Actually Gino not all units had the name tape on their DBDU’s. My fathers unit the 1st Tactical Fighter Wing 71st Tactical Fighter Squadron were using velcro patches with the leather name tag which contained the soldiers name branch of the military soldiers unit and rank and duty symbol embossed in the leather in gold lettering. He still has the leather name tag still.
Technically speaking, your father was an Airman, not a Soldier. Different service uniform regulations covering that sort of thing. The only folks in the Army who use the leather tag with skill badge, name and rank embossed on it are Aviators. And that is only work on their flight suits and flight jackets.
Like Stik said, US Air Force Airmen do things very differently than US Army Soldiers. I am describing US Army uniforms.
True he was an Airman but he was told the leather tag was an experiment being conducted by the AirForce. Once he got home he went back to wearing the name tape and branch tape on his BDU’s. Of course he got out of the Air Force in 93 so he didn’t get issued the 3 color camo DBDU but my younger brothers had the 3 color DBDU issued when they went to the Middle East in 2001 and 2003.
Even if he didn’t get the leather velcro patch, the Air Force still used a different name tape than the Army. Theirs was dark blue lettering on a green tape. The Army and Marines used black lettering. Of course in 1/35 scale, the miniscule printing color would be moot.
When I redeployed in 1993, our ALO had name tapes but some of his enlisted team had the leather patch. They all wore the First Cav shoulder patch with pride, even though it was not authorized by their regulations.
The Air Force captain was a nice guy, but his uniform was always shabby-looking, even to his enlisted crew. I don’t think he ever buttoned his chin strap or buckled his LBE. His staff sergeant was always making recommendations to tighten up, but to no avail.
I had a brief talk with him explaining that soldiers don’t see him as an Air Force officer; they only see a captain looking like Joe blank the Rag Man.
Rob this guy must have been a pilot then because if anyone else looked like the way he did there would have been trouble from the higher ups. And he did violate the cardinal rule of not listening to your seargeant.
Yes, he was an F-4 back seater by trade, but was currently assigned as the Air Liason Officer to the 1st Bde, 1st Cav. Nice guy, big, slightly overweight, always looked rumpled with his unbuckled LBE dangling down around his butt.
You figure he’s paying some penance for being assigned out of a flight billet and in among the Army’s First Kevlar Division.
I do recall at some point of my military career of crossing paths with some Air Force types, either Combat Controller Team (CCT’s - most likely) or Para Rescue Jumpers (PJ’s - less likely) who had that set up of the leather badge with name/rank/skill badges of the type normally seen on flight suits, on their BDUs. IIRC they actually had a velco patch their BDUs, just like on a flight suit. I just cant remember when or where right now. But I do remember now actually seeing it with my own two eyes.
If I remember correctly PJ’s were flight crew so they would have worn the flight suits though they could have worn the DBDU’s as they would have been carrying Load bearing equipment harnesses with the canteens side arm and mag pouches for both the M9 and M16. CCT’s or FAC’s were definitely in DBDU with the leather badge on the left side. BTW Stik did you run across a Combat Controller over in Saudi Arabia that was around 5’2" tall with really light blonde almost white blonde hair and went by the name Charlie Cox?
Knowing the pilot community most of my life Air Liason duty is usually handed out to those who are currently medically unfit for flight duty but not unfit enough that they can’t hump it with the Grunts. And AL duty can be handed out as punishment. Could be he had a ear infection and couldn’t be in the air or else the Colonel caught him with his wife before they deployed and used the Air Liason Duty to teach him a lesson.
I never went to Saudi. In 1991 I was in a unit (19th SF Group) that did not deploy there but on stand by to go to Turkey if needed there. Needless to say it did not happen. Schwarzkopf did not care for SF units and pretty much limited it to 5th Group in theater. The CCTs I crossed paths with were usually helping to run Drop Zones that I worked. I never got a name off any of those guys.
I am no expert on PJs, but from what I know they usually operate outside the bird on the ground and are trained, uniformed, and equipped as such. At least for Combat Search and Rescue (CSAR) missions. I have usually seen them in BDUs, Jungle Cammies, DBDUs, DCUs, etc. Those guys have all the high speed training such as Army Ranger, HALO, and Pathfinder schools, plus their medical training. I have a lot of respect for them.
When my brother got done with Basic back in 2001 he was approached to join the PJ’s basically because of his large size (he is 6’5" tall) and his strength (he benches over 300lbs) but he turned him down to go to Security Forces which when we were younger and still living at Langley were originally called Air Police. Well he got out in 06 and never got involved with Iraq though that probably had to do with my other brother who was in Iraq in the Army at the time.
Some “rules-of-thumb” from what I know (Army only). Most of the web gear was OD, the chemical suits were either OD or Woodland, the box art does a good job of showing which was which. Everyone was wearing their chemical suits for most of the conflict. Whether to use DBDU or woodland BDU really depends on what unit you are trying to model. The Rapid Deployment Force units from XVIII Airborne Corps were more likely to have DBDU. The VII Corps units which quickly deployed from Germany, along with many NG and Reserve units, didn’t even have DBDU until the fighting was over. A friend of mine in the 1st AD said they got them right before they went home. Same with another friend who was in an Army Reserve MP unit.
Thanks magnum… good info.
I know it mentioned before but more and more I gotta agree. This thread may go down as the “Definitive Desert Storm US Uniform” thread.
It’s good reference info here, thats for sure…
If ya want to do something a little different from Desert Storm, this photo is of an SF ODA that was taken prior to insertion on a Strategic Reconnasaince mission (SF version of Long Range Surveillence) in the Euphrates Valley. The team was compromised in their hide early on and had to call for CAS that ended up being danger close while fighting off Iraqi troops until a Blackhawk was able to fly in and extract them.
And here is a most enlightening link to a thread on another forum about desert boots worn by a few guys including some of the ODA above during Desert Storm…
I have been thinking about repainting the pants on one of the guys on the Enigma base with woodland pants. More of “see if I can do it” thing than anything else. Busy pattern in a small scale. And with this latest info appears there were the tan boots out there. Even Stormin’ Norman had a pair. So I think the guy with the parka will get some woodland pants and tan boots jut the break up the “sameness” of the 2 guys.
Interesting tidbit about the cardboard taped to the soles of the US boots.
SF has been doing stuff like that for decades. One of the reasons foreign stuff is seen so frequently there. It give a nice plausible deniability factor for their ops. Not that you need that in a full blown UN approved war. If ya wanna see some interesting bootprint soles, check out these jungle boots worn by MACV SOG in Vietnam…
Marc
I appreciate your desire to break-up the sameness of your scene. And I think doing the woodland trousers is a good idea. The tan boots though… I mean, sure, Norman had a pair, but it is funny how the higher up the chain of command you are the faster you get the latest and greatest gear. Those tan boot were out there, sure, but they were few and far between and pretty unlikely to be found on some run of the mill grunt.
I don’t know… it won’t matter to me, but inevitably some detail nitpicker will hammer you on it! [:P]