Insignia

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Insignia (TOS)Insignia (RDM)

This article covers the various insignia in the Original Series, from arm patches to emblems.

Battestar-specific insignia, pins and patches

Each battlestar has its own unique arm patches and pins.

Galactica

Galactica has a set of emblems. The ship's seal is a circle with a collection of small gold triangles in a circular formation .

The pilot helmets are decorated with a hawk-like creature, whereas the pins are shaped in the form of a eight-arm star, much like a compass legend on a map. In the middle of this pin is a regular five-arm star .

In a deleted scene from "Saga of a Star World," a variant of the main Galactica patch is introduced, though never seen again. This variant has a diamond with yellow embroidery, with one half filled with red, the other filled with a dark color, possibly black. Each half has an outline of a circle.

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  Adama's special medallion.
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  The hawk-like decoration on Galactica's pilot helmet.
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  The pin worn by Galactica's crew.
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  Galactica's patch.
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  A variant of Galactica's patch, seen on a Gemonese man that Starbuck is playing against in "Saga of a Star World".

Pegasus

Pegasus has its own set of emblems. The ship's seal is a red shield with black trim, with a sword flanked adorned with wings in white. One may assume that the wings are those of the winged creature for which the ship is named. The pins that adorn the neckline on their uniforms are also different and are notably more rounder than their Galactica counterpart.

Viper pilots also wear helmets with the bust, wings, and front legs of the Pegasus creature.

In addition, Commander Cain's helmet contains a rectangular ornament plate, which may identify him as a battlestar commander.

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  Seal of Pegasus
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  Helmet decoration for Pegasus pilots
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  Pins worn by Pegasus personnel
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  Cain's chin plate on his helmet

Other battlestars

In addition, the exiled Colonial Warrior, Martin, wore a different patch on his Warrior jacket, which Vella is seen carrying after Apollo first encountered Red-Eye ^{(TOS: "The Lost Warrior")}. Martin's battlestar is never named in the episode.

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  The patch on Martin's jacket, which Vella carries

Miscellaneous

The life sciences patch.

Life sciences specialists wear a periwinkle-colored diamond patch on their left arms, with a silver-star surrounded by branches. This patch has a silver trim at its edges.

This patch does not appear until "War of the Gods, Part I," as it is absent in earlier episodes like "Lost Planet of the Gods, Part I". In its place was the default Galactica patch.

Unknown

There are unknown emblems on the walls of the Officer's Club, which may be squadron-related.

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  The "green triangle".
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  The "orange triangle".
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  The "yellow triangle".
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  The green split circle.

References

See also

• Uniforms (TOS)

This article covers the various insignia in the Re-imagined Series, from arm patches to emblems.

Patches and arm flashes

Colonial Fleet patches

Every crewmember wears a ship patch on the left shoulder of his or her uniform. It is a round patch depicting the Colonial seal in the middle, around which the ship's name together with its battlestar group are written. Galactica's crew patch is colored gold, with "Battlestar Galactica BSG 75" written around the seal in a very dark, almost black, blue. The Pegasus patch is blue with white lettering. Triton's patch is colored the same as Galactica's.

Both the Armistice Officer and Kendra Shaw wear the patch of the Ministry of Defense, which is labeled "Kobol HQ". This is a holdover from the earlier drafts of the Miniseries script, when everyone came from Kobol instead of the Twelve Colonies.

Colonial ship and department patches are also present on duffel bags ("Scar," "Razor"), including another velcro patch with the last name and first initial of the officer to whom the bag belongs.

Flight suits also have a specialty patch on the right shoulder, which is either a Viper or Raptor emblem. Additionally, some flight suits feature a specialty patch over the left breast (such as one for the Vigilantes squadron as worn by Kara "Starbuck" Thrace and Lee "Apollo" Adama), although this is typically obscured by the flight suit vest and rarely seen.

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  Galactica patch.
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  Smaller Galactica patch worn on the gray sweatpant.
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  Pegasus patch.
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  Triton patch.
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  Valkyrie patch with a golden, reflective back.
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  Ministry of Defense patch, worn by the Armistice Officer in the Miniseries and Kendra Shaw in "Razor".
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  Raptor patch.
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  Viper patch.
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  Vigilantes patch, worn on the left breast of the flight suit of Galactica's pilots who are members of the squadron.
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  Velcro name patch of Sharon Valerii for her duffel bag.

Civilian patches

The first instance of a civilian ship patch is the Eversun patch worn by the ship's crew of Colonial Heavy 798 ^{(TRS: "Miniseries")}.

Subsequent to this, other ship patches have appeared, including the Prison Transport Services patch on the crew and security officers on Astral Queen ^{(TRS: "Water")}, and the arm patch worn by Saul Tigh and William Adama on Sedulana ^{(TRS: "Scattered")}. Later, the civilian ship's captains, acting as judges at Gaius Baltar's trial, wear patches on their dress uniforms with their ship name and symbol. The patch on Doyle Franks' uniform identifies her as the captain of Prometheus, and Jules Tarney (to Franks's right) is from Pyxis ("Crossroads, Part I," "He That Believeth in Me"). It is unknown whether the symbols on the patches represent solely the ships or possibly the companies that owned them. Further, the symbol on the Prometheus patch is also present on the uniform buttons.

The only civilian patch ever seen with the Colonial seal is the Caprica City Police ^{(TRS: "Maelstrom")}.

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  Prometheus patch worn by Doyle Franks ^{(TRS: "Crossroads, Part I")}.
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  Pyxis patch worn by Jules Tarney in "Crossroads" Parts I & II.
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  Integral Systems Engineering patch worn by Gina Inviere (Razor).
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  Patch for the freighter William Adama and Saul Tigh served on after the First Cylon War ^{(TRS: "Scattered")}.
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  Patch worn on the jackets of the crew members and stewardesses of Colonial Heavy 798.
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  Patch worn by the crew members on Astral Queen ^{(TRS: "Bastille Day")}.
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  Patch of the Caprica City Police.

Rank insignia

For information on the rank insignia, see Military Ranks (RDM)

Duty uniform devices

Pilot wings

Pilot qualification wings

On regular duty blue uniforms and flight suits, pilot qualification wings are normally worn over the left breast; on dress gray formal dress uniforms, these are worn attached to a vertical sash. Two versions exist within the formal Colonial Fleet:

• Junior Pilot — two chevrons on a golden diamond and small swept-back wings to the sides, and;
• Senior Pilot — larger outstretched wings and an additional silver border on the upper edges of the diamond.

Senior pilot wings might be awarded for significant flight-hours or senior command qualification (e.g. capital ship).

During a service for the dead, pilot wings are often offered as tokens to fallen pilots, placed on displays with their helmets and atop caskets ^{(TRS: "Miniseries, Night 2" and "Act of Contrition")}.

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  Commander William Adama at a table festooned with Colonial Fleet militaria during the service for the dead ^{(TRS: "Miniseries, Night 2")}.
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  Lee "Apollo" Adama places flight wings upon Zak Adama's casket during his service for the dead ^{(TRS: "Act of Contrition")}.

Dress uniform devices

Dress uniforms are worn on formal occasions and are thus worn with additional adornments and insignia.

An elaborate ship's insignia is worn on the uniform flap over the right breast. It is a metal version of the shoulder patch. All other insignia are worn on a leather sash that runs diagonally across the uniform.

One pin is a variation of a Galactica insignia from the Original Series, with an additional four-pointed star on top. These come in gold and silver. Like with the other devices, their function is unknown. They are likely medals awarded for distinguished service or valor.

An exception to this are admirals, like Adm. Peter Corman, who can wear uniform devices on their normal blue duty uniforms ^{(TRS: "Hero")}.

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  Commander Adama in dress uniform ^{(TRS: "Water")}.
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  Colonel Tigh in dress uniform (Water).
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  William Adama's dress uniform insignia.
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  Colonel Tigh's dress uniform insignia.
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  Lee Adama's dress uniform insignia.
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  Dress uniform insignia of the honor guard in "Act of Contrition".
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  Admiral Peter Corman (high resolution)
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  Star-shaped insignia
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  Dress uniform Galactica insignia

Additional Images

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  The Adamas in dress uniform ^{(TRS: "Miniseries")}.
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  A closeup of William Adama's dress uniform (Miniseries).

See Also

• Medal of Distinction and Medal of Valor; two medals awarded by the Colonial Fleet.
• Uniforms (RDM) for information on the uniforms of the Re-imagined Series.
• Military Ranks (RDM) for information on the rank insignia of the Re-imagined Series.
• Squadrons of Galactica for information on squadron insignia used in the Re-imagined Series.
• Insignia (TOS) for information on insignia used in the Original Series.

External Links

• A detailed analysis (web.archive.org backup link) of Battlestar Galactica rank insignia and uniform devices by Jim Stevenson. The source of some of this article's images.
• A high resolution version (web.archive.org backup link) of the device chart shown on the site above.

References

For direct navigation sans the tabbed navigational aid above, please select one of the following article links:

• Insignia (TOS)
• Insignia (RDM)