Not badges but a cummerbund might be nice...

[luke]

Based on a remark I posted on the badges thread, I thought this might be a useful straw poll as to thoughts on a branch cummerbund.

Please don't bother regaling me with dress regs about who and who cannot, when and if they are appropriate. Cummerbunds exist and does the branch think we should have one?

I still have my Big J cummer (oooh-er!) and as with others in the branch I have also served on flying sqns so can wear theirs as well (but obviously not all at once you monkeeee!!). Sometimes I think that a branch cummerbund might be accepted by many within the branch that haven't served with a unit that has one (or maybe you like wearing that baking hot waistcoat?)

All submissions welcome (no matter how mad or off planet) - picture paints a thousand words...

Suggest your idea follows the format below:

Starter for Ten (my two penn'orth)...

What: A pale blue background with a black "Eye of Horus" in the middle.

Why: Pale blue for the Air Force and the black design should contrast nicely. Eye of Horus intimates imagery and the Middle East (some might say where our branch started) but the Eye is also a symbol of protection to Ra - and we are really about providing analysis and info for our masters - Knowledge is Power!! We are now also less about imagery and more about all source, so the Eye of Horus could represent this as "an all seeing eye".

Why/what not: Purple (we are not joint - we are a single service) with pale blue logo. Will be seen by some as too close to the AWC cummer and also get you beaten up as an airborne walt/mong/wannabee. No earth colours for the logo either - would YOU want a brown eye resting on your waist? (hmmm - then again....).

 

[luke]

Spook Cummerbund Poll now active...

Spook Cummerbund Poll now active...

UPDATE - Poll sorted using thread tools (see top) and I have put in the first vote - I'm not "cummer challenged" but think I would have one if available. After all, it's like that piece of sh1t "silk" tie in flourescent colours I bought in a souk on a previous det - not worn often, but handy for the odd occasion.

Please vote DT_Xtremez_25: and spread the word to other branch members.

Depending on the feedback/polling I may even take the lead in organising a design comp on behalf of the branch...

(and as a promise this one is W-A-A-A-A-A-A-Y out there and highly unlikely!!)

 

[luke]

Have voters got any design ideas as well?.....

Have voters got any design ideas as well?.....

Thanks for voting peeps.

Five others in the space of half a day does show me that others read the thread.

When I set up the poll I thought people would prefer anonymity - I'm assuming other voters are spooks (would seem strange otherwise) but I have no way of knowing. Thanks again.

Any other design suggestions? (go on - get tinkering in Photoshop - you know you love it...) DT_Xtremez_35:

 

[luke]

Popular choice of design...

Popular choice of design...

I've been informed that the land of dogging and onions has adopted the Eye of Horus/Osiris logo.

Can anyone confirm? It doesn't make this design less viable (if anything it gives some commonality with our "slime" brethren). It does reinforce the pale blue background to emphasise AIR DT_Xtremez_30:

 

[luke]

Google it/Wikipedia...

Google it/Wikipedia...

Apologies to the moderators - I am NOT trying to power post.

The more I learn about the design, the more suitable the Eye of Horus seems.

I've also realised that it probably needs to be reversed so it represents the right eye (as you look at it), not the left.

Bah!

 

[Sonic]

Luke,

Like the idea of the Cummer...saves wearing a bundle of different colours and buying cummer sets at every new post (and never wearing them again - "just go gathering dust till I chuck them out!") At least when we are on a sqn etc we will have identityDT_Xtremez_30:

As for the symbol - like the eye - have you thought of the SPHINX with the sun in the back - which I think was our branch symbol when we started pre-war??

Its the one you can see on our branch AWC site??DT_Xtremez_08:

You obviosly know more about the eye than I so will give you a call in a few days to discuss..

 

[luke]

the (fish) net gets wider....

the (fish) net gets wider....

Cheers Sonic,

don't bother ringing me at work as I'm not there (currently overborne and not required at work but waiting for a posting notice so I can get to my next job on "The Wing").

Thanks for the tip on the Sphinx badge. Have to say I have not seen it and am also a bit short on our detailed history, so unaware what badges we used to adopt before. Sounds interesting though - can anyone else give us some pukka gen? If the Eye of Horus is doing the rounds with other spook groups, then the sphinx might be a bit more esoteric.

This is also the reason for this thread - there are a number of pers in our branch who will be better informed as to our history and previous insignia used. I would invite them to contribute to this thread so at least the reasoning for any suggested designs is based on proper fact.

As for my knowledge of the eye - T'internet is a wonderful thing!... DT_Xtremez_31:

 

[HansBwix]

Sphinx

Sphinx

Luke,

The sphinx and sunburst crest was the original RAF intelligence crest back from the days when the PI branch was based at Medmenham.

I like the idea of the eye - but wasn't the all seeing eye the symbol of Amon-Ra - the sun god? this could swiftly turn into an Egyptology debate, but we could go for the whole Masonic thing and have the Pyramids, all seeing eye, sphinx etc..........how about a set of heiroglyphics that read 'if you can read this you have less of a life than me'........

Definitely ike the idea of the branch cummerbund though, but black with a white eye would clash less with the 5s

 

[HansBwix]

Oooh Oooh Oooh!

Oooh Oooh Oooh!

How cool! Whilst looking for the crest above I had a look at the Wikipedia site on RAF Intelligence and discovered that none other than Christopher 'Count Dooku' Lee was an RAF Int officer! there's got to be some way we can work that in to the design!

 

[PiMpMyRiDe]

Horus and the Eye

Horus and the Eye

Some stuff I managed to dig out from t'net might help DT_Xtremez_28:

Horus was the falcon-headed solar and sky god from ancient Egypt. He is associated with vitality, health and regeneration, and in one of his forms is seen as the keeper of secret wisdom. His right eye was white, and represented the sun, and his left eye was black, and represented the moon.

According to Egyptian myth, Horus was the son of Osiris and Isis. Seth, Horus’s brother, killed Osiris. Horus fought Seth to avenge this death and lost his left eye in the fight.* Thoth, the God of magic and the moon, used his powers to reassemble Horus’s eye and returned it to Horus. It was a symbol of the power of the God of light, and therefore a popular amulet for protection and good luck. On presenting his eye to Osiris, Osiris experienced rebirth.

The Eye of Horus, or ‘All-Seeing Eye’ symbolizes protection and the bringing of wisdom. The eye also symbolizes our ability to see with clarity and truthfulness. The Eye of Horus can be broken into six parts, which represent the six senses – Touch, Taste, Hearing, Thought, Sight, and Smell. The Eye is the receptor of input, through these six doors.

 

[PiMpMyRiDe]

I'm with your original plan Luke, me old mucker.

I subscribe to K.I.S.S. so lets have a light blue background with a black eye of Horus. What say you?

 

[Marshalloftheraf]

Hans Hans , your breaking my balls!

I must correct you on your knowledge of the Int School Badge. It has no connection with the Medmenham lot or PI branch.

It is from the old Intelligence school of the RAF from WW2. Its was for general int training courses, most likely for knackered aircrew to go and be Sqintos and primarily for Intelligence staff at the Air Ministry.
We have still not even tracked down where it was as there is little history about it. (Ask the Dark lord for details)

Not PIs!


As for the Horus Eye etc...

D & O processing department were forced to rename under current disc management and come up with random names.

Horus was chosen to represent Air Int due to Sky God etc...

DT_Xtremez_41:

 

[PiMpMyRiDe]

alternative

alternative

Personally, like, I think that my 'PiMpEd' version is wayyyy better.
DT_Xtremez_42:

Definately get some attention DT_Xtremez_14:

 

[Marshalloftheraf]

Vegas 'Bund

Vegas 'Bund

All Vegas graduates get this one!

 

[luke]

it's getting bigger (ooh-er!)...

it's getting bigger (ooh-er!)...

Thanks for the increase in designs and the participation in the poll.

Obvious how Dooku was a spook because it's not the first time one of ours has carried a lightsaber in anger...

I think it was Speckled Jim vs some Jag mates on the balcony of the accommodation block in Incirlik way back in the 90s? The trick was to buy a Darth Maul "double header" DT_Xtremez_15: from the BX and then when it was dusk, loosen the end catches, hold it horizontally in front of you, switch on and spin it like a majorette's baton. Plastic extending "glowing beams" come out simultaneously DT_Xtremez_30: and hey presto! Your very own Episode I.

Speaking of famous people (and probably before a few people's time here), the green slime used to have a gallery of famous brits on the wall of the corridor in their old O Mess in Templar Bks. Mostly did their time with the slime during WW2. I always impressed by the picture of Leonard Rossiter (and did this gallery make the move up to the O Mess at the Land of Dogging and Onions?).

Obviously Rigsby was based on the majority of his colleagues he worked with in the Corps - sweaty, poorly dressed, female stalking snobs with bullsh1t patter DT_Xtremez_31: .

Damn! - probably just burnt my bridges with any future slime co-operation!

Would be interested to know if anyone can name some more famous (RAF) spooks but should be a different thread (best I start one then...)

And yes... I do know about bl00dy Pam Ayres! DT_Xtremez_28:

MOTR - been to Vegas several times but obviously failed to graduate! Seems more Hawaii than LV though - I would have expected LV 'bund to have cards/chips/dice/neon signs/famous hotels on it?

 

[Penguins Suck]

right yous lot listen in what the fcuk does a bunch of ghosts want to wear a sausage for? yous lot want to get a life haaaaaaa ghosts get a life

 

[Marshalloftheraf]

Well done Mr. Rock.

You nearly put a whole sentence together. Jolly Good. Shame it was meaningless drivel but why break a habit of a lifetime.

Keep up the good work. Maybe we will let you sit your entrance test to the Senior school next year.

Perhaps you could go and review the IRT syllabus and see if you can make even more duplication with the CCS, that would be nice.

In the meantime, my fellow Exploiters of information derived from various sources will endeavor to discuss accompaniments for Black Tie attire.

DT_Xtremez_34:

 

[Allah]

luke

luke

luke: your magnificance knows no bounds and paradise shall be your reward should you deliver unto the faithful a cummerbund. For it is written that once it is produced even without the blessing of the grown-ups then it shall be adopted by all. Truly courage shall see you design them, order a blessed few and cast them out to chosen brethen who shall wear them openly. Thus shall a cummerbund be designed and thus will be it adopted.
So it is written, so shall it be done
And by the way, lost in the times of myth and legend, there was a design from the 90's with the All Seeing Eye poached from the infidel Mason and Guards Armoured Division and placed upon colours of black for space, blue for sky, green for land and erm blue for water
Blessing and Peace Be Upon You

 

[Pink Panther]

Pink is in !

Pink is in !

Perhaps a nice Pink item ?

DT_Xtremez_35:

 

[luke]

Thread confusion....

Thread confusion....

Apologies for the delay peeps,

still no posting notice (most of my belongings still in my quarter at my last unit which I am still paying rent & council tax for) but I have started work at my next duty unit and moved the family to my new house (not SFQ) - will I be able to claim all this expense back? (I seriously fooking doubt it hence me not moving all my possessions at my own non-reclaimable expense ).

Been offline while I get the broadband relocated and am now catching up on egoat (so enough of the personal crying already!)...

Had a bit of thread confusion between this and the badge thread.

If the King signed off on the Sphinx and Sun (S&S) then there must be an explanation and reasoning for the choice of symbols and a translation of the motto as well. Would be very interested in these details so post 'em in this forum please, if you know 'em. Although I started the ball rolling with Eye of Horus, I do like the S&S option but am loath to commit to a badge of "a school" as we are quite a bit more than that.

Once I've settled down at work will look into the cummerbund thing in more detail with a view to produce and distribute.