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this post was submitted on 14 Oct 2026
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so are you given your uniform or do you have to purchase it. Because if you have to purchase it then that is some BT.
It depends. Enlisted are paid a uniform allowance, Officers are not. Special uniform parts needed for performing your duty are given to you.
Yeah, I agree. Shouldn't have to pay for something that's mandatory. Ask Congress about it.
Yeah its kinda anti capitalist to limit its use if you bought it. Its like if you want to limit how its used then it should be some kinda loan. Maybe you can pay a used price when you retire if you want to keep it. Medals and such should be a gift to so that should always be allowed to be worn as the recipient sees fit.
Agreed. A lot of people will hand down rank patches to the rank below so that they don't have to buy new ones. It's helpful and usually a sign of respect to your younger troops.
thats even more amazing. you would think they would make it a point to control the rank insignia. Like you have to hand in your old one when you get your new one and such.
I mean, you can just buy the stuff online? Why does it need to be controlled?
exactly because of that. Like you know what was it the marines or something that copywrited a camoflouge pattern. I mean would make much more sense to control insignia. Its not that it needs to be controlled as much as its beneficial to. Its like saying why does currency need to be controlled.
Well, there's a 2 part answer to that. MARPAT, which you are referencing, contains little EGAs (Eagle, Globe, Anchor - the trademarked logo of the marines) and it's intent was to both distinguish it from other branches uniforms and reduce the amount of commercial knock offs.
For rank, we've borrowed rank insignia from predecessors, so you can't really trademark that.
The rank honestly means nothing to anyone outside the military. And it only matters when you're trying to figure out who has the authority to make certain decisions. Faking rank or impersonating a different rank will get you into trouble FAST.
Unlike currency, which has value on it's own, the rank means nothing without the paperwork to back it. There's paperwork behind your rank, and THAT'S what matters. Not the insignia itself.
yeah but as you said faking it is something you don't want. Thus you want to make it has hard to do in the first place so you don't get to the point of going after the person. I mean counterfitting will get you in trouble fast to if your caught. Im kinda surprised they never said. Hey we are redoing insignia so that its unique to us.
Sure, but cost/benefit analysis says it's not worth the time and effort. The rank insignia have tradition behind them that the military wants to maintain.
It's HARD to fake the paperwork. And that's what you'd really need to fake it effectively. People will catch you very quickly.
I also don't think there's enough benefit to anyone faking it for it to matter either. People do "stolen valor" all the time, and what do they actually get out of it?
So what's the motivation to fake it in the first place?
I don't think every interaction between military personelle involves checking one anothers paperwork. As I said it basically like currency. Why would somone want to make a duplicate of a police badge. Well that would be to pretend to be a policeman. why would someone duplicate some rank insignia. well to pretend to be someone in the particular thing at that particular rank.
I think we may be talking past each other.
People fake money, because then they can spend more money than they have.
There really aren't any benefits to faking being in the military of a certain rank.
People WILL check you paperwork in the military, when you show up. I'm not going to just do whatever some random Lt Col tells me, unless I KNOW who they are.
It's like being in school. Your teacher expects certain students to be there. If they see someone they don't know, they find out why.
There is literally no reason to protect insignia from being produced by whomever. It holds no value by itself.
yeah all the same on any particular day a substitute can show up and none of the students are going to check credentials. I get it but im sure there is some scenario where someone might try. I get it though. Its pretty far fetched and not worth it for them to bother. Still I don't feel its to far fetched for them deciding to have an exclusize thing with it like with the camo.
Totally, if someone really wants to, they can, but it would be hard to do anything useful with it. And the school example was meant to be something relatable to you, since most people have been to a school, but haven't been in the military.
It is more rigorous in the military. People DO ask if someone new shows up without a sponsor.
Also, to even get on a military base, you have to have a military ID.
Doing it in public though? Super easy.