My Pet Hate

OzCam

One thing that annoys me, and I concede that some may not agree, is people wearing patches or badges that they haven't earned, and are not entitled to.

I passed an enjoyable flight in the US last year with a veteran of Gulf War I. Something which greatly annoys and distresses real soldiers is to see someone wearing Airborne or Ranger tabs (for example). It takes months, sometimes years, of dedicated effort and training to earn those badges, and to see someone treating them so lightly is heartbreaking.

Here's another, related, thing - buying an issued uniform and not removing the country flag from it. I've nothing against a British or German flag or whatever on somebody's shoulder, but if you're not actually representing or fighting for one of those countries you should take two minutes, unpick the stitches, and remove the flag. There's no need to disrespect it - at all - but you really shouldn't be wearing it either.

There are exceptions: re-enactors, movie extras, wearing something as a tribute or remembrance of a relative or loved one. But they're exceptions.

This issue actually annoys me as much or more than players complaining about someone not taking hits. Unless you've got good eyes, or are using a scope, and actually see or hear the BB landing on target, you can't be positive you hit him. If you only fire a couple of BBS, maybe you missed, maybe he didn't feel it, maybe he decided not to take the hit. You can't know for sure unless it's blatant. So don't whine about it - put half a mag on him, hit him with 30 BBs and make the decision for him. This will have the side-effect of encouraging players to take a hit when in doubt, and you'll feel all the better for it. If that still doesn't work, then call a marshal.

If you want to get respect, you have to give it. And those who've earned it, deserve it.

Snowie

OzCam wrote: »

One thing that annoys me, and I concede that some may not agree, is people wearing patches or badges that they haven't earned, and are not entitled to.

I passed an enjoyable flight in the US last year with a veteran of Gulf War I. Something which greatly annoys and distresses real soldiers is to see someone wearing Airborne or Ranger tabs (for example). It takes months, sometimes years, of dedicated effort and training to earn those badges, and to see someone treating them so lightly is heartbreaking.

Here's another, related, thing - buying an issued uniform and not removing the country flag from it. I've nothing against a British or German flag or whatever on somebody's shoulder, but if you're not actually representing or fighting for one of those countries you should take two minutes, unpick the stitches, and remove the flag. There's no need to disrespect it - at all - but you really shouldn't be wearing it either.

There are exceptions: re-enactors, movie extras, wearing something as a tribute or remembrance of a relative or loved one. But they're exceptions.

This issue actually annoys me as much or more than players complaining about someone not taking hits. Unless you've got good eyes, or are using a scope, and actually see or hear the BB landing on target, you can't be positive you hit him. If you only fire a couple of BBS, maybe you missed, maybe he didn't feel it, maybe he decided not to take the hit. You can't know for sure unless it's blatant. So don't whine about it - put half a mag on him, hit him with 30 BBs and make the decision for him. This will have the side-effect of encouraging players to take a hit when in doubt, and you'll feel all the better for it. If that still doesn't work, then call a marshal.

If you want to get respect, you have to give it. And those who've earned it, deserve it.

i think your right.. dead right...

as for players not taking hits my first day of air soft i was acused of this when in fact the only thing that was hittin me where ricashays, and then he turned round and told people i wasnt taking hits how ever what anoys me is when you have your hand up after taking a hit and you shout hit there person doesnt stop firing, having said that i think we all get caught up in the moment so i wont complain to much about that

but badges etc yes my grand uncle was in ww2 and got killed in egypt no his exact grave etc but I can see the real issue with soldiers being a bit put of buy what work it take's to say become a ranger in the us army... or a marine comander, in the english army or a ranger in the irish army ....

badges for these people are a mark of honer.....

Masada

This has been mentioned before and its a bit of a controversial one.

The way I see it is, its not illegal so if anyone whats to wear them then by all means, do so. And I've worn them myself(im allowed to).

If were to talk about removing flags from uniforms, since were not german or british troops, Next we'll have to remove trade marks on our rifles, because their not real rifles and real steel owners of these rifles have to jump through hoops and spend lots of money to get their real rifles. then we come along and have them on a toy. were not representing the countrys we copy our loadouts from. and in my opinion, badges are just another part of a uniform.

I think its a very anal argument and the people who have objected to it usually arn't the people who have actually earned the ranks/ badges/ insignia so how it effects them, i dont know.


I dont think it compares to taking/not taking hits at all though.,

desertstorm

I personally dont see a problem with just wearing a patch on your airsoft gear for the plain and simple sake of it looking cool. It's not like the persons shouting out "Yeah I'm elite SF just like those guys in blackhawk down for real" (Obviously if they were going on with a bitta BS thats a diff story)

it just adds to the fantasy of playing soldier I guess, kinda like how Doc dreams of one day becoming a fully licensed, chartered and practising cowboy.

kevteljeur

Ozcam, this is why you were picking at my Dutch flag on my jacket last Sunday. Well, I'm Dutch (I have a Dutch passport), and I came within a hair's breadth of conscription when I was 18. I have the 'right' to wear the flag.

But at the end of the day, we're just people in fancy dress and toy guns playing a game. I wouldn't read too much into it.

o1s1n

Im_MacGyver wrote: »

I think its a very anal argument and the people who have objected to it usually arn't the people who have actually earned the ranks/ badges/ insignia so how it effects them, i dont know.

,

I totally agree with this. It's a good example of being offended on someone elses behalf. Which annoys me to no end.

'That could be really insulting toward X'.

Until X complains or has a problem with it, stfu.

As for the issue itself, I wouldn't wear specific badges. But I wouldn't look down on others for doing so.

I mean we dress up and pretend to be soldiers. We have fun doing so. Using the same argument, Is that not disrespectful toward any soldier who has died in a war?

You could go on and on with the pedantics. It's silly really.

Snowie

Im_MacGyver wrote: »

This has been mentioned before and its a bit of a controversial one.

The way I see it is, its not illegal so if anyone whats to wear them then by all means, do so. And I've worn them myself(im allowed to).

If were to talk about removing flags from uniforms, since were not german or british troops, Next we'll have to remove trade marks on our rifles, because their not real rifles and real steel owners of these rifles have to jump through hoops and spend lots of money to get their real rifles. then we come along and have them on a toy. were not representing the countrys we copy our loadouts from. and in my opinion, badges are just another part of a uniform.

I think its a very anal argument and the people who have objected to it usually arn't the people who have actually earned the ranks/ badges/ insignia so how it effects them, i dont know.


I dont think it compares to taking/not taking hits at all though.,

Your arguement is just as good....
and i agree with you as welll bassically i can ee booth sides of the coin ....

Craigsy

I personally don't believe you should wear patches unless you earned them, and i'm sure a real ranger or SF for example might be more than "displeased" if he saw you wearing it after he's gone to hell and back for his.
Also i, personally am not to keen on people wearing rank insignia for ranks they haven't earned, but i doesn't bother me as much as patches. Up to each individual person i guess.
Just my 2 cents

NakedDex

Half the fun of airsoft is the attention to detail you can bestow upon your gear. I went to great pains to get an authentic looking US 10th Mountain loadout, to the lengths of even having caribiners dotted around my plate carrier and 40ft of climbing rope on my back. Part of that is having the 10th Mountain patches on my arm. Far from disrespectful, I have nothing but respect and admiration for them men and women of that division, that's specifically why I wanted to mimic their loadouts.

Disrespectful patch wearing comes when someone has specifically set out to deface a patch or wear it in an obviously inflammatory way. For example, wearing a US flag upside down, a patch of a burning French flag (I've seen that one personally) etc. Those are the only one's I'd have issues with.

People can be very fussy about patches. I've had people confront me about wearing Air Force patches with ACU (since the AF now use ABU) and ask me who I thought I was wearing an EOD patch and a master sergeant rank patch. I'm not Tom Brady and I don't play for the New England Patriots, but noone had a problem with me wearing his jersey in training. I didn't "earn" that badge, those Superbowl insignia, those numbers or even that jersey. Then again, neither did the guy wearing the Polomalau Steelers jeresy, or the Manning Colts jersey who were usually either side of me. The guy beside me right now is wearing a Pittsburgh Penguins ice hockey jersey with Sidney Crosby's name one it, but it's equally not for fisicious reasons.
People wear these things because they respect and admire those who did earn them and want to let others know that, not to mock them.

birdman 1979

If you haven't earned them, dont ware them. Thats my two cents on the matter. Their are plenty of patches out their that do not relate to current military structures, and they look well cool. Eg res evil, aliens, halo and c.o.d ect ect. I think Delta, Ranger and rank badges takes from a loadout. If your going for a look you dont need a badge, the gear should speak for itself.;)

Spetzcong

I don't see it as a problem to be honest. I think anyone who has gone to the effort of earning their badges has a right to be just as disparaging of people who dress up as soldiers and have an auld play at war on a weekend, without having put in any of the hard work or training that real soldiers do, whether those pretend soldiers, or weekend warriors are wearing specific badges, patches, ranks or not.

At the end of the day if you've earned it, you'll know what it's worth. Whether its a badge, a rank or even the right to wear a uniform in the first place.

There's a big difference between someone wearing something on the skirmish field, and some one walking down the street in something. It's the same as our AEGs, it's fine to use them at a site, because everyone there knows they're not real, it's not fine to walk down the road with them, because out there people will mistake them for the real thing.

o1s1n

birdman 1979 wrote: »

If you haven't earned them, dont ware them.

But none of us have even been through basic training. (Well most of) Why should we be wearing any kind of military gear?

I don't personally agree with wearing badges or patches, but I'm not going to tell other people not to as I'd feel like a bit of a hypocrite because of the above.

Spetzcong

o1s1n wrote: »

But none of us have even been through basic training. (Well most of) Why should we be wearing any kind of military gear?

I don't personally agree with wearing badges or patches, but I'm not going to tell other people not to as I'd feel like a bit of a hypocrite because of the above.

Exactly, you could deny people the right to wear badges and patches, but why stop there, might as well give everyone who wants to wear camo at a site a basic military fitness test, just to check that they've got what it takes to wear the uniform.

At the end of the day it's a game, we play it for fun. All of this "you shouldn't wear that, you haven't earned it" business is taking things far too seriously for my tastes. I'd be far more in favour of a "do what you want, lets just have a laugh" attitude.

NakedDex

birdman 1979 wrote: »

If you haven't earned them, dont ware them. Thats my two cents on the matter. Their are plenty of patches out their that do not relate to current military structures, and they look well cool. Eg res evil, aliens, halo and c.o.d ect ect. I think Delta, Ranger and rank badges takes from a loadout. If your going for a look you dont need a badge, the gear should speak for itself.;)

You think a rank plate and shoulder flashes take from a loadouts look, fair enough, that's personal taste. On the other hand, my personal taste has me seeing people in ACU, MC, DPM etc with fictional/fantastical computer game insignia as being a bit distasteful. I still don't pull the owners up on it, it's their call, not mine.
That said, I wore a Suicide Girls patch on my ACU for a while as a joke and got told off by a random skirmisher at an event for doing so. Clearly I can't win either way, perhaps I should skirmish in the gear I have earned? Jeans and a Leinster jersey aren't the worlds greatest camo, nor do they look as fetching in a ditch on skirmish field as they do on a couch in a Starbucks.

andros

Ahhhhhhhhh relax. It's just an innocent play. We are pretending to be soldiers and we are pretending to have insignia and such. But think that most of the players were those things as a tribute to all those soldiers from all those formations. And those soldiers it they would understand our passion for the sport, they would understand why we wear them. I also think they would appricciate our respect for them and what they did. What kind of sacrefices they made.

I understand your point of view. My grandfather got highest possible decoration that polish soldier could ever have.

By the way. I hate people not taking their hits. But I'm not complaining about that (ever if it's a game braker). There was few situation were I'd know I was hit if I wouldn't see BBs hitting me.

And if someone is not taking his hits deliberately, I don't complain, just punish him.

Hivemind187

My team uses a specific patch that is not used by any military in the world (its a scary face). It's not because there is any aversion to wearing a Ranger of Delta flash, merely that it doesnt suit what we are doing nor make any sense. The lads wear their "Red Hammer" patches with pride having been there and done that.

Perhaps we should have more of these "event" badges which people could tag to their uniforms as a means of showing what they have actually achieved.

As for wearing the flashes of specific units ... well, I dont want to be around when someone takes offence but in the end, the highest form of flattery is imitation.

Mr B. Wooster

this crap comes up again and again and again.....

As a bonafida yank I can find offence to someone using UCP, ACP, US Woodland, MARPAT etc using an AR15, SCAR etc but I don't.

Its a game, some fun in the sun (or rain). A friends uncle was a Ranger back in the day and thinks airsofters are sad ba$tards (the US ones anyway) who go into waaaaay too much detail in some of their loadouts but doesn't give a crap about what they wear or the details.

Ultimatly its a game, you're going look like some military/terrorist group/PMC no matter what you do. We all spend our weekends being sad ba$tards in the woods, a field or a warehouse playing soliders like we're 5 year old kids. Looking like something we're not IS what its all about!

Busta Hyman

im slowly building what i hope to be a decent looking SWAT rigout but im F**ked if im gonna go digginin crack heads outta double wides.

this is a game with fancy dress thats it. i see no problem with ppl wearing rank / insignia or even dressing as a blood or a crip ffs as long as you are doing it with respect for the uniform you are wearing and not trying to take the piss. most ppl are here for fun and try to create some authentic looking rigouts.

but untill i stop being a lardass my dream of an authentic swat rigout just means i have to play twice a week ........:)

birdman 1979

o1s1n wrote: »

But none of us have even been through basic training. (Well most of) Why should we be wearing any kind of military gear?

I don't personally agree with wearing badges or patches, but I'm not going to tell other people not to as I'd feel like a bit of a hypocrite because of the above.

At the end of the clothes are clothes. I know that alot of people like to pay attention to detail. You can have great loadout without unit or rank markings on it. Most of the units people mimic, dont ware such items when they are on ops.

Hivemind187

Busta Hyman wrote: »

im slowly building what i hope to be a decent looking SWAT rigout but im F**ked if im gonna go digginin crack heads outta double wides.

This has my vote for post of the evening :pac:

NakedDex

Hivemind187 wrote: »

Perhaps we should have more of these "event" badges which people could tag to their uniforms as a means of showing what they have actually achieved.

I've seen that used elsewhere, it's more trouble than it's worth. It leads to elitism of the worst kind. People, rather than being looked on as experienced for having done x number of events and therefore possibly useful, are often seen as unapproachable and snooty. On the flip side, newer people with less or no event tags on them are looked upon as being useless or a liability regardless of whether their capabilities exceed that of their peers.
It just leads to more rows and shouting from the terraces about corruption and favouritism until such time as the new lads have a bunch of patches too and they become the snooty ones looking down on the newbies. Ain't perpetuating cycles grand?

kevteljeur

I take offence to people wearing the Tri-Circle Polyarch Tribute. None of you knows what it's like to fight the Gh'arr Feeki in the Methane trenches of Gamma Epsilon IV. The pain, the brutality I've seen, the microwave beams streaking across the night sky...

Well, if I ever see any of you with the Tri-Circle Polyarch Tribute, I'll challenge you to the Lurgan Eel Wrestle there and then, let me tell you. You'll know fear when that happens.

NakedDex

birdman 1979 wrote: »

At the end of the clothes are clothes. I know that alot of people like to pay attention to detail. You can have great loadout without unit or rank markings on it. Most of the units people mimic, dont ware such items when they are on ops.

Sure they do. Ok, granted the likes of Delta, SAS etc don't wear any insignia when out and about, but then again, they don't even have a set uniform or loadout. They use what they want and wear what they want, so technically a guy turning up with an MP5 and a tracksuit could claim he's in an SWAT loadout simply because there's no set rules for them.
The rest of the armed forces, however, do have to wear their insignia when out, for identification by friendly forces and civilians and have to wear their ranks for the same reasons.

o1s1n

birdman 1979 wrote: »

At the end of the clothes are clothes. I know that alot of people like to pay attention to detail. You can have great loadout without unit or rank markings on it. Most of the units people mimic, dont ware such items when they are on ops.

At the end of the day, badges are badges.

Wearing badges may be offensive to people serving in specific units, but using the same reasoning, dressing up like soldiers for fun should be offensive to anyone who takes soldering seriously.

Unless you have earned the right to complain by being in a special ops unit - don't complain. If you do, you should be offended by people dressing up as soldiers for fun too.

Anyway, I think I've made my point.

*Shuts up*

TheDoc

Airsoft is about authenticity of the military world, minus the dangers.

Teams may well use ranking insignias to generate ranks in their outfit. Although they didnt earn them by dodging bullets in iraq, I'm sure they earned it by being clever minded and efficent on the airsoft field.

I personally will wear, anything I want, aslong as its not irish dpm. And i wont give a rats ass, and anyone who would make a sly remark about it, is flat out told to go ****.

I have jsut enough reason as anyone to get "offended" by people wearing irish dpm in airsoft fields, who clearly are not in any serving outfit. I have many relatives in current service, I have great( and greater) uncles who have fought in world war 1, and 2 ,and 3 uncles who died during the 1916 rising. My grandmothers house was burned down in front of her family by black and tans..who then proceeded to shoot her 4 brothers.

So really, I should go flipping mad everytime i see a union jack on brit dpm, but i dont. Because i understand this is a game, of authenticity, where the player wearing the persay item, is using it for his loadout, and doesnt neccesarily stand for what it is etc.

Just like when I go and invest in my german WW2 loadout, no doubt it will have some insignia, but it doesnt mean i stand for nazi beliefs or some master race. It is just for authenticity.

I could make the same arguement that I'm offended everytime I see someone wearing an Ireland jersey. I've played football for my country, 3 times, not much granted, but I still did. Should I be offended? Or proud ? I think its the latter.

I'd be seriously more concerned with non hit taking, and the amount of people at sites trying to sneak in hot guns knowingly, then how many bars I have on my arm.....

If someone from the service wants to come have a go at me for wearing something, I'll listen respectfull, if they are respectful.

It is a game, and why some people feel the need to often bring up very anal and minute topics like this just ****ing bedazzles me

Its ridic

NakedDex

o1s1n wrote: »

dressing up like soldiers for fun should be offensive to anyone who takes soldering seriously.

The only person I've met who has found this offensive is my hippy ex girlfriend who didn't take soldering seriously at all. Her idea to create world peace was "why doesn't someone just ban guns everywhere, even for armies". Do you really want to be lumped into that nutty category?

kevteljeur

NakedDex wrote: »

The only person I've met who has found this offensive is my hippy ex girlfriend who didn't take soldering seriously at all. Her idea to create world peace was "why doesn't someone just ban guns everywhere, even for armies". Do you really want to be lumped into that nutty category?

Soldering is serious business. Without it, there would be no computers, and where would we be. Glad you got out of that one.

Spetzcong

birdman 1979 wrote: »

At the end of the clothes are clothes. I know that alot of people like to pay attention to detail. You can have great loadout without unit or rank markings on it. Most of the units people mimic, dont ware such items when they are on ops.

You're contradicting yourself, if it's ok to pay attention to detail why can't people go the whole hog and get the correct insignias and so forth? What you're saying is, it's ok to pay attention to detail, but only up to a point. That's not really paying attention to detail though is it?

I don't care if a stage 7 vegan comes to a skirmish dressed as Ronald McDonald, complete with fake Big Mac, it's their days skirmishing too, and if that's what they want to dress up as then who am I to go telling them not to?

My pet hate is people who take airsoft too seriously.

TheDoc

kevteljeur wrote: »

Soldering is serious business. Without it, there would be no computers, and where would we be. Glad you got out of that one.

had me ****ing in stithes mate

Quality Street

Killinator

Its hard to believe that anyone could hate badges/patches more than people breaking the fundemental rule of the game,
I trained with the Irish miltary, I am not entitled to wear Irish DPM (as much as I would like to), I would love to be able to wear my DPMs with Irish flag on the shoulder displayed, I cant.
Most here would agree that the majority of us cant just join up with the US Rangers or Delta just like that and then earn some ranks and patches so we can use them in airsoft, thats ridiculous.
I wear either American Woodland or American Tri Colour Desert BDUs, If I shouldnt be wearing patches of real army units then arguably I shouldnt wear BDUs/camo of any army other that the one I served for, and seen as how I cant wear Irish DPM then what the hell am I to wear,
If a US ranger or delta operator ever say anything to me about it(highly unlikey as that would be) I would try to get across my point of view that I admire these people, hence why I wear such patches,
Frankly to me it would be just as disrespectful to remove an American flag from my American BDU jacket then to leave it on.

irishlostboy

personally, i have no problem wearing my nations flag. its perfectly ok. its not a mili award.
we cannot wear our nations camo pattern uniform. but we can wear replicas or another countries uniform. thats fine.

as re; award badges, recon, ranger, sas etc, why not go over to where the real people who get these awarded to them hang out and see how they feel about it?
http://www.militaryphotos.net/forums/
this forum has a high number of real soldiers on there, and they REALLY take exception to people wearing their badges and giving themselves titles which they were not awarded. myself, i dont care. but i do respect the wishes of the people who actually have the right to have an oppinion on the subject (those that earned them and gave those badges the reputation you can only dream of). so for me; i wont wear them.
unless there is a law against wearing them, i guess it is up to everyone else to figure out where their respect lies for themselves. i wont care if i see somone wearing them. personally i think every man-jack of us look like total frikkin twats in our clobber as it is. we could only make it worse by making a gay-pile. maybe.. lmao

Irishmaster

Wear what you can afford, have fun, end of!

birdman 1979

o1s1n wrote: »

At the end of the day, badges are badges.

Wearing badges may be offensive to people serving in specific units, but using the same reasoning, dressing up like soldiers for fun should be offensive to anyone who takes soldering seriously.

Unless you have earned the right to complain by being in a special ops unit - don't complain. If you do, you should be offended by people dressing up as soldiers for fun too.

Anyway, I think I've made my point.

*Shuts up*

I think the main point of the discussion was the wareing of unit/rank badges. Grand most weekends we dress up and go out and pepper each other with bbs and have a great time. So we ware cammo, which a lot of people find odd. Personaly i do not like people wareing rank/unit badges. I am not going to give them a hard time over it. I know that people would like to have the best loadout ever. Can people do it without rank insignia or a unit flash? What would the person from the unit you are trying to copy say to you if he/she seen you?

gerrowadat

[DM]-TheDOC- wrote: »

Airsoft is about authenticity of the military world, minus the dangers.

Teams may well use ranking insignias to generate ranks in their outfit. Although they didnt earn them by dodging bullets in iraq, I'm sure they earned it by being clever minded and efficent on the airsoft field.

I personally will wear, anything I want, aslong as its not irish dpm. And i wont give a rats ass, and anyone who would make a sly remark about it, is flat out told to go ****.

I have jsut enough reason as anyone to get "offended" by people wearing irish dpm in airsoft fields, who clearly are not in any serving outfit. I have many relatives in current service, I have great( and greater) uncles who have fought in world war 1, and 2 ,and 3 uncles who died during the 1916 rising. My grandmothers house was burned down in front of her family by black and tans..who then proceeded to shoot her 4 brothers.

So really, I should go flipping mad everytime i see a union jack on brit dpm, but i dont. Because i understand this is a game, of authenticity, where the player wearing the persay item, is using it for his loadout, and doesnt neccesarily stand for what it is etc.

Just like when I go and invest in my german WW2 loadout, no doubt it will have some insignia, but it doesnt mean i stand for nazi beliefs or some master race. It is just for authenticity.

I could make the same arguement that I'm offended everytime I see someone wearing an Ireland jersey. I've played football for my country, 3 times, not much granted, but I still did. Should I be offended? Or proud ? I think its the latter.

I'd be seriously more concerned with non hit taking, and the amount of people at sites trying to sneak in hot guns knowingly, then how many bars I have on my arm.....

If someone from the service wants to come have a go at me for wearing something, I'll listen respectfull, if they are respectful.

It is a game, and why some people feel the need to often bring up very anal and minute topics like this just ****ing bedazzles me

Its ridic

You work in a shop.

NakedDex

I doubt they'd care. They'd probably think we're mad for going off and spending hundreds, or even thousands, accumulating all the stuff they get paid to wear and issued for free.
I don't think you can do a lot of detailed loadouts without flashes. If I didn't have a 10th Mountain flash on my arm, having caribiners and a rope would be pointless. It's there because I've seen it commonly on images of 10th Mountain troops in the field.
If we're not allowed have attention to detail in creating a loadout, we don't need realistic looking aeg's and might as well take up paintball instead (not disparaging paintball, but paintballers will be the first to admit it's in no way realistic).

Irishmaster

Hey dont knock paintball!!! Id switch to paintball if every shot i took didnt cost me 15cent a pop! A bottle of 3000 would be at least 300euros. Lol! Oh also id take it up if balls didnt go in every direction every ball fired!:D Game of paintball anyone??

jill_valentine

It's just set dressing, really. I don't see the problem with it. Most actual soldiers I know wouldn't really care about it, either.

The only guys I can imagine objecting are obnoxious twats anyway, to be honest. It's not about the badge or what it represents to them, it's more about getting a chance to once again tell everybody how great they are for having them.

Most soldiers I know don't really feel the need to prove anything to anybody. They know what they are.

andros

[DM]-TheDOC- wrote: »

Airsoft is about authenticity of the military world, minus the dangers.

Teams may well use ranking insignias to generate ranks in their outfit. Although they didnt earn them by dodging bullets in iraq, I'm sure they earned it by being clever minded and efficent on the airsoft field.

I personally will wear, anything I want, aslong as its not irish dpm. And i wont give a rats ass, and anyone who would make a sly remark about it, is flat out told to go ****.

I have jsut enough reason as anyone to get "offended" by people wearing irish dpm in airsoft fields, who clearly are not in any serving outfit. I have many relatives in current service, I have great( and greater) uncles who have fought in world war 1, and 2 ,and 3 uncles who died during the 1916 rising. My grandmothers house was burned down in front of her family by black and tans..who then proceeded to shoot her 4 brothers.

So really, I should go flipping mad everytime i see a union jack on brit dpm, but i dont. Because i understand this is a game, of authenticity, where the player wearing the persay item, is using it for his loadout, and doesnt neccesarily stand for what it is etc.

Just like when I go and invest in my german WW2 loadout, no doubt it will have some insignia, but it doesnt mean i stand for nazi beliefs or some master race. It is just for authenticity.

I could make the same arguement that I'm offended everytime I see someone wearing an Ireland jersey. I've played football for my country, 3 times, not much granted, but I still did. Should I be offended? Or proud ? I think its the latter.

I'd be seriously more concerned with non hit taking, and the amount of people at sites trying to sneak in hot guns knowingly, then how many bars I have on my arm.....

If someone from the service wants to come have a go at me for wearing something, I'll listen respectfull, if they are respectful.

It is a game, and why some people feel the need to often bring up very anal and minute topics like this just ****ing bedazzles me

Its ridic

First of all Airsoft is about having fun. And wait there was another thing, a yeah havng fun.

OzCam

Actually, many of the posters are right. I've had second thoughts about this, and my OP doesn't meet some of the principles & standards I'm supposed to live by and hold myself to. So I'm sorry for all the trouble and for offending people.

Mods: if you think we should close the thread, please do. If you think people should have their say, so be it.

birdman 1979

Spetzcong wrote: »

You're contradicting yourself, if it's ok to pay attention to detail why can't people go the whole hog and get the correct insignias and so forth? What you're saying is, it's ok to pay attention to detail, but only up to a point. That's not really paying attention to detail though is it?

I don't care if a stage 7 vegan comes to a skirmish dressed as Ronald McDonald, complete with fake Big Mac, it's their days skirmishing too, and if that's what they want to dress up as then who am I to go telling them not to?

My pet hate is people who take airsoft too seriously.

When i was talking about paying attention to detail, i was speaking about gear. E.G aegs, helmuts, webbing, camo ect ect. I think that is all you need. I dont feel the need to put a badge on my gear, or a set of stripes or stars either. The people who put them on, are these people takeing airsoft too serious? The mind boggles?

Masada

I see what your trying to say, but in the case of people who do it taking airsoft too seriously, would you not agree that it is in fact the opposite and that people who take exception to the badges are the ones taking things too seriously?

Again, it seems like being offended on behalf of someone else as o1s1n mentioned earlier. I was actually given my insignia by the person who earned it and that goes against the argument of all the people who dont agree with wearing insignia.,

NakedDex

Why not have patches though? There are far more arguments to have the freedom of choice than to not have them at all.

Killinator

birdman 1979 wrote: »

When i was talking about paying attention to detail, i was speaking about gear. E.G aegs, helmuts, webbing, camo ect ect. I think that is all you need. I dont feel the need to put a badge on my gear, or a set of stripes or stars either. The people who put them on, are these people takeing airsoft too serious? The mind boggles?

Is it necessery to have a scope/silencer on an aeg?
Some people feel a pair of good boots and some camos and an aeg is good enough,
Some others will make sure they have the right colour laces on their boots,
Is spending a few hundred on airsoft gear too serious,
It aint an open and shut case,
Going back to badges/patches, my desert shirt was sold to an online retailer by a soldier who earned a engineer patch/medic patches, they were happy to sell it on for someone else to buy and wear regardless of whether they earned the patches or not

-PornStar-

birdman 1979 wrote: »

When i was talking about paying attention to detail, i was speaking about gear. E.G aegs, helmuts, webbing, camo ect ect. I think that is all you need. I dont feel the need to put a badge on my gear, or a set of stripes or stars either. The people who put them on, are these people takeing airsoft too serious? The mind boggles?

All you need to enjoy a game of Airsoft is an aeg and enough ammo to last you the day. It could be argued that doing anything more than this is taking it too far.

Personally I don't think anyone has a right to draw these invisible lines and expect people to follow them. Do what you want, there are more important things to worry about.

Edit:- Also fair play to OzCam, takes a far bigger man than me to change your opinion on something like that.

NakedDex

jill_valentine wrote: »

Most soldiers I know don't really feel the need to prove anything to anybody. They know what they are.

QFE

ED E

Hmm. I'd have to say I dont have a problem with people wearing insignia if they are doing a specific loadout. A guy with a full SAS Kit(I know that could be anything but you get what I mean) should be able to wear the relevant patch without being hassled. Everyone knows he's just imitating, but thats airsoft.

On flags, a load of irish flags are on my shopping list. I'm not doing it to claim to be PDF, I'm doing it for my pride of being irish, and when I finnally get off to some continental games it'll be a nice touch I think.

MacAonghusa

OzCam wrote: »

One thing that annoys me, and I concede that some may not agree, is people wearing patches or badges that they haven't earned, and are not entitled to.

You're argument is flawed. The patch is only a part of the uniform, it's just a unit designation, an organisational marker basically. If people haven't earned the right to wear the patch then they haven't earned the right to wear the uniform. What exactly are we supposed to skirmish in?

The uniform I believe I have the right to wear is illegal to wear here. Am I supposed to move abroad and join some other nations army before wearing flecktarn or brit dpm?

It's all a bit silly to be honest; no offence intended. Airsoft is milsim; wearing uniforms, patches included, is just part of the game.

NakedDex

Easy up, read back a few posts. He changed his mind on the subject. There's a couple of others who hold the belief still though, which is their perogative. They can hold it as long as they want so long as noone tries to stop me wearing them or takes them off me (which has happened before, someone just yanking off my patches saying I didn't earn them).

MacAonghusa

NakedDex wrote: »

Easy up, read back a few posts. He changed his mind on the subject. ...

Really bad connection at the mo; takes ages to load a page so can't get through the whole thread, just managed to load the first page.

NakedDex wrote: »

which has happened before, someone just yanking off my patches saying I didn't earn them

!!! Sheez! Some people have issues! They can believe what they want but have no right to force those beliefs on to others.

johnboysligo

I was thinking of getting a US Rangers WWII uniform and kit to be honest id think of it as a good way of showing how much you respect their courage and dedication now if a actual Ranger who served in WWII asked me to remove the badges id be happy to do so but id do my best to explain why im wearing what im wearing.
Now if a current US Ranger asked me to remove the logos id be happy to do so quietly because deep down i know

he has training to kill people :P

gandalf

OK Ozcam I have chatted to you in person about this and I believe you hold these beliefs for the right reasons. However I am going to have to disagree with you.

Personally I am doing 2 loadouts which are/will be using rank insignia and unit patches with maybe decorations.

The 1st is the Vietnam one which is almost complete with insignia rank of Captain and 1st Cav patches along with my name and US Army on either breast. Why Captain I just like the look of the rank insignia thats all. Airsoft is escapism and doing something that most of us never will and hopefully never have to do.

The 2nd Loadout which I have just bought the base for is a Splinter Camo Wehrmacht Uniform. I am going to have to be careful about this one and insignia for obvious reasons other than just offending soldiers. At the moment I am looking at patches for this and will make a decision soon about what I will be slapping on this.

At the end of the day as long as you are not showing disrespect to those that served in the uniforms then I see no harm in trying to emulate them.