Quote Originally Posted by Tobus View Post
I have no clue about the University of Iowa, but I am fairly certain that the Scottish regiments in the late 1800s and early 1900s had adapted a sort of colour code for their flashes. I can't claim to know the particulars, but I remember hearing about it in a demonstration from a gentleman who always does a WWI "living history" demonstration at our local Highland Games. He goes into a lot of detail on the uniform, equipment, weaponry, etc. And I could swear he mentioned something about the colour of the flashes being related to the type of service or the role of the person wearing them. As in, riflemen wore red, others wore green or yellow (???).

Perhaps someone else here knows those rules, or could correct me if my memory is completely mistaken?
Generally the flashes of British military units are/were red which is probably a reflection of the older traditional garter ties that were striped but predominately red. The odd regiment may, I think, have worn green and the London Scottish wore blue flashes.

Flashes were never used to signify role with th possible exception that some pipers may have worn different colours in the same way that their tartan differed from the rest of the regiment.