ultimate uniform discussion..

[jordanfstop]

just for fun

it's very interesting to me to see all of the different department's uniforms around the country, and world... here at my corps during the fall/winter/early spring and corps functions we have white full button down shirts (short or long sleeve) with corps patch on left side and NYS EMT patch on right. we have badges with citation bars. we can also have different collar bars saying "EMT" "EMS" etc if we want.. the line officers have gold badges and gold collar bars. for pants most members wear dark blue seven-pocket pants. you can wear straight legged if you choose to do so. right now they're trying to switch us over to those blauers shirts with only three buttons. they're going to be white with usual patches/badges. they're also thinking of doing dark blue which looks like other agencies around here; or white for all and light blue for line officers. during the summer we have dark blue polos with our "logo" (star of life with our name around the star.) they also have "SPRING HILL EMS" on the back in reflective lettering, which actually looks really cool. i personally think we should just have the white shirts all year round and do the polos during more casual events (parade bike patrol or something.)



during weeknights we're allowed to wear whatever shirts you want, including our various t-shirts. midnight-5a they don't really care either way, but if you have some jacket or something with a corps name on it, they prefer it.

we also have green job shirts which we can wear at night or when the temp is below forty. we also have a few different green jackets that look nearly the same, a vest, baseball cap, and dark blue winter jacket with huge star of life on the back & our logo.

during backups it's whatever you have, just no shorts and sandals..

i don't think i live with myself with one of those one piece suits jumpsuits, though

what about you guys? standard white shirts? polos? 'blauers', patches, badges, pins, ties, etc.

also, does your corps do uniform cleaning for you?

while we're on the topic, i've been thinking about switching to straight legged pants going and getting one of those radio holster with gloves and shears holster.. http://conterra-inc.com/product_info.php?products_id=10 has anybody run both? i've heard all of these students carrying ridiculous things on their person, but i've noticed i've needed penlights, shears, and more than one pair of gloves when it hasn't been convenient to go into the bag (which is a huge trauma/o2 bag combo which members cannot keep organized ;]) since i only carry a single pair of shears, shears, and a few pairs of gloves i think i'd go for this since i think the straight legged look more professional.

 

[KEVD18]

i get lonely without all my pockets

blue polo with company logo. blue emt pants. boots. completely unauthorized job shirt that i wear with reckless disregard for regulation. blauer hi-viz rain jacket when necesary

my radio goes over my shoulder in a carry strap(man purse or murse as some of use like to call it.)

 

[jordanfstop]

i get lonely without all my pockets

but what do you put in them? haha..i mean, i'd have my gloves, shears, and radio on my belt..penlight and pens in my shirt. i keep a few 'red bags' in my back pockets, but that's about it... on my pocketed shirt there's a field guide, a disposable tourniquet, and a few band-aids.

 

[KEVD18]

field guide and notebook in one pocker. wallet in another. shears, knife, pens, cigarretts, lighter, gloves. various other items that appear from nowhere

 

[wolfwyndd]

what about you guys? standard white shirts? polos? 'blauers', patches, badges, pins, ties, etc.

also, does your corps do uniform cleaning for you?

We were, just a few months ago, issue some semblance of a 'real' uniform. We got the 'police' looking uniforms, straight navy blue pants, no cargo pockets, navy blue shirts with an embroidered badge on the left breast, above our embroidered last name, and our squad patch on the left shoulder. Of course we got short sleeve only.

Last winter we got one of those combination parka that has a fleece inner jacket that can be worn as a regular jacket and the outer shell can be worn seperately as a rain jacket or zipped together with the inner fleece to make a parka. I don't think it's a tactical 5.11, but it's one of the knock offs. Both the inner fleece and the outer shell have our patch on it so no matter how you wear it, it still identifies who we're with. Navy, of course. And that little 1/2 inch reflective strip around the sleeve? Almost worthless. That's why we also got seperate vests for MVA's or other events where we might need to be seen.

I think I'm about the only one at the squad that actually likes our new uniforms because they actually have a collar and look professional. Everyone else would be happy to just wear our OLD uniform which was a t-shirt with our logo on the left breast. Of course, I'm only one of TWO that moved into our township from outside the area and I'm only one of TWO that DIDN'T come from a farm family. So to most of the people on my squad, dressing up and looking 'professional' means wearing boots that DON'T have cow sh$t on them. 'Collars? You mean people actually wear shirts that have collars on them? That's just WRONG!' Yeah, I know, I don't get it either. But, that's what I get for moving out into BFE.

Oh, sorry, forgot to add, NO, the squad does not do our cleaning for us. We do have a washer and dryer at the squad house so if we wanted to wash our own uniform there that's ok, but we don't send them out. We USED to do that years ago, but we stopped it because it was thought to be a waste of money.

 

[firecoins]

I Spring Hill's green stuff. I love the long sleeve blue golf shirt with a blue t shirt under it we wear at Haverstraw. Most Rocklsnd County Corps are getting rid f the "uniform" shirt and replacing them with golf shirt. Makes us seem less like cops which is good.

 

[jordanfstop]

I Spring Hill's green stuff.

you what spring hill stuff? haha..

eh, RPD K-9 wears a golf shirt ;]

apparently we're one of the few in rockland that is trying to KEEP the uniform shirts year round. a lot of the members didn't want to get the blue uniforms shirts because they look too much like nanuet or regional. here at spring hill we just like to be different being #1 in the county and all

we're like the gentile hatzolah!

 

[Hubbie]

We have maroon red polo style shirts with black cargo pants and either a duty belt or a regular belt with a chrome buckle (that's the one I wear). In my pockets I carry a pair of sheers, several pens, a feild guide and my TX ID card (must remain visable at all times). And tucked into the belt I have at least one pair of gloves with me at all times. If the weather gets to cold we can either wear a black turtle neck under the polo, or wear the comapny jacket. The polo shirts don't have our rank or cert level on them but our jackets do. On our feet we can wear any style of black boot, either lace up or zip up. But they MUST be black. One of my co-workers got sent home once for having dark brown.

 

[disassociative]

Here at Cumberland EMS in Crossville, TN--we wear the standard white dress shirt with buttons in the front; however it does not button--instead the buttons are for look and there is a zipper beneath them. Along with this shirt; we are required to wear our navy BDU's and a pair of black boots. This uniform is required for every shift, every day of the week. On hospital shifts, I am required to wear black scrubs; which is fortunate because all I have to do when I arrive for RN clinicals is throw on my lab coat; and boom! Prepared.

 

[firecoins]

we're like the gentile hatzolah!

lol, you became gentile just to ride at Spring Hill? So do you gets Jews to drive the rig back to Spring Hill during the rest of the week? lol

 

[jordanfstop]

lol, you became gentile just to ride at Spring Hill? So do you gets Jews to drive the rig back to Spring Hill during the rest of the week? lol

hahaha, not quite, no but rockland county hatzolah isn't the most professional EMS...plus they're not 911...plus you have to be married...plus you have to be twenty-five.

 

[Emtgirl21]

I really enjoy our uniforms. We have black emt pants with black police type boots. During the winter we have dress uniform shirts also black. During the summer we have black polos. We have black baseball caps during the summer and black beenies during the winner. Most of us also wear duty belts. Kinda like the ones more cops wear. So yeah basicly we look like cops with scissors and a scope.

 

[JJR512]

The company I work for issues a green polo shirt with the company's name on the left breast, and they ask us to wear navy blue pants of the EMS, tactical, dress, or ****ies variety (some people wear black and seem to get away with it). I recently switched from black 5.11s (left over from a previous company) to blue Aspen Mills EMS-2 pants with silver reflective trim on the cargo pocket flaps (not really necessary for a private ambulance company, but I'm getting into a volunteer fire company, so they'll be good there).

The previous company I worked for required black pants (same type) and they issued a red button-down shirt (short and long sleeves available) with the logo (three penguins carrying medic bags) on the left breast. (Interestingly, this logo also appeared on their ambulances, making the ambulances technically illegal according to international treaty, because the medic bags were white with a red cross on them, and, by international treaty, only military ambulances are allowed to have a red cross on a white background.)

My current company is in the process of replacing the green polo shirt with a button-down shirt of the type worn by fire and police; they will supposedly be navy blue in color. Personally, I feel that navy blue is a mistake. Everybody supplies their own pants, which means everybody is wearing a different shade of navy blue pants, which means the shirts won't match any of the pants and they will clash horribly. They should have chosen the standard fire department light blue shirt color. The new shirt will have our certification level patch on one upper arm and the company's patch on the other arm. Hopefully, this will alert more people (both family members as well as some hospital staff) that we actually are educated EMT-whatevers and not just "ambulance drivers".

Speaking of ambulance drivers, some of my company's employees feel that we should all go back to the Good Humor days and wear all-white uniforms.

 

[princess]

We are issued khaki Class-A shirts (short or long sleeve) with the state cert/license patch on the right sleeve and our county service patch on the left. Standard, navy-blue "EMS-tons-of-pockets" pants are also issued. After 5 pm and on weekends we are allowed to wear navy t-shirts that have our name/cert level on the breast and EMS on the back. Of course, the black boots are a must.

I wear navy summer-weight BDUs during the hotter months (yep, I'm in Texas). The ProTuff pants are horribly hot.

 

[princess]

Speaking of ambulance drivers, some of my company's employees feel that we should all go back to the Good Humor days and wear all-white uniforms.

HaHa! We should stop wearing gloves and walk around all day with blood and grime under our fingernails too!

 

[DisasterMedTech]

Khaki BDUs (ripstop summer weight year round for me though its a personal choice...you can always add layers. its harder to get cool.) Black steel toed boots with pants bloused. Shirt sleeves can be worn down or rolled above the elbow. Black belt. Black t-shirt which can also be worn without the BDU shirt for hot weather. IMERT printed on the back in royal blue. Boonie cap or military patrol cap. Left shoulder has the Illinois Department of Public Health/IMERT patch on the sleeve with the individuals cert/specialty on a seperate rocker. Collar brass for officers. State and Federal citation pins only allowed on collar (along with the brass). "Reverse" flag on right shoulder. Above the right chest pocket is a name tape with last name only followed by cert level. Similar tape worn on left chest with IMERT printed. Above this tape is the Office of Homeland Security (State)/Illinois Terrorism Task Force patch. Black wind breaker with IMERT on the back. For cold weather we have several choices including the military M-65 field jacket in black or khaki, a 3 in 1 parka, down vest, sweater, etc. Right now we have members that wear the above uniform in khaki and some who wear it in black. We are transitioning away from the all black uniform to khaki by 2011. For officers/command team we use the Naval rank system and insignia (a captain wear what looks like the Army's bird colonel insignia). We also have warrant officer and chief warrant officer ranks and all ranks can me metal or cloth which is sewn onto the collar, though I think we are transitioning away from metal rank for safety reasons.

 

[medicdan]

I am really excited, I just got my MDA uniform. (MDA is the national ambulance service of Israel). I have a crisp white uniform shirt, with my rank on both arms, a big MDA logo on the back, and a pockets on both the right and left breasts. The left has the MDA logo. I also got a pin for being a part of the overseas volunteer program.
Because winter is coming (yes, it does get cold in Israel), we got really nice blue jackets with our rank and logos like the shirt. As well, the jacket has reflective tape on the back, sleeves and logos. The jacket is perfect except it lacks a good glove pocket.
This uniform is nationally recognizable and respected. I will be honored to put it on (until it is all covered in vomit/blood).

 

[jordanfstop]

Because winter is coming (yes, it does get cold in Israel).

Hahaha, I remember last year, a few days after I left it snowed in Jerusalem. Where are you going to be working? Jerusalem?

Also, how do those vests work out?

 

[medicdan]

Hahaha, I remember last year, a few days after I left it snowed in Jerusalem. Where are you going to be working? Jerusalem?

Also, how do those vests work out?

I am working at a station in Hertzliya (to the North of Tel-Aviv), but will take daily trips to Ramat Hasharon, Raan'ana and the larger area.

What vests are you asking about? High Visibility? We carry two high-viz vests on the ambulance, but often have more the just two staff, so its all a game.
We also carry a bullet-proof vest and helmet for terror attack scenes (because there are sometimes secondary bombs)-- and again it goes to the highest ranking on the amb.
I have plenty of comments on MDA, but they are worthy of a separate post.
Again, I am really excited to start a shift here!!

DES

 

[jordanfstop]

What vests are you asking about? High Visibility?

Those vests that you usually keep equipment in...Like Hatzolah has..

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