Red and Yellow command scarf???

[SarDragon]

My source doesn't have a start date for the plastic encased rank insignia. IIRC, it was around WIWAC.

YMMV.

[Eagle400]

CG Aux doesn't even have a mess dress.

Then what do you call this, sir:



Or this...

If you're going to go into the CG Aux, keep in mind that you only get rank with certain positions. When your term expires, you don't wear rank insignia anymore. You'd get a past officer device, but that's it. You sure you're OK with that?

I'm perfectly fine with that.  In my opinion, CAP should be like that as well.  There would be fewer people with the "holier than thou" attitude that is so common with officers in the organization.   

You might never get appointed to any of those positions at all.

You might be surprised. 

[SarDragon]

Tell you what, Smitty, why don't you start your own Smitty's Air Patrol, SAP for short, and then you can pick whatever uniform combinations you want, and wear them however and whenever you like. Otherwise, you're just !

[Hawk200]

Then what do you call this, sir:

The Coast Guard calls that a Dinner Dress Blue jacket. Doesn't matter what I call it.

Or this...

According to the CG manual, that's a Dinner Dress white. Which the Air Force has no equivalent to, therefore it's irrelevant.

If you're going to go into the CG Aux, keep in mind that you only get rank with certain positions. When your term expires, you don't wear rank insignia anymore. You'd get a past officer device, but that's it. You sure you're OK with that?

I'm perfectly fine with that.  In my opinion, CAP should be like that as well.  There would be fewer people with the "holier than thou" attitude that is so common with officers in the organization. 

I haven't seen much of a "holier than thou" attitude. I see numerous idiots, which isn't unusual in any organization. 

[SARMedTech]

The Coast Guard Auxiliary does indeed have a couple of varieties of mess dress, though i dont believe they are allowed to wear the full dress whites with the stand up collar. You do realize however dont you 12211985 that the officer in the white mess dress in the left in the photo you supplied is an active duty officer (hence the gold buttons). I cant tell if the other fellow is or not. I think I see a glimpse of a silver Auxie button but I cant be sure. Also there is a difference between epaulets and hard shoulder boards which are seen in the white mess dress. Notice the black mess dress wears neither epaulets nor hard boards. Careful what you wish for...the CGAUX has more politics than were ever dreamed of in CAP. You dont use the latrine (or the head in their case) without a MOU from the Gold Side. And because they have positions or appointments and not ranks, being told to "pound sand" when you give an order someone doesnt want to follow is very much more likely. About the only thing being a flotilla commander means is that you own the boat. If you dont do what the Gold Side wants you to or how they want you to, you dont play...they will even tell you what shoes and boots will be worn on a facility for certain operations and if you dont comply, you dont operate.  Maybe you should join them and be a PWCO (personal water craft operator...aka skidoo pilot). If you think there are hoops to jump through in CAP, you aint seen nothing until you have everyone from Petty Officers to Admirals breathing down your neck. I think the tighter knit connection between Auxies and AD in the CG is something we should strive for if the AF would kinda stop fighting it. But restrictions and regulations are infininately more military (hell, they are totally military) in the AUX as opposed to CAP. Ask to visit a CG Station some day where Auxies are working and you will see what I mean. Not only will you be getting ordered around by AuxOps in the CGAux, you may just as well join the Coast Guard Active Duty becuase since they have no aux on/aux off policies, you do it their way, or you are free to leave the boat, the easy way or the hard way. And if you think the qualifications for any kind of grade or more accurately respect, which is what you seem to crave, are rough in CAP, you aint seen nothing yet. And Lord help you when you have to deal with the Navy. I saw two petty officers, one Navy, one CG get in a fist fight in the train station in Chicago over who really ruled the high seas. And you can have your orange dry suit, if you want to shell out a couple grand for it. Why dont you just rent the skip both CAP and the Aux, rent the Guardian, watch it a couple hundred times and when you make your wife fetch you a beer, make her "pop tall" clap three times and face you and shout "Aye Aye Senior Chief." I have a passion for the CG, but if you think its easier to rule the roost on their side of the fence, you have no idea what you are in for. Their regs except regarding rank are virtually word for word from the Gold Side and most directives come down from the hardest sailor ever to sail the salt, Admiral Thad Allen.

[wingnut]

Well written :clap:

[SARMedTech]

By the way, my passion for the USCG comes from the fact that I have relatives in my family line who served when it was the Revenue Service, the Lighthouse Service and the Life Saving Service. I know there are some here who do CAP and CGAUX and believe me, if I could afford it and the nearest flotilla wasnt an hour and a half away, I would join both and if my state had a State Guard, I would do that as well because I like the fact that they actually are trusted with armed law enforcement.  I met an old cronie from the Texas State Guard/Patriot Patrol who actually carried as his self provided weapon a BAR. Now thats when you know you have arrived. When CAP lets me carry my 4" .40 Springfield XD, hell, Ill scrape and paint planes if they want me to. My father recently purchased the XD in .357 and it is the sweetest shooter I have ever fired. I now return you to your scarf snarf. (New Use for Command Scarf...CAP Field Expedient Toilet Tissue. One of our cadets actually had one on the other night tied around his neck like a bandana with his BDUs and his buddies came up behind him and cut it off his neck. If its a choice between the chicken scarf and ultramarine tapes..ill take the tapes everytime....I assume the chicken scarves are meant for pilots....can I get an AMEN for berets for ground pounders...nice black ones like the State Guard with the command patch on the front. Only we will wear ours properly creased and "blocked" unlike alot of the state guard who wear them like bad french mimes. I would even wear an ultramarine one..talk about not being confused with momma blue. Hey, that might be a good idea....up the chain we go...oh wait...the blue beret contingent wouldnt like that. What about grey ones? Brown?  Come on, throw us some little bone. Or am I the only one that would prefer military berets over the PCs?

[SARMedTech]

Speaking as we are of scarves....When I was doing SAR as a first responder in the southest desert, I acquired and wore (forgive me for not knowing the name) one of those middle eastern scarves like you see alot of our spec ops guys wearing in the middle east. Dangit..what are they called? Does anyone know what i mean...if so could you post a photo of a special operator wearing one? Anyway, i had it an wore it (we wore surplus od green jungles) all the time. Sometimes I wet it and draped it over my head for evaporative cooling, sometimes as a scarf when the desert cooled off at night and very often, wrapped around my head and face with just a tiny part of my eyes showing during sand storms. If anyone knows where I could get one, i would love to know. I saw one somewhere and didnt bookmark the site. I suppose this would fall under the reg against combining military and civilian gear?  Coud i get away with it with BBDUs? Im not wearing it cause it looks good, which it does, but because it has infinitely practical field uses including a sling a sun cover for the back of your neck,etc.  Anyway...

I dont know if these are issued to the special operators (i did see them in a surplus site) or if they just "creatively acquire" them. Even if I couldnt wear it with CAP gear, I would love to have one. I loaned mine out and it never came back.

[SARMedTech]

Just do a search and type in Barf....Scarf...I meant scarf

So far we have:

Chicken scarf
Chicken foot scarf
Barf Scarf

Lets keep em coming...this is how we develop CAP distinctive culture 

[O-Rex]

I can hear it now: "I don't know where you got that scarf, but wherever it was, do they sell men's clothes too?" 

[JohnKachenmeister]

"I don't know what the guy got for designing that scarf, but he should've got 20 years!"

[LtCol White]

I think they wear the scarf at the Foghorn Leghorn Composite Squadron.

[IceNine]

One of the people that I respect more than anyone in CAP is a Spaatz recipient, 26 yoa Wilson Recipient, Graduate of the USAFA,  Director of the RCLS that I attended AND he wore the Scarf with pride.

I think I will do so as well.

As far as the kewlness factor WHO CARES, we don't wear these uni's for coolness we wear them for functionality. And I don't know about you but I hate the way my Flight suit rubs my neck raw.  And the farther I get into my scanner training the more I want something to combat it (enter stage right) the Scarf is a perfect solution.

As a matter of fact, I think I'll start a trend and anyone who gets their observer or pilot rating gets this scarf as a job well done.

[Smokey]

BTW....I was at the conference in Las Vegas in the session when Susie Parker introduced the scarf.  She showed it and it went over rather well with the folks there.  It had been worn by some folks at National during a wear test ( wear test a uniform item first...what a novel idea!) The idea was that the AF has scarves for the pilots (I've seen them worn numerous times on the base where I often go) and they were authorized for wear with the green zoom bag by the AF.  I agree the color could have been better, but the idea was to herald back to our roots.  The yellow was chosen for the main color because of our WWII yellow planes and , well, the 3 blade red prop is part of our heritage also.

[Hawk200]

Speaking as we are of scarves....When I was doing SAR as a first responder in the southest desert, I acquired and wore (forgive me for not knowing the name) one of those middle eastern scarves like you see alot of our spec ops guys wearing in the middle east. Dangit..what are they called? Does anyone know what i mean...if so could you post a photo of a special operator wearing one?

A shemagh? Like this:

http://www.actiongear.com/cgi-bin/tame.exe/agcatalog/level4s.tam?xax=28068&M5COPY%2Ectx=25385&M5%2Ectx=25385&M2%5FDESC%2Ectx=Headwear%20%2D%20Everyday%20Caps%2C%20Rain%20Hats%2C%20Bandanas&level3%2Ectx=results%2Etam&query%2Ectx=shemagh&backto=%2Fagcatalog%2Fresults%2Etam

Sorry for long URL, never got around to making them.

Anyway, a few of the non-operators have been known to wear them. Very comfortable from what I've heard.

[Hawk200]

...can I get an AMEN for berets for ground pounders...nice black ones like the State Guard with the command patch on the front. Only we will wear ours properly creased and "blocked" unlike alot of the state guard who wear them like bad french mimes. I would even wear an ultramarine one..talk about not being confused with momma blue. Hey, that might be a good idea....up the chain we go...oh wait...the blue beret contingent wouldnt like that. What about grey ones? Brown?  Come on, throw us some little bone. Or am I the only one that would prefer military berets over the PCs?

That's a bone I would throw back. I've worn a beret for about five years total for the Army Guard, and I hate them. With a utility uniform, they serve no proctical purpose. They don't block any sun, they're hot, and they have to be re-shaped every so often.

Berets have different meaning for the Air Force than the Army. For the Army, it's mostly an organizational thing, except to wear the rifle green, you have to be Special Forces qualified.

SDF's are primarily run along the same lines as the Army, ranks and all. That's why they wear the beanie (yes, my favorite nickname for the beret). The Air Force doesn't generally wear berets, they are linked to a specific job, not to an organization.

[JohnKachenmeister]

...can I get an AMEN for berets for ground pounders...nice black ones like the State Guard with the command patch on the front. Only we will wear ours properly creased and "blocked" unlike alot of the state guard who wear them like bad french mimes. I would even wear an ultramarine one..talk about not being confused with momma blue. Hey, that might be a good idea....up the chain we go...oh wait...the blue beret contingent wouldnt like that. What about grey ones? Brown?  Come on, throw us some little bone. Or am I the only one that would prefer military berets over the PCs?

That's a bone I would throw back. I've worn a beret for about five years total for the Army Guard, and I hate them. With a utility uniform, they serve no proctical purpose. They don't block any sun, they're hot, and they have to be re-shaped every so often.

Berets have different meaning for the Air Force than the Army. For the Army, it's mostly an organizational thing, except to wear the rifle green, you have to be Special Forces qualified.

SDF's are primarily run along the same lines as the Army, ranks and all. That's why they wear the beanie (yes, my favorite nickname for the beret). The Air Force doesn't generally wear berets, they are linked to a specific job, not to an organization.

The Marines call the Army beret the "Monica Lewinski Hat."

[Major Carrales]

The Marines call the Army beret the "Monica Lewinski Hat."

Relatively speaking, these two historical events occur almost at the same time.

[Hawk200]

The Marines call the Army beret the "Monica Lewinski Hat."

That really doesn't surprise me.

Relatively speaking, these two historical events occur almost at the same time.

Maybe I'm overanalyzing, but this fact disturbs me...

[Dragoon]

I have a scarf.  It sits on my "What Were They Thinking" shelf next to my miniature replica of the CAP NASCAR.

It is neither warm nor comfortable.  And being nylon, it would melt to your throat in a fire (so much for Nomex)

The one time I could see value in it was at some sort of ceremony or display where you had guys in flight suits standing around looking cool.  Like mebbe an air show or something.

We'd get a lot more wear out of an ascot in the same pattern to be used by CAP drill units.  Cadets just loooooove that kinda stuff.