# Do (some) naval officers wear 10% gold lace rank?



## Sailing Instructor (14 Dec 2005)

Is the non-nylon, "real" (i.e. 10% gold, 90% something else) gold braid still worn by some officers in the navy?  I think that I had seen it on some very nice looking shoulder boards this summer, but I didn't ask and I am not sure if it was just a particularly good-looking bit of yellow nylon.

I know dress instructions specifies yellow nylon and says somewhere that anything not specifically authorised is not authorised, but I thought maybe this was one of those cases where practice does not follow dress instructions (like the nametags on service mess dress, No2B). 

To stifle any confusion before the questions are posted, I am not so ignorant as to wonder if the executive curl is being worn on service dress.  I am merely talking of the material itself, the shapes I saw were straight bars, just like the regular rank insignia.


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## Chimo (14 Dec 2005)

In your calculation of the percentage of gold- have you taken in to account that most Naval Officers are pure gold, except of course, for their silver tongue.


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## Lerch (19 Dec 2005)

I'm not sure about shoulder boards, but my TrgO and XO both wear the 10% braid on their cuffs.


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## Neill McKay (19 Dec 2005)

The gold lace used on mess kit (including the shoulder boards worn with the white mess jacket) is a different material form that worn on DEUs, and I gather it contains a certain amount of gold wire (adding considerably to the cost of the naval mess kit compared with the other elements'!).


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## Michael OLeary (19 Dec 2005)

Neill McKay said:
			
		

> The gold lace used on mess kit (including the shoulder boards worn with the white mess jacket) is a different material form that worn on DEUs, and I gather it contains a certain amount of gold wire (adding considerably to the cost of the naval mess kit compared with the other elements'!).



Not necessarily, my last Mess Kit was made by the tailor in Halifax; and his using the bright rank stripes on both jackets didn't really affect the overall cost.


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## Neill McKay (20 Dec 2005)

Michael O'Leary said:
			
		

> Not necessarily, my last Mess Kit was made by the tailor in Halifax; and his using the bright rank stripes on both jackets didn't really affect the overall cost.



I don't quite understand what you mean.  Did you have a naval mess kit made with the regular lace?


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## Michael OLeary (20 Dec 2005)

No. I had an army mess kit made, with two jackets; red and white. They were made by a tailor in Halifax who makes many Naval mess kits. He stocks the bright gold lace - the stuff that is shinier than the service issue stuff (which is what I assume you are talking about). He used it on my mess kit jackets. It did not increase the price.


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## Neill McKay (21 Dec 2005)

Michael O'Leary said:
			
		

> No. I had an army mess kit made, with two jackets; red and white. They were made by a tailor in Halifax who makes many Naval mess kits. He stocks the bright gold lace - the stuff that is shinier than the service issue stuff (which is what I assume you are talking about). He used it on my mess kit jackets. It did not increase the price.



I see.

Part of the issue with the naval mess kit is the amount of the stuff.  There's a stripe down each trouser leg an inch or an inch and a quarter wide, in addition to the stripes around the cuffs (and a surprising length of material is required for this -- something like a foot per stripe per sleeve, more for the top stripe because of the curl in it).  Andrei (in Fredericton and a few other places with a military presence) prices his naval mess kit substantially higher than the other elements partly because of this cost.


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## Fishbone Jones (21 Dec 2005)

Neill McKay said:
			
		

> I see.
> 
> Part of the issue with the naval mess kit is the amount of the stuff.   There's a stripe down each trouser leg an inch or an inch and a quarter wide, in addition to the stripes around the cuffs (and a surprising length of material is required for this -- something like a foot per stripe per sleeve, more for the top stripe because of the curl in it).   Andrei (in Fredericton and a few other places with a military presence) *prices his naval mess kit substantially higher than the other elements partly because of this cost.*



Price you pay for being snappy, dashing and deboner. Besides with all the duty free booze and smokes you guys get, you can afford it.


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## Inch (22 Dec 2005)

recceguy said:
			
		

> Price you pay for being snappy, dashing and deboner. Besides with all the duty free booze and smokes you guys get, you can afford it.



Man, I get the best of both worlds, cheap mess kit and duty free booze and smokes!  ;D

As we say in MH, best job in the Navy, worst job in the Air Force.

Now the link to this topic, I opted for the gold braid for my mess kit and it cost me about $20 more than if I got the Air Force braid.


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