plastic encased insignia for senior members without grade

[tebert]

If you are wearing the AF style flight suit as a senior member without grade is there a plastic encased insignia you wear or do you just not wear anything unit you reach the rank of 2nd Lt.

[lordmonar]

You wear nothing....and SM on your Leather Name Patch.

Having said that....I would not bother with the name patch.

No need to spend money for a patch you may only wear 1-2 times.

[Eclipse]

Nametags are like $3 - get two sets and wear your uniform properly.

[a2capt]

Buy one - cover over the spot with the rank on it with electric tape, nicely cut.

When you reach that milestone rank, peel it off.  At least get some use out of it.


Or, get one with no rank and the 'CAP' centered, then you can use that on a flight jacket later. Or leave that on the inside and get the fully labeled one for outside. Or.. whatever.

[lordmonar]

Nametags are like $3 - get two sets and wear your uniform properly.

That would be $8.80 plus shipping and handeling...and if you have a flight jacket that would by times 2.

[Eclipse]

All good ideas...

[tdepp]

What, we can't purchase plastic encased nothings from Vanguard for flightsuits? Bummer.

[Spaceman3750]

What about plastic encased FO/TFO/SFO insignia?

[Al Sayre]

Good luck with that...

[kd8gua]

What about plastic encased FO/TFO/SFO insignia?

That's when an X-Acto knife, masking tape, plastic encased 1st Lt insignia, and dark blue nail polish become your friend. You have to uncase the cased metal insignia (in a nice enough way you can still replace the insignia without the whole thing looking too gawdy), then mask off the specific number of FO stripes, paint the metal bars with the nail polish, then replace the metal bars in their plastic encasements, and sew on. At promotion time, pop them off, take the metal insignia out, nail polish remover or paint thinner will work great, and change the number of stripes!

[Spaceman3750]

Hmm... If that's the case I think I'll either wear none or avoid flight crew activities .

[Eclipse]

What about plastic encased FO/TFO/SFO insignia?

That's when an X-Acto knife, masking tape, plastic encased 1st Lt insignia, and dark blue nail polish become your friend. You have to uncase the cased metal insignia (in a nice enough way you can still replace the insignia without the whole thing looking too gawdy), then mask off the specific number of FO stripes, paint the metal bars with the nail polish, then replace the metal bars in their plastic encasements, and sew on. At promotion time, pop them off, take the metal insignia out, nail polish remover or paint thinner will work great, and change the number of stripes!

Um, yeah...our uniforms are not craft projects.  You'd be better off just not wearing grade.

Or better still, wear a blue flight suit or jumpsuit and wear the much sharper color-matched cloth grade.

[wuzafuzz]

Proposal

Change Senior Member Without Grade to one of the following:

• Senior Member Without Insignia
• Senior Member Without Bling

[MIKE]

Senior Member Without Uniform.

[The CyBorg is destroyed]

One thing I've seen some SMWOG's do with the leather patch is get one that says 2LT and cover it with black electrical tape until they actually get their grade.

Back when the AF did the bit with the leather nameplates on BDU's, I saw some who would use a Dymo Labelmaker to make a label of their new grade after being promoted until they actually got a new nameplate made.

[RiverAux]

Having said that....I would not bother with the name patch.

I'm not sure that is an option. 

[tebert]

Thanks for the suggestions.  I think I would rather spend another $10.00 than walk around with black electrical tape on my patch.  Would be the laughing stock of the squadron.

[lordmonar]

Having said that....I would not bother with the name patch.

I'm not sure that is an option.

Sure it's an option.....and no worse then some of the other uniform violations people willing do.  It is no worse the the entire PAWG wearing the wrong T-shirt.....It is no worse then putting electrical tape over your rank or wings.

[RiverAux]

Having said that....I would not bother with the name patch.

I'm not sure that is an option.

Sure it's and option.....and no worse then some of the other uniform violations people willing do.  It is no worse the the entire PAWG wearing the wrong T-shirt.....It is no worse then putting electrical tape over your rank or wings.

Oh, I guess I don't really consider not following the regulations as a legitimate option, but maybe I need to expand my horizons a bit. 

[SarDragon]

What about plastic encased FO/TFO/SFO insignia?

That's when an X-Acto knife, masking tape, plastic encased 1st Lt insignia, and dark blue nail polish become your friend. You have to uncase the cased metal insignia (in a nice enough way you can still replace the insignia without the whole thing looking too gawdy), then mask off the specific number of FO stripes, paint the metal bars with the nail polish, then replace the metal bars in their plastic encasements, and sew on. At promotion time, pop them off, take the metal insignia out, nail polish remover or paint thinner will work great, and change the number of stripes!

There's a slight hitch there - the insignia inside the plastic aren't metal, they are a different flavor of plastic. I wrecked a set of major insignia, and did a little experimenting on them. The guts aren't metal, and can even be fused to the clear plastic, making that surgery difficult to impossible.

[tsrup]

Not to mention wearing plastic encased rank for FO, TFO, and SFO isn't authorized last I checked...

[Eclipse]

Not to mention wearing plastic encased rank for FO, TFO, and SFO isn't authorized last I checked...

You're going to need to cite on that.  Its a legit grade for senior members - why wouldn't it be authorized.
The practical reality is that that aren't produced, but that doesn't mean they aren't authorized.

[lordmonar]

Having said that....I would not bother with the name patch.

I'm not sure that is an option.

Sure it's and option.....and no worse then some of the other uniform violations people willing do.  It is no worse the the entire PAWG wearing the wrong T-shirt.....It is no worse then putting electrical tape over your rank or wings.

Oh, I guess I don't really consider not following the regulations as a legitimate option, but maybe I need to expand my horizons a bit.

try it sometime...you may be surprised.

I will grant you that following the regulations are important.....not saying they are not.  But in all things we can keep a little perspective.

Saving a new SM $20 for a something he may wear 1-2 times before he is promoted to 2d Lt in order to take advantage of a training opportunity is not a bad thing.

As far and few between flight training opportunities come.....if the only thing holding up some one is their leather name patch....I got no problem with letting the slide.  I have also told my NEW SM not to sew on their CAP cut outs for the same reason. 

Does that me a bad person?   So be it.  How many times have we lamented here about the costs of our uniforms and CAP in general.

Let's look at what a SM has to change when they put on 2d Lt.

New Flight CAP (SMWOG wear the enlisted cap).
Service Coat (SMWOG wear the enlisted service coat)
Leather Name Patch.

Let's expand this to other scenarios.

I was in my Mess Dress wearing Capt bars but I was a Major.  (I had only been a Major for less the 24 hours but I was out of uniform)....so do I not attend the Wing Banquet?

Lt Dumbjom gets promoted to Capt and the next day he gets a call out for a SAR flight....none of his uniforms have his new rank....does he not fly?

And our current scenario...

SMWOG Newguy has a chance to fly on the next SAREX....does he buy the pair of Leather Name Patches and high speed ship them or do we make him wait six months for the next opportunity to fly?

Regs are important....again...never said they were not....but there are always exceptions to the rule and one of the hardest jobs in leadership is knowing when and how to bend and break those rules.

So yest you should expand your horizons and explore the greater challenges of leadership. 

[tsrup]

Not to mention wearing plastic encased rank for FO, TFO, and SFO isn't authorized last I checked...

You're going to need to cite on that.  Its a legit grade for senior members - why wouldn't it be authorized.
The practical reality is that that aren't produced, but that doesn't mean they aren't authorized.

Conceded, wasted some time perusing 39-1, nothing to be found.

[Eclipse]

So yest you should expand your horizons and explore the greater challenges of leadership.

Or people could plan better and be prepared for their promotions. The newb with incorrect insignia is one thing.

A major who couldn't be bothered is another.

[a2capt]

I've seen the electrical tape trick a lot of times, it really does not look like laughing stock material at all.

In fact, you can barely even see it until you go right up to it.

What stands our more is the "off balance" look in that there is just black on the left. But you know what? You can but them that way, too.

[RiverAux]

Or, unless you are in the small number of places where a flight suit is required to fly, you could wear one of the other authorized CAP uniforms rather than worry about this issue for the short time most folks are SMWOG.  I'd say the flight suit is going to be a pretty low priority on the uniform purchase list unless it is absolutely required.