Question RE: Browncoat Insignia/Rank Structure by RocketJock

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Question RE: Browncoat Insignia/Rank Structure

POSTED BY: ROCKETJOCK
UPDATED: Monday, February 25, 2008 21:12
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Saturday, February 23, 2008 9:57 PM

My family and I were at Wondercon in San Francisco today (had a great time!) Amongst the swag we made off with is a set of four Independent (Browncoat)military insignia patches.

All are the familiar green triangle with two yellow stripes and an inverted blue star, but there is also a rank structure, indicated by dark pips in the triangle's corners -- one has no pips at all, the other three have pips that grow progressively darker.

I presume that the darker the pip, the higher the rank, but does anyone know what the actual ranks involved are? I.E., is the sequence "Private, Corporal, Sergeant, Master Sergeant" or "Noncomissioned, Lieutenant (JG), Lieutenant, Captain", or something else?

I understand there is some semi-official source (perhaps one of the visual guides?), but the dealer didn't know which rank was which, nor could he suggest what reference to look in.

Anybody out there in the black got the answer?

Thanks in Advance.

"She's tore up plenty. But she'll fly true." -- Zoë Washburn

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Saturday, February 23, 2008 11:04 PM

FOLLOWMAL

There will likely be someone from the 76th Battalion come along to answer this question...I'm sorry I don't have the answer. If they don't notice or the question falls off the page, you can try joining this board and asking the question. Plus you might be interested in what this group of fans are doing. :-)

Here is their thread here:

http://www.fireflyfans.net/thread.asp?b=2&t=32692

Here is their dedicated board:

http://76thbattalion.proboards59.com/index.cgi

If anyone knows the answer to your question and a source book for you, it's these guys and gals.

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Monday, February 25, 2008 7:26 AM

ROCKETJOCK

Thanks for the links. I've posted this question on the 76th's main thread as well. Interesting group; I'd love to see them in action, although I don't think I'll be joining (I did enough drill back in boot camp, thank you very much).

And now it seems I've got another patch related controversy; at least one of my patches has a black star, rather than blue. Having a touch of blue-green color blindness I didn't notice unti my daughter pointed it out to me. Sigh. Good thing I'm only interested in doing hall costumes...

"She's tore up plenty. But she'll fly true." -- Zoë Washburn

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Monday, February 25, 2008 9:12 PM

ROCKETJOCK

My thanks to those on both threads who have tried to help me out. Here's what I've got so far:

1: The Black-Star variant patch w/out corner pips was formerly sold by browncoatpatches.com. The mistake in color was apparently due to bad color register on the screen captures used to design it.

2: The Blue-star patch w/out shoulder pips is sold by Out ToThe Black Outfitters. This is, I gather, the standard supplier for the 76th.

3: The shoulder-pip variants are from a company called Patches 'n Pins. They include one patch with a gold border.

4. The reference giving the pip-bearing patches canonicity is the Firefly Official Companion Volume Two, but though it pictures them, it apparently doesn't explain rank structure. The pipless blue-star version is also apparently canonical from screen captures.

5: Parenthetically, there also seems to be on-screen reference for the star being worn both point-up and point-down. This is apparently due to a costuming error on set, but which version is the original error is anybody's guess at this point.

Thanks again for your help.

"She's tore up plenty. But she'll fly true." -- Zoë Washburn

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