Rules of Airsoft patches?

[Jaybee_airsoft]

Hi, I'm fairly new to Airsoft and I have googled multiple times about Airsoft patches but it isn't very clear. What patches are acceptable to wear for Airsoft? 

I have seen a couple of people saying don't where something you didn't earn but I'm unclear, for example could I wear a patch that just says 'SAS'? Also if I am in the cadets and I'm a corporal can I wear my rank slide of Airsoft. 

Thanks, 

Jack

[AirSniper]

Its up to you.

When you start introducing "rules" for a game / sport, thats when the fun gets up and leaves.

I'd say that the golden rule is if its offensive in terms of it breaking the law type offensive.

I tried to get a replica of the SBS patch for my son as his grandfather was an SBS instructor / trainer but no one does them, so I got a replica SAS instead.

What you refer to is what some call "Stolen Valour" which if you have the genuine uniform and wear the insignia and pose as an ex serviceman which some people do but not heard of it happening in Airsoft as everyone knows its a game and not posing as a former military personnel. 

 

You get a fair few ex servicemen playing airsoft, so if it was a case of it being an issue, you'd be seeing posts and comments and outrage about it.

[heroshark]

Just don't go out in your full Nazi officer kit. Raises the odd eyebrows. Save that for home ☺️

[AirSniper]

5 minutes ago, heroshark said:

Just don't go out in your full Nazi officer kit. Raises the odd eyebrows. Save that for home ☺️

Yes... I wanted to sort out a costume but didn't have the courage to wear a "Hitman" type costume, the reason was it would have made me look like a WWII SS officer.

[Adolf Hamster]

As a general rule i tend to avoid unit patches/insignia.

 

It doesnt add anything to the game so why risk being disrespectful?

[hitmanNo2]

I'd imagine the typical airsofter would have no idea what most patches meant and those that did know wouldn't care either way.  At the end of the day, you're playing dress up in the woods, some with meticulously sourced gear for specific looks.  If patches play a part of that for you, meh.

 

I know the general rule is wear nothing you haven't earned but it's not like you're pretending to be someone you're not for clout/personal gain.

[Ebeneezer Goode]

Personally, I'd say wear what you like, it's your call.

 

...However, speaking as someone involved in the cadet forces, if anyone involved in the cadet forces/military sees you wearing official kit without authorisation outside of the corps (rank slides, jackets, uniforms, kit etc) you could get in bother. Also you might get accusations of Waltism.

 

...that said, I use a flight suit (with no patches etc) as part of my loadout so I can't really talk...

 

Eezer G

 

[Sneaky]

Wear what you like, just don’t be disrespectful. I have some patches which are from The Division as I love the game and the old Ghost Recon games.

[Cannonfodder]

Wear what ever you want, just don't go around claiming to be something you're not. Anyone who then gets pissy can be told to do one

 

As for your cadet rank insignia, wear it if you want. However, it won't mean you can give out orders. Yes I've actually seen some cadet think he could boss others around and really expected to be addressed by his rank. He was quickly and very in politely told that it wouldn't happen

[MagpieTactical]

Wear what you want. 

Plenty of ex servicemen where I play who wear their old patches, deployment tshirts etc.  Never seen or  heard anyone victimised for wearing patches of units etc if they haven't served.  Perhaps have the piss taken out of them in a friendly way but that's it. 

 

If someone turned up walting, by wearing them and trying to make out they served when they didn't. I am sure it would be a different case, but again We would probably just think "sad twat" 

 

At the end of the day, we are dressing up and running around with toy guns, it's a game, a laugh, and not to be taken so seriously

[Stratton Oakmont]

I heard burning patches is a thing 

[Rogerborg]

28 minutes ago, Stratton Oakmont said:

I heard burning patches is a thing 

 

Shortly after the first reported burning of a Kicking Mustang patch.

 

[Impulse]

This is something that actually confused me when I got back into the hobby. I started 16 years ago and back then people would wear patches to complete their loadouts. People would do accurate impression kits for the SAS, Navy Seals etc, patches and all, but never claimed to be part of the units. It was all about authenticity and creating the perfect look, as we can all agree that dress-up is a large part of the hobby for a lot of people. When I got back into the hobby 2 years ago, the feeling I got from a lot of people was "oh, you can't wear those patches because you haven't earned them."

 

Now, it didn't really affect me since I prefered doing contractor and mercenary loadouts, or intelligence agency stuff which was all designed to be anonymous anyway (CIA agents don't exactly wear patches saying "hey, I'm your local CIA agent"), but I still found it strange. I get the stolen valour argument. Stolen valour sucks, and people who engage in it are disrespectful idiots. However, people who just wear patches for dress-up, I just don't see the issue. If someone wants to dress up like a certain unit because they like that unit, I say go for it.

[Lozart]

50 minutes ago, Impulse said:

This is something that actually confused me when I got back into the hobby. I started 16 years ago and back then people would wear patches to complete their loadouts. People would do accurate impression kits for the SAS, Navy Seals etc, patches and all, but never claimed to be part of the units. It was all about authenticity and creating the perfect look, as we can all agree that dress-up is a large part of the hobby for a lot of people. When I got back into the hobby 2 years ago, the feeling I got from a lot of people was "oh, you can't wear those patches because you haven't earned them."

 

Now, it didn't really affect me since I prefered doing contractor and mercenary loadouts, or intelligence agency stuff which was all designed to be anonymous anyway (CIA agents don't exactly wear patches saying "hey, I'm your local CIA agent"), but I still found it strange. I get the stolen valour argument. Stolen valour sucks, and people who engage in it are disrespectful idiots. However, people who just wear patches for dress-up, I just don't see the issue. If someone wants to dress up like a certain unit because they like that unit, I say go for it.

 

This is the thing for me. There's a huge difference between trying to complete a loadout and walting and it seems that most of the people getting all hot and bothered about "stolen valour" aren't actually servicemen at all but wannabe try hards. I mean yes, there's the whole "don't wear something if it has to be earned" like a commando insignia or whatever but if ANYONE tells me that they think a 14 year old kid or some overweight, middle aged weekend warrior is honestly trying to make out that they served by wearing an SAS badge to a Sunday skirmish then they're being bell ends. The old boys covered in gongs at remembrance services or people trying to pass themselves off for a discount or special treatment are the problem, not a few airsofters looking to replicate a 90's Delta operator!

[Voodoo.]

6 minutes ago, Lozart said:

 

This is the thing for me. There's a huge difference between trying to complete a loadout and walting and it seems that most of the people getting all hot and bothered about "stolen valour" aren't actually servicemen at all but wannabe try hards. I mean yes, there's the whole "don't wear something if it has to be earned" like a commando insignia or whatever but if ANYONE tells me that they think a 14 year old kid or some overweight, middle aged weekend warrior is honestly trying to make out that they served by wearing an SAS badge to a Sunday skirmish then they're being bell ends. The old boys covered in gongs at remembrance services or people trying to pass themselves off for a discount or special treatment are the problem, not a few airsofters looking to replicate a 90's Delta operator!

As an ex-serviceman, stolen valour genuinely doesn't bother me, nor the people I know, unless they're trying to get something out of it/expect something. The amount of times I've seen a walt in pubs chatting up women is uncountable, and every time me and my friends just laugh at him at our table because at the end of the day, it's not really harming anyone, and they're not disrespecting those who do/did serve.

 

The only time I can understand a serviceman going off on a stolen valour is if one of their friends was KIA, in which case ol' walty's gonna be in for a rude awakening. But rocking a patch in airsoft? I couldn't see that as being disrespectful. If anything they're only showing their support by rocking a unit patch, or they're making a tit of themself, depending on the player.

[Tommikka]

On 25/09/2021 at 12:40, Stratton Oakmont said:

I heard burning patches is a thing 

In America by sad twats

[Guest DrAlexanderTobacco]

On 24/09/2021 at 17:43, Jaybee_airsoft said:

 Also if I am in the cadets and I'm a corporal can I wear my rank slide of Airsoft. 
 

You can, but:

- No one should, or would, respect it

- People would think you're a bit weird

[SgtTalbert]

I once posted on Reddit - see below....I still dont think I was in the wrong but either way, people (rightly or wrongly) will still have an opinion

[Tommikka]

There is no such thing as ‘stolen valor/valour’ in the UK

There is ‘walting’

 

((There are parts of the Armed Forces Act that cover using uniforms to impersonate the services, and fraud legislation for the undercurrent of what someone is up to - eg conning people))

 

You get the ‘out rage’ clubs and walt hunting hobbiests, but they may be looked on as more sad than some of the ‘walts’ they hunt down.  (Eg local care in the community individual that likes to wear a beret being hunted down and ‘exposed’ by keyboard warriors 

Any ‘normal’ service person or ex service person doesn’t care about people who dress up to play games (actually they care about the ones who pay extra on eBay for their kit)

They do care about people who are bigging themselves up as someone they aren’t, or are conning with fake ‘hero’ charities (or ‘real’ hero charities with excessive ‘admin expenses’)

 

As far as airsoft is concerned if you aren’t allowed to wear patches then why to you need RIFs?  The entire justification to add an extra skirmisher defence by statutory instrument above the explicit defences in the core VCRA legislation is for the realistic immersion.

Dressing up has been recognised as a core element to airsoft.  Take that away to a bare uniform without patch’s and you can just use a coloured IF

 

 

Don’t be a dickhead and pretend that you are something that you aren’t 

Do dress up with good ‘fancy dress’ if that’s what you like to do

Don’t make yourself a personal security risk *
 

* our paintball team logo is based on a genuine US unit.  One of our founder members is a former Royal Marine and our original clothing came from a company who does unit clothing.  If you don’t look at the detail it looked like a unit t shirt etc.
I warned off a team mate on the way to a game.  We stopped off at a garage, and he walked back out in ‘unit style’ t shirt, DPM trousers, boots, with short haircut, newspaper tucked under his arm, coffee in hand …… coming out of a garage at a garrison town.

Perfect fodder for an opportunist.  
Even for someone who is going to pick someone to monitor and watch the individual and their car, follow them the next morning driving onto a military base - a ‘confirmed’ valid target with little awareness 
A soldier ought to be briefed on current alert states,  any local risks and being aware of their surroundings.

A bloke out for a sunday game has no idea what current risks are to service personnel and has little awareness 

 

 

On 24/09/2021 at 17:43, Jaybee_airsoft said:

 Also if I am in the cadets and I'm a corporal can I wear my rank slide of Airsoft. 

 

Only if you’re prepared to buy my lunch when I trump your cadet corporal rank slide with my DCGS challenge coin 

On a sensible note - I’d recommend that anyone who wears uniform for a real purpose doesn’t go out playing in their work uniform, unless you have plenty of sets.  Just more washing to get yourself back to standard after playing in the woods

 

(Of course combat uniform is meant to get battered and dirty - but you try saying that when you walk into barracks or the cadet hut in a dirty crumpled uniform)

[Akuma121]

The way I see it is that if wearing a unit patch or one relating to some special forces team allows you to gain more enjoyment out of the hobby then fire ahead, we're all LARPers at the end of the day. It's just a bit awkward for everyone when you've got people showing up and taking the LARPing to the extreme by claiming to be something that they're not and expecting people to "follow orders" while getting shouted abuse.

 

I've seen more non-serving members of this community (airsoft as a whole I should say not the AFUK in particular) get absolutely raging over stolen valour than I have seen actual serving or previously served members of the forces getting annoyed over it.

 

Either way LARP on

[Rogerborg]

1 hour ago, Lozart said:

ANYONE tells me that they think a 14 year old kid or some overweight, middle aged weekend warrior is honestly trying to make out that they served by wearing an SAS badge to a Sunday skirmish then they're being bell ends.

 

Just between us lot, I'm not really from the 40th century or using a laser gun.

 

Anyone who's at a site to play with toy guns should have their expectations set firmly to silly and frivolous.

 

If you're offended by what you see, you can have a quiet, friendly word about it, and explain your fee-fees.

If the response is a shrug or hostility, then either suck it up, leave, or take it to the site if you think it crosses a line.

 

First person to rage loses, and should find a different hobby.

[Stratton Oakmont]

I thoroughly enjoy watching people with no military experience telling others to not wear patches they haven’t earned.

you get the same tools in road cycling over the last 15 years since British cycling decided to throw a lot of cash at a sport that used to be the preserve of hobbyists.

now Everyman and his dog owns a 10k bike for the Sunday club run they all say you can’t/shouldn’t wear team jerseys/world rainbow bands/tour jerseys etc.

this picture made them all apoplectic 

[TheFull9]

This has been coming up since I started; there is no consensus and there never will be.  All I'd say is, if you wear actual SF patches and real ranks etc in bb wars you will almost certainly look back at pictures from those games in years time and go 'oooh... cringe'.  This game has enough of that as it is, less is more with patches.

[Ebeneezer Goode]

5 hours ago, Rogerborg said:

 

Just between us lot, I'm not really from the 40th century or using a laser gun.

 

Anyone who's at a site to play with toy guns should have their expectations set firmly to silly and frivolous.

 

If you're offended by what you see, you can have a quiet, friendly word about it, and explain your fee-fees.

If the response is a shrug or hostility, then either suck it up, leave, or take it to the site if you think it crosses a line.

 

First person to rage loses, and should find a different hobby.

Well said, and a good summary!

 

Sometimes wonder if half the "Walt Hunters" are actually Walts themselves. There's reference to us "Airsoft Mongs" however I've bumped into quite a few current and Ex-mil in the sport, all of whom enjoy it and have no issue with anyones setups. Personally, I have no desire to dress up in MTP or MARPAT however if someone wants to then fair play to them. Some of the recreations of real-life loadouts I've seen at my local site are impressive and we have to acknowledge that a substantial part of Airsoft consists of cosplay, whether that be lasgun-wielding superhuman hulks from thousands of years into the future, Xenomorph-slaying Colonial Marines, Master Chief/Doomguy impersonators or WW2 reenactors- all of which are good fun and show off ones individuality.

[Guest DrAlexanderTobacco]

1 hour ago, Ebeneezer Goode said:

Well said, and a good summary!

 

Sometimes wonder if half the "Walt Hunters" are actually Walts themselves.

You're not wrong there, plenty of folk bitter they didn't get to sign up for whatever reason, and overcompensate by guarding the sense of honour they could only look at from afar