Bluehawk Posted March 30, 2015 Share #1 Posted March 30, 2015 Has any one ever collected, seen, handled, kept, given, donated, bought, made, sold, or worn (etc)... I read this out from, THE LONG GRAY LINE by Rick Atkinson, on page 228: "By now, the Army was so swollen with lieutenants that some post exchanges ran out of silver epaulets for dress uniforms; a few enterprising wives simply painted over the second lieutenant's insignia with pearl fingernail polish." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scottiques Posted March 30, 2015 Share #2 Posted March 30, 2015 Very common-- I used white out. Also many of us used a black sharpie to color over the gold bar on field uniforms. Scott Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bluehawk Posted March 30, 2015 Author Share #3 Posted March 30, 2015 Very common-- I used white out. Also many of us used a black sharpie to color over the gold bar on field uniforms. Scott Very well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Posted March 30, 2015 Share #4 Posted March 30, 2015 I don't know if the glit coloring on the old rank insignia is any different, but when I was promoted to LTjg from ENS, I used metal polish to remove the gold on my collar insignia and used those "upgraded" insignia for quite some time until I bought official ones (we were at sea and I didn't have access to new ones after my promotion...) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bluehawk Posted March 30, 2015 Author Share #5 Posted March 30, 2015 I don't know if the glit coloring on the old rank insignia is any different, but when I was promoted to LTjg from ENS, I used metal polish to remove the gold on my collar insignia and used those "upgraded" insignia for quite some time until I bought official ones (we were at sea and I didn't have access to new ones after my promotion...) Hmmmm, there now. If the base metal for 2LT bars was ordinarily (polishable) brass, and if the 1LT bars were simply overlain with silver... or were the 2LT bars silver (nickel?) overlain with removable gold? Doubtless, some number of variations, it would seem? Yet, as to that fingernail polish method... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
12A54 Posted March 31, 2015 Share #6 Posted March 31, 2015 I simply refused to wear the cheap dress shoulder boards and always purchased bullion versions. That didn't mean I wasn't cheap. I used silver model paint to change my 2LT to 1LT and my MAJ to LTC. (CPT rank lasted so long it didn't matter.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AZ Abn Posted March 31, 2015 Share #7 Posted March 31, 2015 I did just like Scottiques used both Sharpie and white out. AZ Abn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scottiques Posted March 31, 2015 Share #8 Posted March 31, 2015 I did just like Scottiques used both Sharpie and white out. AZ Abn AZ Abn, I am sure you recall that you had to be careful with the sharpie. I remember at least once going to work and getting asked about my rank when the sharpie had worn off enough to show the gold bar again! Scott Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pmanton Posted March 31, 2015 Share #9 Posted March 31, 2015 I too altered my bullion shoulder boards :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AZ Abn Posted March 31, 2015 Share #10 Posted March 31, 2015 Scott, you are right. Then we also used em new (probably wrong spelling). It was popular w/Marines and in a bottle like nail polish. That worked well. AZ Abn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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