[Signal 12]

71 different departments ... 71 different uniforms.

Blue, black, double breasted, white shirts, blue shirts, gold for officers, silver for officers, red shirts and white pants for one department, patches on the left or patches on the right?

Seems the only thing that is somewhat standard is the "County Awards". But how they are dispalyed on your uniform varies by department.

Patches on the left or on the right sleeve? Department patches or the US Flag?

White shirts or light blue shirts?

Line officers in white caps or only chiefs?

Some departments have the same types of Unit Citation insignia as the FDNY, others have generic colorful bars ... departments within the Town of Oyster Bay have actual TOB award pins ... the 2nd Battalion has their own medal named after someone.

Can the individuality of each department still be represented if every department made more of an effort to "uniform" each other's uniforms?

Company/rig insignia pins, flag pins?

WTC pins is a category all unto itself?

How strict is your department when it comes to uniforms?

[uselesskomish]

It took us about 90years to get patches on our Class A jackets.

[aircrew423]

the sec. of our dept. accualy just asked me for a copy of the military regs. to maybe standardize something.. not saying its good or bad but i think it would be nice if it was alittle more organized throughout NC

[FaceToTheFloor]

Yeah, some guys look like Mexican Generals at functions.

Just saw a guy at a funeral who is 5'-5" and about 250 lbs. Had more medals on than Patton.
Pins on his sleeves, breast, lapel, etc.

However, keep in mind that we can't get neighboring departments to agree to mutual aid policies, signals and positions. I'll continue to work on that end. The "I need attention" whores can wear whatever they want to parades, etc. I will continue to break their balls though.

[BUFFaLOT]

I actually really like the look of the red shirts! I wish my dept. had them.

[Commander]

I can't stand it when I see depts wear their american flag patch on their right shoulder or not even wearing an american flag patch altogether.

But like FaceToTheFloor said we are having a hard time trying to get everyone to use the same signals, frequencies, etc. Getting everyone to agree on standardized uniforms is the same thing.

However this is defiantly something the fire commision should look into if they haven't done so already. They are the ones that need to come up with the NC standardized uniform protocols.

[TurnThePage]

With all of the problems facing the NC fireservice who cares about uniforms I love it win parade awards best looking , most men in line and can't get a truck or bus off the floor
when needed only in NC.

[underthedome]

I noticed recently at a department member's funeral that out of maybe 60 guys I think there were 60 different ways to wear medals.
Also, a side note is CI's uniforms-- white pants and blue jackets (the history is back in the day a lot of them worked at the state hospital and got the pants there).

[sponge]

Uniform wear should be standardized within departments. It would be nice if the wear of county level awards would also be standardized, but if a department wants to create it's own awards, it should be able to. If one department wants to wear blue shirts and another wants to not have patches, that should be up to them--they are separate entities. Just like NCPD uniforms shouldn't have to look like the state police or NYPD and the Army has different uniform regs than the Marines.

[Rant Boss]

Simplify them. Standardize them. Get them bulk rate county-wide at a discount. Forget about the pins and medals and badges and stripes and go crack a book on new construction dangers or hybrid vehicle extrication or firefighter survival. And when you do wear the uniform, remember that you're an ambassador of your department and representing every other volunteer firefighter in Nassau, so use your head.

[aircrew423]

well said boss .. to many people are going out there and doing stupid shit while in uniform.. it just makes people look bad and it effects vollies everywhere

[9101]

Standardize uniforms; I think there are bigger issues to standardize. We can’t even standardized radio frequencies, hose threads, RIT standards and the list goes on….. All departments want there own identity and to rule their own domain.

[Navy076996]

It's not so much the items on the uniform as it is the manner of wear. If your ribbons are off center or 1/2" below your shield instead of 1/4", no one is really going to notice. What do people notice? Crappy shaves, nasty haircuts, covers tipped off to the side or the back of the head, jackets so tight that the buttons could become lethal projectiles, shoes that haven't seen a tin of Kiwi in 10 years, sunglasses, etc.

[Flyer0509]

Easy way to solve the pin problem... just put them in the drawer instead of walking around looking like Patton.

[tl254truckie]

CLASS "A"

we have navy blue double-breasted jackets and matching navy blue pants

all captains, ex-captains, chiefs, ex-chiefs wear white shirts...all others wear blue...

chiefs and exchiefs wear gold...captains and LTs wear silver...all officers wear collar brass

sitting chiefs wear white hats with gold...exchiefs wear blue hats with gold...sitting chiefs wear blue hats with gold for funerals

captains and LTs wear blue hats with silver snakes and badges...all others wear blue hats with black snake and badge...

black ties for all...

dept patch on left shoulder...company patch on right shoulder...

only dept issued awards may be displayed properly below badge

gold star pins for every 5 years of service on left wrist

CLASS "B"

minus the jacket and ties/hats at chiefs discretion...

[Battalion9]

Originally Posted by 9101

Standardize uniforms; I think there are bigger issues to standardize. We can’t even standardized radio frequencies, hose threads, RIT standards and the list goes on….. All departments want there own identity and to rule their own domain.

Amen to that one Danny!!

The fire service here is supposed to be a "para-military" organization. And in the U.S. Military, they have a system for awarding various acts with different kinds of uniform insignia and bars. They obviously serve a purpose. Most FD's (and even some PDs) around the country have similar systems. I once noticed a highly decorated, now recently retired FDNY firefighter (and Freeport Ex-Chief...some of you may know who I am talking about) with over 30 FDNY medal bars on his uniform. I even commented to him how it must suck to send his jacket to the cleaners. He's gotta be one of the most highly decorated FDNY members in the department's history. Is someone gonna tell him to take them off because he looks like Patton? Of course not! And for that matter, what's the problem with looking like Patton anyway? He will always go down in history as one of the greatest military leaders of all time.

Every department may have some variations on the standards they use to award such medals, but in the end, the bars signify some meritorious act in the eyes of that department. And for nothing else, it can be a major morale boost. And those of you who are in a position of leadership, as I once was, will realize the benefit of that. If you ain't got morale, you ain't got a fire department.

[ADZE07]

Is it really worth the effort to standardize?? To what end? How can you tell a dept with 100 + years of history (uniform) that they have to throw it away?

I think its interesting to see all the different types of uniforms. However I do prefer a cleaner look. I must say that some seem to feed a huge Napolean Syndrome with all the gold braid, brass and medals.