There’s some confusion here - the tactical bit of TRF has nothing whatsoever to do with the colours used, it’s tactical in terms of short range: it’s a thing for soldiers who are within 150m or so of each other to work out who is who by visuals alone..
The ‘non-tactical,’ in this concept would be radio call signs - not bigger, flashing TRF’s…
the misconception is irritating from an Army POV, especially looking at you GMW, the full colour is the point
Try distinguishing these from afar with no colour
This is another option. Rather than pursuing the idea of wearing formation patches with badges on, something like this could be done.
But again it’d need managing and designs would have to be simple. We also couldn’t do too many of them or it’d once again become too difficult to work out where people are from at a glance.
Have the outer two bars for region, inner bar for the wing.
Make them vertical rather than horizontal to avoid confusion with regs? Would need to see how this compares with regs though to avoid duplication.
The simplest option is HQ to go “these are your local badges, you don’t have to use them but if you do this is what you use”
Stops people then making random ones on their own.
@Joe1 any chance doing some mockups on here based on the above design specs.
Yeah 100% only issue with that is it’s going to cost a lot for each wing to have there own.
Another idea i had was DZ Flashes with a regional symbol in the center but am unsure how that would work with the helardy?
Some regular regiments and corps do already have a vertical arrangement, but they tend to be a different shape entirely (I’m thinking Int Corps, Royal Signals, REME, Royal Anglian, etc.)
Sorry meant digital mockups like the original post.
Yes it will cost a lot on something that’s not strictly needed but if it’s a non-technical design then should be cheaper than something more ornate.
Thinking of practical usage it’s helpful if applying to adults identifying region & Wing staff so you have context to the random Sqn Ldr or Wg Cdr whose pitched up.
My idea would be in the RAF TRF Style
It sounds good on the face of it, but trying to distinguish 30(?) different wings through two bars of colour is not simple and would not be clear.
I think my mind is that you distinguish the region by the outer bars & the. The wing by the inner.
it means locally you learn the region colours & then just your own wing colours.
On multi wing camps you can use the middle bar.
On multi region /HQ events you use the outer bars.
DS are briefed/reminded in the Admin Order.
wings in different regions can use the same colour.
I was thinking this just for staff but it also makes sense for cadets on multi activity camps.
Also wings are becoming a bit meaningless & not somethings cadets seem to be engaging with.
I certainly agree on that last point.
That’s why I’ve been focussing my proposals more on unit + region and not so much on the wing.
I notice that Greater Manchester Wing is missing from that list.
We were discussing this last night at Squadron and it came up that GMW already have such a patch in use and a very brief skim on their FB page suggests there is something worn on the LHS patch
i have a vague recollection that there was discussion about this - in fact i did, here it is
These are not covered in regulations.
I’m also aware of a wing that uses an authorised badge and wears it on the left blanking plate. This is also not covered in regulations, so shouldn’t be happening.
If people want something like that, they need to formally request it.
This is why stuff like this needs recording formally and putting in regulations. It stops the age old “well we were given dispensation” argument.
No you weren’t. It’s not a thing.
Breaking the rules for a long time doesn’t mean you have a longstanding right to carry something forward, it just means you’ve been breaking the rules for a long time.
It does however speak to why I formally proposed some of these things. People take great pride in patches like this, so I feel there is merit in creating a legitimate outlet.
I agree bringing patches in would also stop units making there own and putting it on there left arm. If we had region patches it would force all units to have to wear it stopping the Wing/Squadron patches on the left arm.
Perhaps I’m grumpy, but I’d argue the solution to units disregarding regs isn’t to change the rules to allow them to, it’s making those who do get in line 
*
*in most cases
As long as they don’t make Wing/Region badges mandatory, having the option to wear approved badges seems like a good thing.
I remember when I was a 13 year old cadet, a GMW CWO tried telling me these were being rolled out corps wide.
Since then I’ve gone to FS, Left the ATC, joined the reserves, and am nearly 19
National rollout my heinie
Was slightly bored So I had a basic play in power point.
tried three bars but they looked a mess so just DZ style patches.
colours are an example (so yes there’s likely to be duplicates or already existing patches)
But the principle is region on the left /bottom - wing on the right/top
Also means you can save money by reusing some “upside down”
Not too dissimilar to an idea I had,
2 vertical bars on the out 1 colour per region
then 6 colours for wings on the in,
and leaving the in white for Rgn HQ (for those staff orphaned up there)
