Uniform Insignia Forum

hello ,this is my second question :
which of the present day official rank insignia of a general , marshall or admiral/ commodore from whatever army ,navy or air forces in the world
is the most subdued or inconspicuos ?
So that if you would ware it on a civilian clothing piece , no-one would notice ???
Thanks in advance !
tiaan 25 from Belgium

If nobody noticed you were wearing it... what's the point?

the point is that I would know !!!

If it should happen, and I don’t think it would.
Maybe for example a subdued US General’s stars (dark thread) on a dark suit.
If you look at various types of subdued ranks you’ll see what I mean.
I think it would be a little pointless however!

Hm, in my mind cams one sci-fi story, the Imperial Security of Barrayar (fictional planet in Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan Saga series) Service agents very often were wearing civillian attire, therefore their ranks were individual rank pins under cover of open collar. So, in order to show rank, they simply lifted the open colar and rank was pinned on a jacket! Btw, KGB, simply showed the special ID book with ranks, if person wore civillian.

Zibster1

thank you for your kind answers ,
but the proposals that you give were already in my mind.
They are still to conspicous for my taste.
I just wanted to wear such insignia without getting into trouble.
Or without beeing to conspicous myself.
Others do not need to know,as long as i know.
B ut , it isn't that important.
Thanks anyway .
Tiaan.

The only way to avoid rank badges been too conspicous, would be to have them made the same shade, pattern and material as the coat.
Even so, they would still be seen close-up, face to face!
Or as lordziba said, pin them on the inside.
As for getting into trouble, I don’t think foreign badges would count, your average cop in say Texas,wouldn't arrest someone for having a Swiss or Italian Generals badge on his/her collar.
Didn't a certain pop star prance about with rank badges on, without getting arrested?
Could be wrong though!

It really depends on where you live. In the UK it's illegal to impersonate a member of the armed forces (as I suspect it is in any country), but due to the vast amount of military surplus uniforms that are on sale, people wear army Number 2 Service dress jackets or RAF Number 1 Service Dress jackets (with rank and sometimes unit patches still sewn on). I have also seen people wearing the pin-on silver NCO chevrons that are issued to both PT instructors and cooks for wearing on their PT kit/ chefs whites respectively, on their bomber jackets/ other civvie attire (http://www.cadetdirect.com/order1.php?pg=1522).

Officer's rank will be tricky, in any country, but particularly in the UK as their commission (whatever type) essentially means that they have power of arrest over anyone who is junior to them and they are also technically "on duty" for the duration they hold their commission. That said, againg I've seen plenty of people walking around with pips/stars pinned to their outer jackets in rows as a fashion statement; by pips, I mean: http://www.cadetdirect.com/order1.php?pg=1470. If you wear the crown, then chances are someone will spot it and not be very happy about it.

RAF Officer's rank cloth is something else I've seen sewn onto civvie attire: http://www.cadetdirect.com/products2.php?subcat=86. Though it's to be chosen carefully according to your attire.

However, it is almost impossible to buy any British rank insignia above that of Colonel (Group Captain in the RAF), occasionally Brigadier(Air Commodore, RAF) (depends on the shop), but some walk-in army surplus to go up to Field Marshall, but only in rank slides for epaulettes.

thanks for your answers again.
But i think the problem is that the rank insignia worn by the generals , admirals and marshalls all over the world are just to conspicous anyway.I mean, even in a subdued form, they almost all have either stars, crossed swords and marshalls batons, crowns or equivalents and of course strips for admirals.
These particular signs are so specific to officers clothing ,
that they will never be found on any civilian clothing as mere a ornament or fashion statement.
Probably with good reason, eh ?
What i am looking for is, i think, a rank insignia of a general, marshall or admiral,from whatever country, that looks like a normal part of a normal civilian clothing piece.
For instance, a zipper , a button ,a colour , a pocket ,or something one can find on a normal clothing piece.
But i think that it doesn't exist.
So it will remain a dream.
Ah, such is life
and i gets suchers everyday.
thanks!
tiaan from Belgium.

Anywhere in the world it is illegal to impersonate any official personnel (uniformed or otherwise). The question is: what one has to do in order to commit such an offence? Well, there are two ways: one, to verbally claim to be such and to substantiate your claim with false ID (i.e. to say "I'm detective Smith from the Shagville Constabulary" and show a false ID). The other way is to appear dressed in a manner that would convince others of your fraudulent claims. In other words, wearing any kind of military insignia on your obviously civilian jacket, or wearing military headgear, etc is NOT impersonating an official, it's merely your choice of fashion. If you wear bluejeans and a bluejean jacket, you can fix on your jacket even a FM's dress epaulettes and still nobody would consider you as impersonating a FM. Of course, if you wear DPM clothes with subdued insignia you might be considered as impersonating military personnel.

In any case, this offence is one commited with premeditation, i.e. one must WANT to impersonate an official in order to carry out unlawful acts, so the Police and/or Public Prosecutor must prove that you actually intended to commit the offence (e.g. you tried to pull a Köpenick).

You are correct in what you say, Anywhere in the world it is illegal to impersonate any official personnel (uniformed or otherwise). Wearing any officers insignia could land you in court.
But! The abundance of coats and jackets that have some form of military badge tends to make if a little easier to get away with it, if you wear foreign badges.
Most countries I think tend to tolerate foreign badges, it’s harder for them to prove you’re impersonating a UK policeman if you wearing German or Italian badges.
Wear the same badges in Germany or Italy and you probably could have problems.
As for subdued admirals and generals rank, I still believe that US woven stars are about the most subdued.

The only website I've come across that sells subdued US General Stars is: www.soldiercity.com, but I don't think they deliver outside the US, unless they've changed their policy since I last tried to order something from them. Hope that's of some help.

thanks for your info,people.
But i have to clearify something :
it is certainly [b]not[/b] my intention to impursonate an general ,marshall or admiral or to misuse these rank insignia for whatever reason .

And the trouble i talk about isn't only that about legality.
Because also everyday people could be offended by someone who uses such insignia.
Do not forget: in most countries people do not htink very positive about the military ...
Greetings,
tiaan from belgium