Uniform Insignia Forum

Looking for information on uniforms, insignias and ranks for Battlestar Galactica, new and old.
Thank you

lord ziba wrote:Looking for information on uniforms, insignias and ranks for Battlestar Galactica, new and old.
Thank you

Did any get hold on collar rank insignias of BSG?

Ziba

Hi,

I've been curious about the BSG ranks since the show re-aired in its 2003 version..

Hardly anything that I can find on the net so have done some guestimating based on what I have seen in episodes and been able to screen grab to look at..

because their rank pips are so small its hard to get a clear picture of any of them, specially the commander and colonel ranks.


From what I have seen and read the Colonial fleet uses a rank system that is a combination of an army and a navy system..

Officers

Officers --
Admiral
Commander
Colonel
Major
Captain
Lieutenant
Lieutenant (junior grade)
Ensign

Enlisted --
Master Chief Petty Officer
Chief Petty Officer
Petty Officer (1st, 2nd Class)
Specialist
Deck Hand
Recruit

So far during the series they have not shown all the ranks, those that have appeard are Deck Hand, Specialist, CPO, LT, Captain, Major, Colonel, Commander and Admiral..

I did find these illustrations online but I dont personally think they are very accurate...

http://battlestarwiki.org/index.php?title=Military_Ranks_%28RDM%29

I have thrown together some quick photoshops of what I have seen on the show..

From what I can tell all the colonial ranks are based around a diamond shaped gold pip with differing amounts and designs of smaller blue diamonds and chevrons, higher ranks also have a different shaped pip (Chief Tyrol is an example.. his pips have "wings" of sorts.)

so Here is what I have done so far..

Chief Petty Officer (example Chief Tyrol)

[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v455/malikdraeg/Crap/CPO.gif[/img]

Specialist (example the medic during the first 2 episodes of season 2) I am not sure if this IS the specialist rank but I figure a medic would have to be a specialist.

[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v455/malikdraeg/Crap/Medic-Specialist.gif[/img]

Lieutenant (example Lt Gaeta) (this could also possibly the Lieutenant JG insignia)

[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v455/malikdraeg/Crap/LT.gif[/img]

Captain (example Apollo)

[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v455/malikdraeg/Crap/Capt.gif[/img]


The one main difference I have found is Starbucks pips which are also a different shape.. I am not sure why but they appear to have a small viper shaped addition to them... possibly as she is a viper pilot, but Apollo doesn't have this on his pips.. the only other reason I could think of is because she is also a flight instructor, perhaps this could also be the rank for LT while the insignia worn by Lt Gaeta is for the junior grade, this would make Starbuck the only full LT shown so far in the show as its the only instance of this type I have seen to date..

Starbuck's insignia..
[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v455/malikdraeg/Crap/starbuck.gif[/img]


I am still trying to work out Colonel Tigh and Commander Adama's rank as their appears all gold so it's difficult to get a decent shot of it to work out the pattern although from what I can make out it looks like a standard shape pip with a circle with points on it (starburst pattern type thing) from what I can see they are identical so I have no idea currently what differentiates their rank.. perhaps they are both colonel's but Adama carries the honorific of Commander as he is the CO while Tigh is XO so goes by his standard rank

This makes sense to me given all the ranks barring commander and admiral are Army based ranks while those 2 are naval (havent seen an ensign yet so dont know if it exists.

I am also not up to the pegasus episodes so havent seen the possible Admiral's rank yet.
Anyways.. that's it for now.. more to come later hopefully.

Was out yesterday arvo and found the first season of BSG on DVD so grabbed and started watching it... was able to grab some clear screen grabs of the ranks due to the dvd quality so here's some better pics then my sad attempts.

[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v455/malikdraeg/Crap/helo.gif[/img][img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v455/malikdraeg/Crap/boomer.gif[/img]

the pic on the left is from Helo and the one on the right is from Boomer... Helo states when he is captured by the cylon that he is a Lieutenant JG so he and boomer appear to be the same rank. so this is confirmed as the LT JG rank pin.

[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v455/malikdraeg/Crap/Apollo.gif[/img][img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v455/malikdraeg/Crap/Apollo2.gif[/img]

Both these pics are from Apollo who is already been stated is a Captain.

[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v455/malikdraeg/Crap/Adama.gif[/img][img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v455/malikdraeg/Crap/adama4.gif[/img][img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v455/malikdraeg/Crap/adama3.gif[/img][img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v455/malikdraeg/Crap/Adama2.gif[/img]

These are all from Adama who's rank is stated as Commander, but if you check the next pic from Tigh, who is stated as a Colonel, the pins appear identical, this suggests that as I previously stated Adama and Tigh are both Colonel's, with Adama being given the Commander title due to being the ship's Captain. (same as a US naval commander is called Captain on his own ship)

[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v455/malikdraeg/Crap/tigh.gif[/img]

This is Tigh's pin, can't see the top but can see enough to see its identical to Adama's

[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v455/malikdraeg/Crap/tyrol.gif[/img]

Last but not least this is Chief Tyrol's pin, same design as the one I used to make my guestimate in the last post but different colours, suggesting that Other Ranks have a silver and green combination with officers the Gold and BLue..

Although the pin I used from the second season episode tyrol was wearing this design in gold and blue... so not sure if this is a level thing, or a uniform thing (gotta be colour coordinated you know)

Also got some of the wings they use..

[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v455/malikdraeg/Crap/helowings.gif[/img]

This one is from Helo

[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v455/malikdraeg/Crap/gaetawings.gif[/img]

This one from Lt Gaeta (who appears to be a LT JG)

[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v455/malikdraeg/Crap/tighwings.gif[/img]

This one from Col. Tigh

Not sure why there's a difference, I had first assumed that the first set (Helo and Gaeta) were associated with viper pilots etc... but Gaeta is a bridge officer on Galactica so shouldnt he have the same as tigh and adama?

Then I thought that the Tigh style were for field grade officers (Majors and up) but I havent seen a major yet nor an admiral... then I also have not seen anyone else wearing this style of wing... so jury is out on this one currently.

Strike what I said about Helo and Boomer..

watching another episode and Helo's pin is different from Boomer's...

given the design for Apollo's has little "legs" over hanging the diamond it would suggest that Boomer's insignia is more likely to be that of an Ensign (even though they regard her as an LT during the show)

Helo's insignia has one blue chevron with the little "legs"

Pic to come later.

OK...

after watching more of the first season I think I might have cracked it..

Here's some more versions that I did of what I found onscreen including some theoreticals based on what is visible..

so from top down here's what I think the badges are..

Commander

[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v455/malikdraeg/Crap/Commander.gif[/img] [img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v455/malikdraeg/Crap/CommanderV2.gif[/img]

Depending on the angle and lighting etc you see Adamas rank it changes what the circular image in the middle appears to be.. the first one is based on an insignia from the original series.. but another angle revealed the image might be the 12 colonies logo.. so I have done one (the right one) Im inclined to go for the second version over the first.

Colonel

[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v455/malikdraeg/Crap/Colonel.gif[/img]

Similar to Commanders sept for the "wings" the colonel appears to have a small silver chevron around the bottom of the badge... central image same problem as the commanders but I havent done the colonial logo version.. so you will have to picture it yourself.

Major (theorised)

[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v455/malikdraeg/Crap/Major.gif[/img]

Based on the first 2 this is what I feel the major badge to be.

Captain

[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v455/malikdraeg/Crap/Captain.gif[/img]

Lieutenant

[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v455/malikdraeg/Crap/Lieutenant.gif[/img]

Lieutenant Junior Grade

[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v455/malikdraeg/Crap/LieutenantJG.gif[/img]

Ensign (theorised)

Dont know if the ensign exists but I imagine it will be the same as above without the chevron.

Chief Petty Officer

[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v455/malikdraeg/Crap/ChiefPettyOfficer.gif[/img]

Same as before just in the new colours.

Petty Officer 1st Class (theorised)

[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v455/malikdraeg/Crap/PettyOfficer1stClass.gif[/img]

Petty Officer 2nd Class (theorised)

[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v455/malikdraeg/Crap/PettyOfficer2ndClass.gif[/img]

Specialist

[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v455/malikdraeg/Crap/Specialist.gif[/img]

Deck Hand (theorised)

[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v455/malikdraeg/Crap/DeckHand.gif[/img]

Recruit

Most likely no symbol.

That's it, somwhat diffirent from BSG Wiki, but I came to a same conclusion, and Cain's I think like Adama's but side-liners have much bigger shape.

Ziba.

Yes this looks more like what i have seen in BSG programs.
keep on and you will have it perfect.
nice job :D

greetings

Seen the episode where Lee was wearing Major rank insignias, they similar to Captains rather to Colonel's.

Zibster

Damn, what happand to the previous posts? About my Marine corps speculation?

Angry, Hungry, Ziba :shock:
ps. Was thinking to replace Ensign with W.o., while Commander with Brigadier and Admiral with General for Marines.

It is unfortunate that the collar ranks of the officers uniforms on Battlestar Galactica are so small. And, there seems to be a paucity of information of photographs clearly showing these devices. There have been at least three different styles of ADMIRAL badges available for sale as fan-produced items. They range from very simple to multipiece complex and nicely done. However, all suffer from the same problem: no clear close-up photographs of the acutal insignia used on the show. If you freeze frame some episodes and are very careful, you can see some fairly clear images. We need better. Perhaps someone will post images of the ADMIRAL badges.

Some useful information on BSG insignia at this site if anyone is interested:

[url]http://www.galactica.tv/battlestar-galactica-2003---news/the-rank-insignia-chart-for-battlestar-galactica-2003-update.html[/url]

Also some further discussion here:

[url]http://www.galactica.tv/battlestar-galactica-2003---news/rank-insignia-and-symbolism-analysis-for-battlestar-galactica-2003-update.html[/url]

Hi, there surprisingly has been added yet another small set of ranks. For NCO and Warrant Officers: Master Chief Petty Officer(CF)/Sergeant Major (CMC) and Warrant Officer. As a for the officers' corps: Lieutenant Colonel. For more information, just follow this link:
http://en.battlestarwiki.org/wiki/Military_Ranks And follow the line up -- Military Ranks (RDM) - Ranks as used in the Re-imagined Series.




Thanx for reading, Zibster !