O.K., so. Where can I wear this?!1

[UTUSN]

CAVEATS: 1) For any Salts out there, this is NOT an official military uniform. Except for the "rockers" (defined below), the patches are NOT official uniform items. AND, also, Salts, I fully realize that only ONE rocker per sleeve, AND that both sleeve rockers are (on a real uniform) supposed to be the SAME, namely, the current, ACTIVE duty station, but this is (repeating) NOT an official uniform and is analogous to a shadow box, wherein I wanted to include all three of my duty stations, and I have not been on ACTIVE DUTY for some 30 yrs. 2) My ribbons are not "heroic." They are just memories. Plus, among the ones shown here plus one not shown, two are from a country (S. Vietnam) that doesn't even exist anymore.
3) Also, REALLY, wearing this thing is an automatic attention-grabber, for good or ill, and I really really do NOT want that. Hence, the biker reference at the end, where everybody would be wearing stuff and everybody either goes around admiring everybody's costumes or everybody just ignores.


Years ago I wore a brown leather bomber jacket in cold weather until the unfortunate expansion of my stomach and it was clear the condition would never reverse itself and the jacket would never fit again, so I got rid of it. Then a few months ago I found an unusual one, originally designed for use in the tropics, a bomber jacket made of 100% cotton/khaki, weighing under two pounds.

So I had all these patches that are sewn on jackets (of the Navy, Vietnam, my ships). And I thought that they would be going on the khaki bomber jacket. But when I got to wear the jacket for the first time, it is SHARP looking, and the patches would sort of ruin the look. Plus, it would only be worn one or a few times per year.

So I thought of putting the patches on a SHIRT that can be worn anytime, by itself in hot weather and with a jacket in the cold. I was about to go with a plain white shirt, when I found an unusual one at a sporting goods store: Something they called "a fishing shirt," that has extra pockets in the front and a sort of windbreaker panel on the back, made of 100% cotton, all with a vaguely military look, although I fail to grok why anybody would go fishing in a white, cotton shirt that would so easily be dirtied and soaked. So this tailor said he could whip out patches like a champ, used to doing this for emergency responders, and he did, putting them exactly where I told him to.

So you know what a shadow box is, well, this is virtually a shadow shirt: The picture shows the back and the sleeves. On the left sleeve is the ship's "rocker" or name-of-the-ship, my ship in Vietnam, with two of my/its ribbons, the Combat Action and the Vietnam ribbons. The right sleeve has my 2nd ship's "rocker", and the third rocker of my last duty station and a triangular patch of that third one.

Then the piece d'resistance, the back: The large U.S. Navy patch, large Vietnam Veteran patch, then the round small one to the left of the Mobile Riverine Force (the GROUP of ships my ship belonged to in Vietnam), and to the right, a patch of that ship belonging to that group.

Now. Do I have the guts to WEAR it anywhere? The VFW is one place, but this thing is SO flashy, it might look like I'm showboating or claiming more "glory" than I really am. There are also some sarcastic clowns there. There was this guy named Peter who was in the National Guard, and on his weekend warrior weekends he would go to the bar dressed in his uniform and they started calling him "Peter Pistols." I have already laid some groundwork, telling one of the biggest jokers in front of his wife that he had better not make fun of me if I wear it to the bar. If only I were a biker, because the bike fests would be the ideal place.

[Heidi]

1. What picture? (nt)

[UTUSN]

2. Sorry. Fixed on edit. Was too focused on typing. n/t

[Texasgal]

3. I think you should wear it with pride!

Who gives a rats ass what people think?

[CrownPrinceBandar]

4. I'd say you've earned the right to wear it wherever you damned please....

Thanks for your service.

[Heidi]

5. Wear it whenever, wherever you want.

I'm not a big flag waver, but I don't disrespect anyone for having pride in their accomplishments. :hi:

[Callalily]

6. Showboating? Nonsense.

Wear it with pride. You've earned each and every one of those patches.

:patriot:

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

7. not my taste, but hey, go for it if

you want

and WHAT? go Tonkin Gulf Yacht Club patch?

[Schema Thing]

8. You're right, bikers (aka: adults playing dress up) would wet themselves

[UTUSN]

9. O.K., thanks, all, for the kind words. Needless to say, my real world is not so kind

as my virtual DU world.

Part of the dilemma in my o.p. question is that I'm not a symbol (flag) waver either. I've had episodes just wearing my VFW jacket where somebody says thank-you-for-your-service and *I* say, "Oh, it wasn't anything," and they say, "OH YES IT WAS," and we go back and forth until we both storm off steamed. One might say that this can be expected, that if I want to avoid it, just DON'T WEAR THE DANGED THING!1 Otoh, I *want* to, sometimes, but don't want others to make anything of it.

The gaudiness isn't my taste either, but in a certain niche it's a beautiful piece. Also, there's a Wizard of Oz aspect to it, like, "Hey, a lack of a medal or a diploma gotcha all hung up?!1 Well, here, take this medal or diploma or whatever." As I say, South Vietnam doesn't even EXIST anymore.

Anyway, thanks, and we can lay this to rest.

[trof]

10. Not so fast, Sailor.

I'm kind of in the same boat (no pun intended;-)).

I've got some old patches, too.
My squadron patch (non-existant now), the Minuiteman national guard patch, a TAC (Tactical Air Command) patch (non-existant now), and one of my old name/rank tags with my wings that used to be on my flight suits.

Like you, I've thought about putting them on a jacket.
And then I think "Why?"
I don't know...I just do.
But I guess I'd really be saying to strangers "Hey, I wasn't always an old geezer. Back in the day I had the right stuff. I was a pretty hot rock. In my own mind, anyway."

Well, I never said I didn't have an ego.
For now, I still procrastinate.
Maybe I'll do it and leave the jacket for my grandson.
:shrug:

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

12. me too

I have a box of patches and stuff that I keep shifting from one place to another...I think the whole thing is, for those of us who think, we know what a huge mistake our SE Asia ego trip was and it is kind of hard to glorify it even now maybe

the only thing that does not me feel old is knowing that there are B52's, C130's and CH-46's still flying that I rode in.

I think every ship I knew is gone, some sunk for targets, some I saw commissioned.

[suninvited]

13. Have you ever tried

just saying "you're welcome" when someone expresses their gratitude for your service?

[UTUSN]

14. Yea, I've done that sometimes, just to put an end to it.

The ones I resist are the wingnut types who do their veterans-pandering for their ideological ends. The ones who were young enough to go to Iraq, who voted for Shrub, but, of course, did NOT go and claim to be SO supportive of the cannon fodder they helped send there.

For those, why should I make my political beliefs subservient?!1 Thanks for asking.

[Pierre.Suave]

11. You can wear that to an Airshow

it would not look out of place there.