getting upset, but in the privacy of an airsoft game?

Also, would any of you wear a Police Badge for a game?

For SWAT style CQB? (I'm taking a stab in the dark here)

I suppose in the context of a milsim op, if a faction needed to be identified as the local police constabulary or something, then it serves a purpose.

But people just wearing it for shits and giggles, IMO falls into the same overly poser category as people wearing full unit and rank.

[CDN_Stalker]

Have recently thought of this thread, even though I never followed it. Got a friend to grab me some woodland from (forget the base, is in upper New York) on his last trip there, and the BDU shirt I got has the flag on it, as well as US ARMY (I cut the Clarke nametape off and put my own on) an has the Mountain Rangers flash (10th I think) on the left shoulder with MOUNTAIN above it. Figured I'd leave them all on for the hell of it. No rank or anything else on it. I suppose it's "Not Cool" to do so, eh? Not that I care much, I'm not trying to pretend I'm anything, I just play the damned game as best I can.

[Drake]

Originally Posted by CDN_Stalker

Have recently thought of this thread, even though I never followed it. Got a friend to grab me some woodland from (forget the base, is in upper New York) on his last trip there, and the BDU shirt I got has the flag on it, as well as US ARMY (I cut the Clarke nametape off and put my own on) an has the Mountain Rangers flash (10th I think) on the left shoulder with MOUNTAIN above it. Figured I'd leave them all on for the hell of it. No rank or anything else on it. I suppose it's "Not Cool" to do so, eh? Not that I care much, I'm not trying to pretend I'm anything, I just play the damned game as best I can.

Well, that's the debate at hand I suppose.

Flags and "US Army" aren't a problem to have on.

10th Mountain is the one some people would have an issue with, I suppose. But that begs the question, if it's such a precious patch, why is it being sold off to civvies like that? (if it was already sewn on to the BDUs, it most likely didn't cost any extra).

[CDN_Stalker]

Originally Posted by Drake

Well, that's the debate at hand I suppose.

Flags and "US Army" aren't a problem to have on.

10th Mountain is the one some people would have an issue with, I suppose. But that begs the question, if it's such a precious patch, why is it being sold off to civvies like that? (if it was already sewn on to the BDUs, it most likely didn't cost any extra).

Is exactly that. I'm sure that's where the fine line is, I bought it like this, am not pretending to be a member by keeping it on. Then one has the "impression" aspect to deal with, someone else could have bought the BDU like that, thought "Hey, I'm going to do an impression of a 10th Mountain Ranger for airsoft" and add all the little bits and peices of gear to fill out that impression, maybe include a rank or something. Then it becomes more of an issue to those in this thread (and the thread regarding Lerch's uniform impressions).

[Vince]

Maybe I've been brainwashed by MP.net but the first thing I do now when I receive a uniform on wich there's patch/branch tape is to take them off. Why? I haven't been in the army, I haven't sweated my ass in basic to get the privilege to be called a soldier (ok just forget about my user name that was when I begun in airsoft...).

[CDN_Stalker]

Originally Posted by Pvt Vince

Maybe I've been brainwashed by MP.net but the first thing I do now when I receive a uniform on wich there's patch/branch tape is to take them off. Why? I haven't been in the army, I haven't sweated my ass in basic to get the privilege to be called a soldier (ok just forget about my user name that was when I begun in airsoft...).

I have in the past as well, this time not gonna bother (even if the flag is the red, white, blue and yellow, which is gonna get me shot more). Part laziness, part "fuck it factor".

I'd have more of an issue with it being a Canadian Forces uniform with a patch though. Case in point, I have the squadren patch for the 403 Griffon Squadron at CFB Gagetown, I bought it when I spent a couple weeks there working with them. I also bought a couple CH-146 Griffon patchs, and the 50th anniversary patch for the Wolfpack Squadron. I put the Griffon patch and the Wolfpack patch on my work flight jacket, and another Griffon patch on my flightsuit, but not the 403 patch, because I wasn't a member of that squadron. I just put it on my office wall. I'm not a Griffon pilot, but have flown in them and have a few hours training in the CAE CH-146 Griffon simulator, but the biggest reason I wear the Griffon patch is that at that time I was working full time on our Bell 412, which is what the Griffon is.

[Drake]

Heh here's an interesting conundrum: Marines don't patch, and in the field often don't even wear rank. So my unmarked gear is actually "authentic looking": should I add a bunch of patches to identify it as "not real"? :P

[RiteOff]

I know that MP.net is very strict over these kind of situations and it seems to have rubbed off in the airsoft community as a whole. Do i wear name tapes or ranks etc no, do i think its a huge deal if someone does, no. Lots of people constantly wear items they havent "earned", football jerseys, hockey hats etc. Im curious as to why it has become acceptable to wear pirate(calico jack) patches when we all know that represents a SEAL team. I still havent met a spec ops guy or forces guy that shuns unit tapes being worn.

[youonlywish]

I havn't read through the whole thread...

But what about WWII and beyond... re-enactors?

For instance.. I bear a pair of corperal stripes and the 101st ABN patch. I don't have medals or wings or anything...

[Drake]

Originally Posted by RiteOff

Im curious as to why it has become acceptable to wear pirate(calico jack) patches when we all know that represents a SEAL team.

Because it was, and still is (historically), a well known pirate flag first and foremost (English captain Jack Rackham's).

Some MP.net people got possessive about the MCLMM tabs, too. But that, too, wasn't theirs to begin with.

[Lucrius]

Re-enactors, has a lot to do with how you present yourself... Re-enacting requires accuracy. In my opinion, if you are going to re-enact it has to be solid, everyone has to have a large depth of knowledge, coming from outside media, as to the person you are portraying, as well as the unit, etc. Badges and rank should be completely accurate, so for you, not only is it ok, but you should have some jump wings on that uniform if I am not mistaken, or is it not a dress uniform? In any case re-enactors have to have all insignia, BUT have to have an incredible amount of knowledge on the person they portray as well as the unit, so that they can justify everything they wear and why they do it.