U.S. Campaign Tartans

**Friday** · 2nd August 08, 05:27 PM

As a Vietnam Vet. i would invite anyone to wear the (proposed) Vietnam Service Memorial Tartan.

Two possible versions:

Red, White, Blue for the US, Black for those that gave their all, green/yellow/red for the Flag of the Republic of S. Vietnam.

With out the black.

As for those that say "This sort of thing smacks of self-aggrandizement and posing." When I came back from over seas I was greeted by many who's self-aggrandizement and posing belittled my service. I would be upset by someone wearing military medals they did not earn, but would be proud that someone felt enough of the service of my fellow Vietnam Vet to wear a memorial tartan.

**TheKiltedCoder** · 2nd August 08, 07:16 PM

Originally Posted by Friday

As a Vietnam Vet. i would invite anyone to wear the (proposed) Vietnam Service Memorial Tartan.

Two possible versions:

Red, White, Blue for the US, Black for those that gave their all, green/yellow/red for the Flag of the Republic of S. Vietnam.

With out the black.

As for those that say "This sort of thing smacks of self-aggrandizement and posing." When I came back from over seas I was greeted by many who's self-aggrandizement and posing belittled my service. I would be upset by someone wearing military medals they did not earn, but would be proud that someone felt enough of the service of my fellow Vietnam Vet to wear a memorial tartan.

I really like the second option (the one without the black) and it does a very good job of evoking the Vietnam Service Medal. You've got exactly the idea that I was talking about.

**kiltimabar** · 2nd August 08, 09:51 PM

I'd be proud to wear either one of those tartans--I earned it. I like the idea and the design of the Desert Storm tartan too; I like the look of a khaki-based tartan (the hideous Burberry notwithstanding), but I just couldn't wear it. That honor belongs to others.

**Drillagent** · 3rd August 08, 05:17 AM

I would have to go with Riverkilt on this one. The Vietnam kilt with the green background looks great and is true to the ribbon. I would wear that one because my father is a veteran of that war. Being a veteran of Iraqi Freedom myself, I would wear that one if we could get it to look like the ribbon and still look good.
I have a fly plaid, in my clan tartan, that I wore to Iraq and used as a scarf under my body armor. I also wore my clan badge pinned to the underside of body armor. Both I wore for luck, but everyone in my unit knew that if anything happened to me, the plaid would go to my son, and the badge to my daughter. I made it back alive with no scars (none visible anyway) so I wear that plaid and badge on occasion.
On that plaid I have four sets of military ribbons. My personal ribbons that I earned myself are at the bottom. The next up are my father's he earned from Vietnam. The next are my father-in-law's that he earned during the Korean war, and at the top are my grandfather's from WWII. I wear them not as my own, but to show that my family carries on the Scottish tradition of fighting for freedom and to honor those who go before me.
What I'm trying to say is if you want to wear the kilt in rememberance of a family member or good friend, then good on ya. But if I saw a younger man wearing the Vietnam tartan, I would ask myself two questions.
Is that person wearing it for a family member or friend, or is he wearing it because he likes the pattern? If he's wearing it because he likes the pattern, then he doesn't know the true cost in blood sweat and tears, he didn't earn it, and shouldn't wear it. Sorry if I offend, but that is my humble opinion.

**Rex_Tremende** · 3rd August 08, 06:05 AM

I haven't anything to say about who or why, but I do think that the thread counts on these need to be tinkered with a bit to make them more tartan-like. The VSMs here look to me like they'd come off the loom looking like a tweed.

Regards,
Rex.

**Drillagent** · 3rd August 08, 06:58 AM

I found the tartan maker website and played around a little bit. Let me know what you think of the Iraq Campaign Tartan. I'm also including a picture of the medal so you get an idea of how I used the ribbon for the tartan. The picture of the tartan came out with just this one sett, but I couldn't get a larger image. Follow this link for a better view of the tartan. http://www.tartanmaker.com/?page=showcase This is my first try, so go easy on me. lol

**Barb T** · 3rd August 08, 10:33 AM

And just a quick post to those who are designing tartans that folks might want to have pleated to the stripe (which is really common for those with military affiliation). Be sure that the tartan _can_ be pleated to the stripe and will look good with a tapered pleat. A couple months ago, I posted an example of a difficult tartan below:

http://www.xmarksthescot.com/forum/p...454/index.html (particularly, see the last posted pic, which best illustrates the problem).

The bottom line is this. If you have lots of stripes that are close together, it's hard for a kiltmaker to make a good-looking kilt pleated to the stripe. You need a single prominent stripe with adequate solid color on each side so that you can center it in a pleat 3/4-1" across without running into another set of stripes on either side. This can also work if you have a trio of very closely spaced narrow stripes with adequate solid color on each side. But again, a kiltmaker needs to be able to make pleats 3/4-1" across without running into an adjacent set of stripes or having a stripe vanish in the taper toward the top of the kilt.

The two proposed Viet Nam tartans both look problematic to me. Not enough tan on each side of the red stripes to pleat to the red stripe, and the RWBWR set of stripes is likely to be too wide to look good with a tapered pleat. And in the first version of the Viet Nam tartan, the BWR stripe in the black _might_ work (depends on the size of the sett), but the white stripe is so narrow that it will vanish at a distance, giving the kilt the dreaded lawn chair effect if pleated to the white stripe.

**Friday** · 3rd August 08, 06:02 PM

Originally Posted by Barb T.

. . . Be sure that the tartan _can_ be pleated to the stripe and will look good with a tapered pleat. A couple months ago, . . .

The two proposed Viet Nam tartans both look problematic to me. . .

That nice lady is why I would take the idea to a kilt maker, such as the great Barb T for advice and comments before going forward with any tartan design. At this time I was just playing but thanks for the insight I will remember the next time I play.