Yeah I gotta agree there- white cap, solid red stripe on pants.

No offense to the suggestions that were made.

I'm having a bit of trouble locating the white PVC parade belt that I suggested earlier (never thought it would be so difficult).

Does the actual USMC wear a nylon belt?

_________________
I told you I'd shoot, but you didn't believe me! WHY DIDN'T YOU BELIEVE ME!?!

Was just a suggestion... no offence taken.

They wear a white web belt:

http://www.grunt.com/usmc-merchandise/dressblues.asp

The white belt used on the USMC dress blue uniform looks like this:



Link: http://www.usmcblues.com/belts.html

You'll notice a bare brass enlisted belt buckle which begs for some sort of Delta device to be affixed to it...

A black leather NCO duty belt is available too; it is also available in white. It isn't high-gloss however... at least not at first.

_________________
CPL Conley, D. A06/TQ2.0.72147E1



"To err is human; to forgive, divine... Neither of which is Marine Corps policy."
"In Onoraigh Ar Marbh" ~ We Honor Our Fallen

Oooooo, love that white leather NCO belt!! But, if only NCO's get it...still like the white web belt...

_________________


USCM- The Colonial Marines- A Brotherhood of Bad Asses!

Well, we -are- taking liberties here and creating something from scratch... so there's no reason the "USCM Dress Uniform" can't have that type of belt.

Hell, I've toyed with the idea of suggesting a Sam Browne belt...

_________________
CPL Conley, D. A06/TQ2.0.72147E1



"To err is human; to forgive, divine... Neither of which is Marine Corps policy."
"In Onoraigh Ar Marbh" ~ We Honor Our Fallen

Here's my contribution to the effort... I've made ribbons based on flags of the cities where we have our drops. City flags are normally available on Wikipedia.


Atlanta

Dallas

Toronto

Montreal

Here's what my ribbons would look like, along with my actually earned military one on top.

Thoughts?

Looks very cool... do you all use numbers for multiple instances of being awarded the same award or commendation? I'm used to seeing stars added for subsequent awards...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_star

What's your military one... and moreover... what would the accepted criteria be for those who have earned medals/ribbons? I wouldn't expect they'd be applicable... commemoratives would be, I would think, but actual government-issue medals/ribbons I'd be iffy about.

_________________
CPL Conley, D. A06/TQ2.0.72147E1



"To err is human; to forgive, divine... Neither of which is Marine Corps policy."
"In Onoraigh Ar Marbh" ~ We Honor Our Fallen

So, we're adding numbers or stars to city drops as opposed to multiple ribbons?

I'll need then (if there's ordering to be done, or we doing these ourselves?) a green/black one for DZC.

This is all coming together.

We still need though:

1) Delta emblem for hat

2) Delta emblems for collars

3) Custom "Colonial Marines" for shoulder

_________________


USCM- The Colonial Marines- A Brotherhood of Bad Asses!

I think numbers would be preferable... Some of us have been doing DCon too many times to fit the right amount of stars on a ribbon. Perhaps at 10+ a star?

To answer your question Derek, here's my medal.

One thing to remember about the stars (at least in the US Military) is there are two colors. One for singles and one for fives. So you don't really get a lot of stars on the bar (for example at 10 cons you have five stars, the bar for number 1, a silver star for numbers 2-6, and four bronze ones for numbers 7-10). Though if we could find small Roman Numerals for the number that might look neat.

Ohh..I like that idea...Roman numerals sounds great...

Especially since Ive been to DC for about 11 or 12 years now.


Derek

_________________
Cpl D. Smith CMD
A04/TQ1.0.62147E1


RIP Pvt. Chris Chulamanis A14/TQ4.0.66993E7 You are missed.

mmm. I like Roman Numerals.

_________________
"The other Gareth"

I'm OK with Roman numerals... but we'll eventually have to find a place that can supply them.

I will contact my local medal store to see if they can make the ribbons.

I'm volunteering myself to hand out the digital ribbons... anyone want theirs generated? Let me know the con (and location) and number of drops each. If you have real military decorations, let me know what they are and I can add them in as well. Should I post this an off-topic?

Hmmm, off-topic or stay on this thread?

Until we decide...here's mine Dom

D-Con
San Jose's Silicon
BSA Halloween Fest ( )
DZC (Black & Green)


I just bought a vintage Marine Corps jacket off ebay. There were several sizes available. Min. bid is $29.95, Buy it Now at $59.95 I did the BIN, got my exact shoulder/waist size!

I'll be removing the SSGT and Chevrons. I'll also have to be removing the globe/anchor buttons, probably adding just plain brass buttons. I'm wondering if I should try and add a USCM symbol onto them, or just leave them as is. Thoughts?

Pretty darn good deal, compared to the brand new ones at $300+ if you ask me!

_________________


USCM- The Colonial Marines- A Brotherhood of Bad Asses!

Where is BSA held? What city? Also, please keep in mind that this will be reserved for USCM drops, not just every event you go to... By this I mean an organized event in a specific city in which you appeared as a colonial marine... and not just any costume party.

When you say "vintage Marine Corps jacket", are you referring to an actual dress blue jacket?

Back to the ribbon topic: I love the way they look. By definition, these would be campaign ribbons/medals.

"A campaign medal is a military decoration which is awarded to a member of the military who serves in a designated military operation or performs duty in a geographical theater. Campaign medals are very similar to service medals but carry a higher status as the award usually involves deployment to a foreign region or service in a combat zone."

Which then means for further awards (DragonCon 3 times, for example...)

"A service star, also referred to as a battle star, campaign star, or engagement star, is an attachment to a military decoration which denotes participation in military campaigns or multiple bestowals of the same award. Service stars are typically issued for campaign medals, service medals, ribbon awards, and certain military badges. Service stars are different from award stars, which are issued for multiple awards of meritorious and combat decorations.

The United States military issues bronze, silver, and gold service stars, with a silver service star issued “in lieu” of five bronze.

Use as a Campaign star: For instance, six campaigns, served on a campaign medal, would be annotated by one silver and one bronze service star. In some situations (e.g., the Southwest Asia Service Medal, which is a campaign medal/ribbon), each recipient is entitled to at least one campaign star. Thus, a Southwest Asia Service Medal without at least one bronze star would be inappopriate. "

I say stick with the established stars...

_________________
CPL Conley, D. A06/TQ2.0.72147E1



"To err is human; to forgive, divine... Neither of which is Marine Corps policy."
"In Onoraigh Ar Marbh" ~ We Honor Our Fallen

Let's not forget Derek that...
- This is fictitious future paramilitary force (yes, we work for WY) and for costuming
- We are not only US Colonial Marines, also UK and Canadian, ribbon standards should not necessarily be from US traditions. As far as I know, the UK has no 5-point star on any of their medals and we definitely don't.

So what you're suggesting would be:

1 bronze star for each drop (meaning that 1 drop would mean no star and two drops would mean two bronze stars)
1 silver star for 5 drops (plus additional bronze for every other drop)

I'm a little more interested in Award Numerals, shown below in arabic numerals.



Would you feel comfortable to compromise on this?

Dom,

The award numerals look great!

Let me state that I was only quoting the U.S. Military regs due to that being what I'm used to. I am absolutely more than willing and open-minded to look at other options, other country's military regs, et al.

Please understand that in no way was I attempting to come across as "...the US does it this way so it has to be done as such..."

I'd hate to give off that impression.

In fact, I'd love to see things on the uniform which are straight from Canadian or UK or any other country's military tradition. This wouldn't bother me in the slightest and, in fact, would add something very special to this uniform... which we all are creating from scratch and absolutely should reflect the various cultures and countries from which we all hail.

So, having said that, I can see the award numerals being immediately recognizable to anyone viewing them as being second, third, fourth (etc) awards. The stars can be confusing to those who don't know what they mean.

Again, my apologies if I came across in a manner which I most certainly didn't mean.

_________________
CPL Conley, D. A06/TQ2.0.72147E1



"To err is human; to forgive, divine... Neither of which is Marine Corps policy."
"In Onoraigh Ar Marbh" ~ We Honor Our Fallen

It's a team effort here pal... I'm willing to listen to all suggestions... even yours! Any other opinions? Numerals? Stars? Can we hear from the Brits?

Dom, if youre gonna take all this down, then heres my info....


D Con x 5 (In USCM Gear) 12 total
Vulcon x 4 (Atlanta)
Sci Fi Summer x 4 (Atlanta)

Thats it for the moment...


Derek

_________________
Cpl D. Smith CMD
A04/TQ1.0.62147E1


RIP Pvt. Chris Chulamanis A14/TQ4.0.66993E7 You are missed.

Perhaps i got a solution for your Shining White "plastic" Belt, when i ve done my tour of duty in the French Army, we got such belt for Flag Guard during Parade or Main Gate Guards

32$ with shipping to Canada or USA


http://cgi.ebay.fr/CEINTURON-BLANC-PARA ... dZViewItem

http://cgi.ebay.fr/CEINTURON-BLANC-PARA ... dZViewItem

Even for a Squad Sgt Major like (or don't know the highest rank for NCO in UK Army, i ve seen such for them)
http://cgi.ebay.fr/SPAHI-Ceinture-rouge ... dZViewItem

or BW one

http://cgi.ebay.fr/Ceinturon-blanc-Offi ... dZViewItem

I believe that through Army tailor could be stock some plastic white belt with plain gold metal buckle like USMC one but without any "logo" in so free to put our

I must check that last model avaibility

EDIT : or the Soviet Marine Infantry White Parade Belt
http://search.stores.ebay.fr/soviet-whi ... eNameZWD1S

Just to edit the Soviet Star or redone another buckle who match this white strap? but THE USMC a bare brass enlisted belt buckle IS the best CHOICE

Dom, I was just joshing over the BSA halloween party!

I really like the idea of those numerals over the ribbons! Very cool!

DD, yes, it's a vintage Marine Corps jacket I got for $59- I figured if I could score one that looks exactly like the one we were lookng at for $300+, remover the USMC identifiable insignia, making it look like the one we were going to order brand new, why not?

Same cut, same style, modify USMC into USCM and bam! The major expense of this outfit is dramatically reduced.

LSKIV, those belts look pretty good too.

_________________


USCM- The Colonial Marines- A Brotherhood of Bad Asses!

I close my eyes for a few hours and BAM!!!

Has this thread ever taken off!

OK will there be an issue if we purchase an actual Dress Blues tunic and alter it ourselves? This was kind of suggested (by me) at the beginning of this thread and was met with mixed feelings at best.

It's my understanding that the whole point of finding a high collar jacket was so as not to use an actual Dress Blues tunic as this is taking what may very well have been a Marine's issued tunic and turning it into a costume.

You may have jumped the gun there Rex.

Anyway- believe me I'd rather this didn't cost hundreds of dollars as well (looking around the white service cap ain't cheap either).

If it's not a problem (and I mean completely not a problem at all, not just iffy), then more power to us!

Now on the service ribbons, will this be ribbons we can pin on our uniforms? Sorry for sounding stupid.

For me:

D-Con x5 (yes- USCM since the beginning)

Polaris x2 (been going since '94- but only twice as USCM).

And Derek (Devildog) don't apologize man! Your beginning to sound like me!

And I didn't think you were coming across as "It should be done this way" at all!


However I do think we're going to have to come up with a way to distinguish between the two Dereks.

_________________
I told you I'd shoot, but you didn't believe me! WHY DIDN'T YOU BELIEVE ME!?!

Um, small confusion. Are we doing the midnight blue jacket or black? I thought we were doing black, but maybe I'm wrong.

And the Arabic numerals look good. I just said Roman for the stylization, but if we can get nice Arabic ones easily (and cheaper) than custom Roman ones let's go that way.