As a resident of "Cascadia," I found the idea for this movement very interesting. Several years ago I joined a pro-Cascadian forum for a bit to learn more about it. I did some designs for hypothetical Cascadian military flags and insignia and to posted them for the other board members to see. In typical Pacific Northwest fashion, they were offended that I tainted their plan for a peaceful utopia. In their minds, Cascadia would have no need for a military.
I never made a full set of military insignia back then, but I came across this thread and decided to give it a go. I had a rough idea of how I wanted the system to look. I browsed various countries to find something similar to what I pictured. There would be slight influence from the US and Canada, but the insignia of modern Japan was actually very close to what I imagined for Cascadia. In a way, this makes sense since Cascadia is situated on the opposite side of the Pacific as Japan. Much of the population of Cascadia are of far east Asian descent as well.
The overall color scheme for all services is gray with a slightly greenish tint. To me, olive green doesn't really represent the region and anything that is too dark or forest green looks more like a civilian park ranger's uniform. Instead, I chose a shade of gray, to match our gloomy skies.
The residents of Cascadia tend to be more liberal and would not likely support a large, extravagant military. Therefore, I imagined that Cascadia would have a self-defense force, similar to Israel or Japan (again). Cascadian uniforms would be very simple and utilitarian. No pompous parade uniforms here. To keep production costs down, each branch would wear the same nearly identical uniform year-round. Field/utility uniforms would come in three varieties: woodland, desert (much of Eastern Washington and Eastern Oregon is actually quite arid), or gray (for Air Force and Naval personnel). Unlike the US military, field uniforms would be worn only on field operations and not as an everyday garrison uniform. Officer rank is represented by darker subdued insignia for enlisted and company grade officers, and lighter subdued insignia for field and flag grades. Since all branches use nearly the same system, all ranks are easily recognized without drawing unnecessary attention to higher ranking individuals.
The common theme throughout the ranks is the apple blossom. Many other nations use some type of leaves or flowers, so I chose one that is synonymous with the Cascadian region. Company grade officers are identified by a series of dark blossoms, while field grade officers use the more prominent silver. Generals and admirals have the same idea, but with large blossoms clearly indicating their prestige. To align with Cascadia's progressive attitude, all rank titles are gender-neutral and there are no degrading terms such as "Second Class" or "Sub-." However, the Naval rank of "Petty Officer" is retained because it is traditional and still widely used in the English speaking world.
I hope that you all enjoy. I free-handed these images in MS Paint, so please excuse any slight imperfections. Also, I can't get the forum to show the entire image, so I posted only the link instead.
CSDF Army Rank:
http://i66.tinypic.com/2cg0zg4.png
CSDF Navy Rank:
http://i63.tinypic.com/6zsrid.png
CSDF Air Force Rank:
http://i65.tinypic.com/r1ingp.png
Field Ranks, all services:
http://i65.tinypic.com/xg036p.png
