Hey folks! It's been a REAL long time since I've been on here but I remember having a great discussion on this subject here back in the day but it looks like it disappeared. Someone even took the words I wrote (taken from canon sources (TAS Journal issue)) and made a GREAT set of pics! So, to revive the discussion, here I go! (and if someone with GFX skills wants to redraw them, awesome!)
This came from the "Uniforms of the Terran Occupation Forces" article in a TAS Journal and it went into HUGE detail about uniforms and rank insignia. (Marines had a really slick looking red jacket and black pants with red seam stripes and topped by a peaked cap. The whole thing looked like it combined the best of European and US designs at the same time) Here's a quick and dirty paraphrase of the rank insignia...
This was meant to be a UNIFIED system that was ordered into use by an Emperor (circa 979, if memory serves).
Enlisted Ranks: Square patch on upper arm on most uniforms with discs patterned in a way that ended in a cross configuration. Now here's where it got confusing. TAS suggests that a disc got added every 2 or 3 ranks but, in this forum, we came up with something more comprehensible so I'll write about that. Silver Discs for E-2 to E-5. Gold Discs for E-6 to E-10. Placement order is always Left, Right, Top, Bottom (per the article).
Officer Ranks: O-1 to O-3 used silver sunbursts. O-4 to O-6 used gold sunbursts. O-7 to O-10 used gold four-pointed stars. On duty uniforms these were on epaulets/shoulder straps. On dress uniforms, they were on hard Navy-style shoulderboards. On BDUs and armor they were on the chest and subdued.
So... there it is. Shall we discuss?
![Smile :) :)](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)