Black tape on USAF cadet dress uniform?

[Amabokoboko]

Watching Dubya equating his war with WWII at a USAF Cadet parade on CNN yesterday. All the cadets were dressed in full dress uniform complete with white dress cap but one guy (that I noticed, there may have been more) had a cross in black insulation tape across the top of his cap.

What's the story with this? I assume that the powers that be wouldn't allow a personal expression at an occasion like "The Chief addressing the recruits" so it must have been something semi-official. Any views?

[L J R]

Was he a cadet Padre?.

...you know, God first etc....

[airborne_artist]

Was the guy with the black cross a cadet? - more likely a Major/Lt Col equiv, as I he's the one that carries the President's bag of secret tricks so he can launch ICBMs at will.....

Seriously, there always was such a guy whenever the President travelled abroad.

[BlueWolf]

I heard a story about this some time ago.

Story tells that the cross is so that the "secret assassins" can take out the "key carrier" if the planned button-pushing is deemed contrary to the aims of the Secret Service Who Know More Than The President.

Could be bollox....who would know?

[HAL Pilot]

He probably put it there so his family and/or friends could pick him out from the rest of the crowd. Unauthorized, but since it's on the top of his hat, unseen by any senior officer he's talking to.

You see this a lot at college graduations.

[Squadgy]

Saw a US Army officer with this on his cap again this morning stood close to POTUS in Normandy. Looked like the cross was actually sewn in to the top of the cap

[Amabokoboko]

Hmmm. HAL Pilot might have the explanation. It defintiely wasn't a religious thing, just two strips of black masking tape stuck diagonally across the top of his cadet cap. This guys certainly wasn't the football carrier. Just some chap in the crowd.

It looked for all the world like a protest but I assume that his CO would swallow his tongue if one of his charges started pulling peacenik demos at graduation. If there was something similar at Normandy, maybe it's a remembrance thing, similar to wearing a black armband? I'm still surprised that such personal expression would be allowed.

[akula]

Many US Service Caps have an embroidered top and the pattern is dependant on the rank of the wearer. If however the cross was indeed a masking tape one and the chap was taking part in the parade it's purpose is to identify the wearer as a marker for the rest of the troop to assist in dressing the formation..

Hope that helps dispell the conspirators out there..

always ASSUME never CHECK

[MajorMadMax]

Sure the guy at Normandy wasn't a Marine? They have a cross on the top of their dress covers...like to one on this catalog:

http://www.usmc-mccs.org/shopping/images/catalogimages/UniformCatalog.jpg

The dark ones have it as well.

As for the USAFA bubba, I would suspect it is to allow his friends/family find him in the crowd (or to find his service cap afterwards, they like to throw them up in the air after graduation then go scampering around afterward trying to find them. Another silly tradition).

Cheers! M2

By the way, the USAF doesn\'t have anything on the top of its service caps. All we have are clouds and lightning ("farts and darts") on the brim when we make field grade rank...

http://img27.photobucket.com/albums/v82/M2_patches/FGO_Service_Cap.jpg
(freaking thing cost me $40!)

GO\'s get an even fancier version...

http://img27.photobucket.com/albums/v82/M2_patches/GO_Service_Cap.jpg

Note the USAF badge is not on the front of either.

Cheers! M2

[West Coast]

At the risk of being pedantic...

Its a quatrefoil on the top of the Marine officer cover pictured, not a cross.

[Pub User]

$40 for a dress cap?? !! ??

My RAF one cost me £42 in 1986. Mind you, it is very much smarter than the USAF version, so it was money well spent.

[BEagle]

Surprising what you get if you Google for 'quatrefoil'...

"Quatrefoil Library exists to collect, preserve, and share materials and information relevant to gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and other sexual minority communities."

Most definitely NOT a USMC site........(I hope ;))

Would black masking tape really be used to identify a parade marker? Somehow I doubt it - there must be another explanation. I certainly couldn't imagine any Corps member defacing his cover in such a way!

Pub User - I bought a brand new SD cap with badge for less than £15 in 2002. From Clothing Stores. I asked them whether they were certain - yes, that's the price in the list, they said. Considering how much I used to have to pay at Master Bates or Thieves and Sharkes, it was an amazing price!

[Squadgy]

The cap wearer in Nomandy wore a dark green uniform and cap, the cross was more defined and a + shape, the cross was black