Purple Belly

POSTED BY: rallem
UPDATED: Monday, June 16, 2008 23:17
VIEWED: 1719
PAGE 1 of 1

RALLEM

Monday, June 16, 2008 10:13 PM

Does anyone know why the alliance wears purple, and the officer's of the rebellion wore red? It seems like a strange choice of colors to be wearing in a battle especially the red for an officer.

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NCBROWNCOAT

Monday, June 16, 2008 10:35 PM

The Alliance uniforms were originally from Starship Troopers and were rented for Firefly. They do look sort of purple/gray to me, especially in "The Train Job."

I have no idea about the red for officers. I do know that in the US Army, red is the color for field artillery. Both officers and enlisted can also be considered for the Order of St. Barbara, an unofficial honor. St. Barbara's color is red and she is the patron saint of thunderstorms and other things that go boom.

BTW the infantry color is blue, you see it sometimes under the "US" and branch lapel pins of infantry soldiers on their dress greens. And St. George is the patron saint of the infantry.

Other branches have different colors.

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RALLEM

Monday, June 16, 2008 10:42 PM

Yes I was in the infantry. The color is infantry blue which is a mixture of Union Blue and Confederacy Gray. It seems odd to me to be wearing colors like red and purple in the field of battle because it would make the wearer easy to see, and easy to shoot especially for an officer.

I would like to form a group of Alliance Purple Bellies in the Vermont region.

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NCBROWNCOAT

Monday, June 16, 2008 10:44 PM

That's why officer and enlisted look just alike from the distance in field uniforms.

Thanks for your service. I was active duty myself for 4 years(1983-1987) Reserve for 4 (1987-1992)and an Army spouse for 13. My ex was field artillery (fire direction) so I know the most about that.

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RALLEM

Monday, June 16, 2008 10:53 PM

Thank you for your service too.

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TRAVELER

Monday, June 16, 2008 10:55 PM

I always thought the red a little foolish considering you don't want to stand out. But it seems that the entire rebel force wore this and not just the officers.

The purple is dark and blends with the dark gray of the Aliance forces uniform. Not as conspicusous as the red. I would have discarded the red very early at the start of a battle.

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RALLEM

Monday, June 16, 2008 11:17 PM

No arguments here.

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