Disrespectful uniforms and Greer's rank

[Detox]

Why would they have Canadian uniforms on a U.S. base?

Cause clearly, our equipment's much better.

[Major Tyler]

The Marines are the Navy's policemen right? I seem to remember a quote from a US President saying that

The Marines are fricken' angels from heaven, and the Navy is their chauffeur.

[Shotty]

I don't have much of a problem with the show and what it displayed, the EGA was removed from the covers (hat) on both Eli and the girl that was abandoned. It seems along with all the other covers as well.

As for the rank, yes, MSgt in the USMC is hard to pull off. A GySgt would have been easier by being 27. The writers should have chosen a non terminal rank. Had he been just a little older I could have went for it whole heartily though, I've seen <37 year old MGySgts so some do progress rather quickly.

As for his conduct towards the LT, since he's a MSgt and no doubt then been around and seen some things, no, he doesn't just snap to and yell AYE AYE Sir! towards some boot LT.

I don't know your background, but I've seen plenty of boot Lts that get snatched up, yelled at and in some cases more for getting out of line with high ranking enlisted Marines. Especially in Iraq.

A boot LT, that's not even a Marine, will never tell a USMC MSgt what to do.

[Captain Obvious]

A boot LT, that's not even a Marine, will never tell a USMC MSgt what to do.

I don't know about that. Joint military operation with a clear chain of command putting someone else in charge. I doubt the marine would disrespect his pledge of duty just because he feels above the Army. Also, we don't know exactly what his crime was, he might have been in the middle of a possible court marshal when they let him out. It seemed that Wray was VERY surprised to see him, which to me indicates he did something really bad.

[Major Tyler]

A boot LT, that's not even a Marine, will never tell a USMC MSgt what to do.

Um, yes he will. It doesn't matter if he is an 18 year old 2nd LT, technically he outranks all NCOs. In principle, a young officer should defer to a senior NCO's experience and treat them with more respect, but that senior NCO is still required to follow an officer's orders. I don't think Scott has been too bossy with Greer, and I don't think Greer had any issues taking orders. It's the civvies he doesn't like, not the officers.

[reddevil18]

I don't know your background, but I've seen plenty of boot Lts that get snatched up, yelled at and in some cases more for getting out of line with high ranking enlisted Marines. Especially in Iraq.

A boot LT, that's not even a Marine, will never tell a USMC MSgt what to do.

Awesome. So that's why military operations have been going so great there. Insubordination runs rampant.

[Shotty]

Technically and what actually happens are two different things.

[Shotty]

Awesome. So that's why military operations have been going so great there. Insubordination runs rampant.

No, more problems with fraternization over there like we saw in the first episode.

[Starborne]

I may be going abit off topic here but why is O'Neal wearing the same uniform as the Icarus base personel if their uniform is made just that mission as many of you claim?

[Shotty]

As much as we may like to banter here, the simple reality is that the show simply doesn't adhere to any current military rules on uniforms. It's for aesthetics and on camera appearance. As much as their behavior is.

[rpimpsner]

I may be going abit off topic here but why is O'Neal wearing the same uniform as the Icarus base personel if their uniform is made just that mission as many of you claim?

O'Neill is not wearing the same uniform was Icarus Base personnell. He is wearing a modified black Tactical Response Uniform (made by Tru-Spec) which is basically a modified Army Combat Uniform. I went over it in my SGU Uniform thread so you can see the differences.

[Deevil]

As a matter of fact, the uniforms don't bother me nearly as much as the idea of Greer being a MSgt. You don't make it to that rank at his age. Unless they're going to tell us he's nearly 40 yet magically looks 25, it's a clear oversight that wouldn't happen if they actually did have military advisers on the production staff. You certainly don't keep the rank after doing anything that gets you thrown in the brig. And you damn sure know to use "sir" when speaking to an officer, let alone complying when being ordered to lower his weapon when given a direct order.

I think it's possible that he could be a master sgt... ever heard of combat comissions (okay, that's so the wrong terminology, but it's basically getting promoted while in a war/warzone). It can happen, and has in the past.

[Avenger]

Again, if that was the stated case on the show - or if they make a mention of such a thing later - then I'll accept it. But as it stands no such thing has been explained and there was no reason to put any of them in camo to begin with, especially since they were wearing it wrong to be of any use.

The production staff just wanted to show off digis. If they wanted to do that they should have done the research and done it right. It's still disrespectful.

Why does it have to be stated specifically? It was obvious that that is exactly what happened based on what we saw in the first episode.

[Herb]

As far as I could tell, the only one's wearing the uniforms incorrectly were the civilians, so hopefully they can be forgiven. I remember Eli was wearing an Air Force uniform, but had a Marine cover. Since they didn't bring a lot of clothes along with them (presumably), they probably have to make do with what they have, which means they might not have enough to give everyone a "full and proper" uniform.

That's my guess, anyway.

In my opinion you are correct with this. I work as an extra on SGU. I'm one of the marines. Before every single take the wardrobe crew check to make sure we're in proper order. I remember during one scene I forgot to do up the chin strap on my helmet and because it was a busy day with lots of extras it got missed (on SGU details like that rarely get missed, and maybe I undid the strap to scratch an itch when the cameras were already rolling so it was my bad regardless). Well, let me tell you, before we could roll for the next take one of the producers came rushing on to set to make sure my strap was done up properly for the next take!!

Keep in mind, we are in the midst of a crisis. All we have to wear is what we wore onto the ship, and maybe a few other articles of clothing that we have to share amongst the survivors. While the marines are on duty, we're dressed properly. Now I can only speak for myself, but in my opinion, the writers, producers, directors, and the entire crew all do their best to show complete respect for the military during the making of this show. I've heard crew say things to us like, "A marine would NEVER do that." I remember one time while I was getting my hair cut for the show noticing the US Marine hair cut guidelines/policy up front and center at the hair cut stations.

[FeloniousMonk]

MY family has bled red, white and blue for nearly 10 generations but really, you are making way too big of a deal of this. You are focusing on the uniforms instead of thinking why they are that way, you are too busy crying about it.

They aren't going to sit there and say "we don't Have X" for every single little thing-they are going to say what they do have " power bars, pens and paper, seeds" . I am going to assume there were some extra BDU's, but I don't expect civilians to be forced to wear makeshift uniforms in some specified fashion. Also, the Co2 Scrubbers were broken! Obviously this is going to make people perspire more (as your body works harder with less oxygen) and have shirts a little more open to help keep cool.

The in-universe explanation doesn't make up for the bad production decision.

And Jamil Walker-Smith (Greer) is 27. It might be a stretch, but less makeup can easily add 5 years on screen. Also, he seems to have plenty of field experience, which to me indicates this is not his first off-world engagement. As they had shown with O'Neil and Carter, the SGC is the fast track to advancement in the military.

Even 32 wouldn't happen. Field experience doesn't get one around time in grade and time in service requirements.

That being said, officers rank up differently than enlisted. SGC or not, it's basically the writers not giving a damn about accuracy and thinking "Master Sergeant" sounded cooler the more realistic "Staff Sergeant".

Go relax and have a beer. They were not doing this just to insult you.

No ****. But I still have a right to nitpick about it just like everyone else here has the right to nitpick about the myriad of other things people have nitpicked in science fiction for decades.