History Main / HollywoodMilitaryUniform

[[quoteright:280:[[Series/NCISHawaii https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ncish_jmsdf_uniform_closeup.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:280:A lot of details are wrong with that JMSDF digital blue camo.[[note]]For what they should really look like, head [[https://postimg.cc/bsg6kb8k here]] and [[https://postimg.cc/mtBXPVxT here]].[[/note]]]]

Sometimes, small inaccuracies can be a form of legally going around the law.[[note]]Even if you're an actor, impersonating a soldier is still a serious crime[[/note]]

And sometimes small inaccuracies can be a form of legal dodge[[note]]Even if you're an actor, impersonating a soldier is still a serious crime[[/note]].

* In ''Series/HogansHeroes'', in addition to members of the SS often wearing black prewar uniforms (especially galling in Hochstetter's case; as a member of the Gestapo, he would have been in plainclothes; in addition, although he's addressed as Major Hochstetter, he wears DifferentInEveryEpisode the collar insignia of either a Standartenführer or Oberführer, the equivalent of a full colonel and brigadier, respectively. Finally, in some episodes, he has the SS runes on one side of the collar tabs, while SS officers of that rank would have had oak leaf rank tabs on both sides of the collar.), a senior RAF officer is addressed as "Colonel Crittendon" even though in the RAF the equivalent rank would be a Group Captain; given that the intended audience was the United States, this is a somewhat justified trope as relatively few viewers would have known what a Group Captain was.

* ''VideoGame/FateGrandOrderRidersGToM'': Medb's alternate costume from the second summer event, "Dead Heat Summer Race, Death Jail Summer Escape", blurs the line between this trope and PuttingOnTheReich because of her status of GodSaveUsFromTheQueen.

Sometimes, a uniform is accurate as far as its design goes, but is still inaccurate as depicted because it's being worn improperly (such as a character wearing a hat when regulations would require them to be bareheaded, or vice-versa), worn out-of-season (such as a navy officer wearing dress blues in the middle of summer, when dress whites would be worn), or otherwise anachronistic (such as wearing medals or ribbons for a war that hasn't happened yet when the film takes place).

[[folder: Film - Live-Action]]

* While most uniforms in ''Film/ABridgeTooFar'' are accurate, Genaral Bittrich's adjutant and interpreter Matthias wears a field gray Einheitsfeldmütze with a mismatched black fabric insignia patch.

** When Major Rane puts his Air Force uniform on, his U.S. lapel insignia not only are in the wrong location, but are the insignia used by enlisted personnel, not officers. Similarly, despite the character supposedly being a Vietnam War veteran, his uniform lacks the Vietnam Campaign Medal (an award given out to every single soldier who served in that war).

[[folder:LiveActionTV]]

* In ''Series/HogansHeroes'', in addition to members of the SS often wearing black prewar uniforms (especially galling in Hochstetter's case; as a member of the Gestapo, he would have been in plainclothes; in addition, although he's adressed as Major Hochstetter, he wears DifferentInEveryEpisode the collar insignia of either a Standartenführer or Oberführer, the equivalent of a full colonel and brigadier, respectively. Finally, in some episodes, he has the SS runes on one side of the collar tabs, while SS officers of that rank would have had oak leaf rank tabs on both sides of the collar.), a senior RAF officer is addressed as "Colonel Crittendon" even though in the RAF the equivalent rank would be a Group Captain; given that the intended audience was the United States, this is a somewhat justified trope as relatively few viewers would have known what a Group Captain was.

* In the ''Series/{{MASH}}'' episode ''Hey, Doc!'', immediate defence for the 4077th is provided by the British Army. It has been pointed out that the British officer, Lieutenant Chivers, as well as being in his apparent forties (very old for a lieutenant), is wearing an oddly mis-matched uniform: his shoulder distinctions make him an infantryman in the Yorkshires, but insofar as his cap badge can be identified, this belongs to the Royal Tank Regiment. He is also assigned to a British brigade that never actually fought in Korea.

* ''Series/ParksAndRecreation'' had one during the "Sister City" episode, where a group of military officers from Venezuela visit Pawnee. To anyone with military experience, it's plain that their Venezuelean Army uniforms are just US Army uniforms loaded with bling. Among others, they're wearing US Army Combat Infantry badges and the medal ribbons on their uniforms are all US military decorations.

** The Venezuelan scenes depicting the Venezuelan Special Police show them with what seemed to grayish-based digital camos. Their actual counterpart, the Special Actions Force of the Bolivarian National Police use a variety of digital camos that don't include grayish-type patterns.

** In some episodes the ribbons (a.k.a. fruit salad) on Commodore Ross's uniform are replaced with what appears to be a color print out of the same ribbons mounted on a sheet of cardboard.

** "[[Recap/StargateSG1S5E8TheTomb The Tomb]]" is full of mistakes with Russian uniforms. Unlike the USAF, the Russian Air Force does not have ground troops to begin with, so the Russian SG team would have to be from a different service branch. They are also shown wearing black berets, which are worn by Naval Infantry, Russian tank troops and the now-defunct OMON special police unit.
* ''None'' of the Nazi Germany uniforms worn in the ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' episode "[[Recap/StarTrekS2E21PatternsOfForce Patterns of Force]]" have the correct insignia, epaulets or collar tabs for the ranks or positions they are identified as in dialogue. This is generally [[HandWave handwaved]] by fans saying since it was a replica of the Third Reich set up on an alien world over 300 years after WWII the Federation historian wasn't that fussy with details. It doesn't explain why Kirk and [=McCoy=]'s uniforms had wrist cuffbands identifying them as belonging to Hitler's special bodyguard unit, though.

[[folder:VideoGames]]

[[folder:WesternAnimation]]

* ''None'' of the Nazi Germany uniforms worn in the ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' episode "[[Recap/StarTrekS2E21PatternsOfForce]]" have the correct insignia, epaulets or collar tabs for the ranks or positions they are identified as in dialogue. This is generally [[HandWave handwaved]] by fans saying since it was a replica of the Third Reich set up on an alien world over 300 years after WWII the Federation historian wasn't that fussy with details. It doesn't explain why Kirk and {{McCoy}}'s uniforms had wrist cuffbands identifying them as belonging to Hitler's special bodyguard unit, though.

* ''None'' of the Nazi Germany uniforms worn in the ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' episode "Recap/StarTrekS2E21PatternsOfForce" have the correct insignia, epaulets or collar tabs for the ranks or positions they are identified as in dialogue. This is generally [[HandWave handwaved]] by fans saying since it was a replica of the Third Reich set up on an alien world over 300 years after WWII the Federation historian wasn't that fussy with details. It doesn't explain why Kirk and {{McCoy}}'s uniforms had wrist cuffbands identifying them as belonging to Hitler's special bodyguard unit, though.

* ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerRedAlert2'': Prominent general Carville is wearing insignia from an ROTC Cadet uniform--badges worn by student soldiers before they graduate college.
* ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerRedAlert3'': Eva Mckenna is a Lieutenant but her dress uniform has sergeant (E-5) chevrons.

Uniformed military personnel featured in fictional works wear various military uniforms as a way of identifying themselves on which country's service branch they are from and what ranks they have. Their uniforms will be similar to those seen in RealLife, but it's not necessarily the case. Depending on things, the production can get the depiction of a uniform wrong or have some small mistakes. So what causes these mistakes or inconsistencies?

In most cases, the production doesn't have the needed budget or time to justify getting the costumes needed. The same goes for traveling to a country to film scenes with the correct uniform due to logistics or restrictions some countries have with regards to the uniforms being used by their soldiers due to national security requirements. In other instances, someone hasn't done enough research to find out the "correct" uniform to be used. There will be some cases where the wrong uniform is used, but they think the [[ViewersAreMorons viewer/s won't notice it]].

Having the wrong uniform is avoided if it's BackedByThePentagon in some capacity or if the production team [[ShownTheirWork did the homework in researching the kinds of uniforms used in a certain time period]].

This would fall under ArtisticLicenseMilitary. ArtisticLicenseHistory will come into play if a historical work is involved.

Like HollywoodCopUniform, this trope is mostly depicted in live-action visual media. This trope is a SubTrope of HollywoodCostuming.

* ''Film/{{Basic}}'' featured several errors, including:

** The rank of Samuel L. Jackson's character changed (up and down) depending on the scene.
* In ''Film/TheBlueMax'' the costume design department perhaps attempted to show off their work - only to fail miserably, dressing ''each one'' German pilot into the uniform of the Prussian 1st Uhlan Regiment - which Manfred von Richthofen (a.k.a. The RedBaron) usually wore, but which was certainly not a general issue in the Imperial German Army Air Service ([[GratuitousGerman Luftstreitkräfte]]). Also, the German aircraft are depicted sporting the curve-sided crosses (''cross pattée'') insignia, which is incorrect for the period post March 1918; also using armament without [[BottomlessMagazines any ammo feed]]. Apparently {{Rule of Cool}} [[http://www.jackhunter.com/BlueMaxOTFInfo.htm reigned supreme]].

** The two officers on the station platform are wearing black SS uniforms, which would have been phased out (especially outside of Germany) by the time the film takes place (fall 1944/spring 1945). In addition, the officers' rank collar tabs are missing rank pips (or they're NCOs improperly wearing officers' hats with silver cap braids instead of black leather chinstraps), and neither officer is wearing the Sam Browne belt cross-strap or swastika armband. In addition, one of the officers' cap braids is twisted when they enter the locomotive cab, but straight in the scene before.

* ''Series/BabylonFive'' has issues with its uniforms in a couple episodes. The uniforms in the series are usually consistent: blue for naval personnel, gray for station security, olive drab for ground forces. However, ''General'' William Hague and ''Major'' Ed Ryan are both apparently naval officers and wear blue, whereas the rest of the cast follow the standard NATO naval rank system. In other words, Hague and Ryan should have either been in olive drab, or been an admiral and a lieutenant commander.

[[AC:Film - Live-Action]]

[[AC:Literature]]

[[AC:LiveActionTV]]

[[AC:VideoGames]]

[[AC:WesternAnimation]]

* ''WesternAnimation/WoodyWoodpecker'' The episode "The Reluctant Recruit" has a sergeant in the cartoon constantly trying to stop Woody's escape. While his uniform is mostly correct, his rank chevrons point upside down. They should be pointing upwards.

* ''WesternAnimation/WoodyWoodpecker'' The episode "The Reluctant Recruit" has a sergeant in the cartoon constantly trying to stop Woody's escape? While his uniform is mostly correct, his rank chevrons point upside down. They should be pointing upwards.

[[AC:LiveActionTV]]
* In ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD'' episode "Shadows", HYDRA leader Reinhardt and his adjutant wear black Allgemeine-SS uniforms, with several blunders for a supposed unit of the SS, similarly to Red Skull's example from the ''Captain America'' movie below. The most glaring errors are missing left shoulderboard on Reinhardt's uniform, right shoulderboard being incorrect (enlisted man instead of a supposed high-ranking officer), and the collar patches being crooked. Additionally, he has both Close Combat Clasp and silver Panzer Badge decorations, a highly unlikely combination.
* In the episode "The Tale Of Train Magic" of ''Series/AreYouAfraidOfTheDark'', this trope occurred as a result of CanadaDoesNotExist; a soldier on a ghost train featured in a story was depicted wearing a uniform that wasn't ''quite'' American- or British-outline.
* In ''Series/AsTimeGoesBy'', Lionel's memoirs of his service as a subaltern in the British Army in the Korean War are adapted into a mini-series, which is then [[ViewersAreMorons "modified for American audiences"]]; as a result, the actor playing Lionel is shown wearing a scarlet Guards regiment-style tunic and bearskin hat.
* ''Series/BabylonFive'' has issues with its uniforms in a couple episodes. The uniforms in the series are usually consistent: blue for naval personnel, gray for station security, olive drab for ground forces. However, ''General'' William Hague and ''Major'' Ed Ryan are both apparently naval officers and wear blue, whereas the rest of the cast follow the standard NATO naval rank system. In other words, Hague and Ryan should have either been in olive drab, or been an admiral and a lieutenant commander.
* During one season finale in ''Series/{{Bones}}'', an Army colonel shows up to recruit Booth to train soldiers in Afghanistan. He immediately recognizes the Colonel as an Army Ranger, presumably due to the 75th Ranger patch on his right shoulder. Instead of a flag. Also, the Colonel is wearing a (deformed) black beret instead of the Ranger tan.
* ''Series/TheBridgeUS'' in the second season has Mexican marines helping Sonya Cross and Marco Ruiz. They're seen wearing Woodland-type camos instead of the digital-type camos used by the Mexican Marine Corps, despite parts of the season using Mexico to shoot production scenes. The camos can't be borrowed since criminals (and terrorists) could potentially take them unlawfully and masquerade as legitimate Mexican marines.
* In the ''Series/{{Fringe}}'' episode "The Arrival", a photo is shown of a Marine from an incident in 1987. Not only is he wearing digital camouflage, which was not introduced to the Marine Corps until the early 2000s, but it's ACU instead of MARPAT. What the Marine should be wearing are [=BDUs=].
* In the ''Series/{{Gilmore Girls}}'' episode "Chicken or Beef," at Dean Forester's bachelor party, one of his friends, Kyle, is shown to have enlisted in the Navy and is wearing his Dress Blues uniform. While the character has graduated high school just months prior, his uniform is that of a second-class petty officer (E-5) and has two hash marks on the left sleeve. It would be impossible for a high school graduate to obtain this rank in a matter of months, but more to the point the hashmarks on his sleeve mean Kyle has been enlisted for between 8 and 12 years (one hash mark indicates four years of service).
* The episode "The Second Generation Is a Fresh and Painless Warrior" in ''Series/HikoninSentaiAkibaranger'' showed American soldiers confronting Malsheena and the Akibarangers wearing Woodland camos and armed with FAMAS assault rifles. The US Army used the ACU camo from 2005 to 2019. Since the show is a parody of sentai shows, the use of Woodland is not being accurate on purpose.
* In ''Series/HogansHeroes'', in addition to members of the SS often wearing black prewar uniforms (especially galling in Hochstetter's case; as a member of the Gestapo, he would have been in plainclothes; in addition, although he's adressed as Major Hochstetter, he wears DifferentInEveryEpisode the collar insignia of either a Standartenführer or Oberführer, the equivalent of a full colonel and brigadier, respectively. Finally, in some episodes, he has the SS runes on one side of the collar tabs, while SS officers of that rank would have had oak leaf rank tabs on both sides of the collar.), a senior RAF officer is addressed as "Colonel Crittendon" even though in the RAF the equivalent rank would be a Group Captain; given that the intended audience was the United States, this is a somewhat justified trope as relatively few viewers would have known what a Group Captain was.
* ''Series/MadamSecretary'': One episode in season 1 has Henry [=McCord=], a retired USMC aviator, chew out a pair of what from their dress blue uniforms are clearly Air Force lieutenants for badmouthing Secretary [=McCord=] while drunk in uniform. A later episode misidentifies the flyboys as having been Marines, whose equivalent uniform is olive drab in color.
* In the ''Series/{{MASH}}'' episode ''Hey, Doc!'', immediate defence for the 4077th is provided by the British Army. It has been pointed out that the British officer, Lieutenant Chivers, as well as being in his apparent forties (very old for a lieutenant), is wearing an oddly mis-matched uniform: his shoulder distinctions make him an infantryman in the Yorkshires, but insofar as his cap badge can be identified, this belongs to the Royal Tank Regiment. He is also assigned to a British brigade that never actually fought in Korea.
* In the episode "Gaijin" of ''Series/NCISHawaii'', the regular JMSDF sailors are seen with the same blue NWU type camouflage uniforms used by the US Navy before they were removed from service. While some of the patches are correct (as if they're also used by the JMSDF), the name patch in English with Japanese kanji should not include a sailor's rank. The JMSDF Rising Sun patch is also incorrect. The actual JMSDF blue digital camos have a different shade than the US Navy blue [=NWUs=] previously used.
* ''Series/ParksAndRecreation'' had one during the "Sister City" episode, where a group of military officers from Venezuela visit Pawnee. To anyone with military experience, it's plain that their Venezuelean Army uniforms are just US Army uniforms loaded with bling. Among others, they're wearing US Army Combat Infantry badges and the medal ribbons on their uniforms are all US military decorations.
* ''Series/SEALTeam'':
** There are cases of North Korean scenes where extras playing North Korean soldiers use ERDL/Woodland-type uniforms when actual regular North Korean soldiers use olive drab-type uniforms. While the actual North Korean army use camouflage uniforms, they're only used for special forces units or for some special units designated by the North Korean military with camouflage uniforms getting only more commons after the 2010s. For instance, some North Korean troops assigned to the DMZ use Woodland-type camos.
** For scenes depicting Mexico, Hyperstealth stepped in to assist the production crew by using their Caiman camo patterns since the actual Mexican Marines couldn't help the production due to national security requirements, similar to the production of the Bridge.
** The Venezuelan scenes depicting the Venezuelan Special Police show them with what seemed to grayish-based digital camos. Their actual counterpart, the Special Actions Force of the Bolivarian National Police use a variety of digital camos that don't include grayish-type patterns.
* ''Series/SevenPeriodsWithMrGormsby'' has a very minor one; Gormsby's medals are ''upside-down'' (making them appear in reverse order). But it's enough to make most watchers from a military background flinch.
* The pilot episode of ''Series/SpaceAboveAndBeyond'' depicted the USMC's elite Angry Angels squadron in custom black uniforms and berets. This is deeply frowned upon by the Marine Corps, who consider all Marines to be the same to the point where even unit patches are no longer used.
* ''Series/StargateSG1'':
** The series usually avoided mistakes with US uniforms because they [[BackedByThePentagon actually listened to their Air Force advisers]] most of the time. However, one extra in "[[Recap/StargateSG1S1E1ChildrenOfTheGods Children of the Gods]]" was seen wearing the insignia of both a staff sergeant and a major simultaneously.
** "[[Recap/StargateSG1S5E8TheTomb The Tomb]]" is full of mistakes with Russian uniforms. Unlike the USAF, the Russian Air Force does not have ground troops to begin with, so the Russian SG team would have to be from a different service branch. They are also shown wearing black berets, which are worn by Naval Infantry, Russian tank troops and the now-defunct OMON special police unit.
* ''Series/UltimateForce''
** Season 3 did not show regular Russian troops with the correct uniforms as they didn't wear Flora camos. Majority almost used Woodland-based camos, but they're actually used by Spetsnaz forces under MVD control.
** Season 4 has the SAS sent to Colombia to train some Colombian soldiers. They were mostly wearing Woodland camos. Since the season was released in 2006, most of the Colombian military was already using the woodland/desert pixel camouflage uniform.
* ''Series/UnderTheDome'' has a dream sequence where a woman sees her Navy husband coming home from deployment, walking down the street. He's wearing a discontinued working uniform and wouldn't be authorized to wear it off base/ship anyway.
* In the first season of ''Series/TheUnit'', the Unit heads to the Balkans to assist French-led peacekeepers (likely KFOR) to detain a Serbian war criminal. Most of the French troops present were seen using DPM-type camouflage and not Woodland-type CE camo.

* ''Film/{{Basic}}'', a film starring Samuel L. Jackson, Connie Nielsen and John Travolta featured several errors, including:

[[quoteright:350:[[Series/NCISHawaii https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ncish_jmsdf_uniform_closeup.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350:A lot of details are wrong with that JMSDF digital blue camo.[[note]]For what they should really look like, head [[https://postimg.cc/bsg6kb8k here]] and [[https://postimg.cc/mtBXPVxT here]].[[/note]]]]

Sometimes, a uniform is accurate as far as its design goes, but is still inaccurate as depicted because it's being worn improperly (such as a character wearing a hat when regulations would require them to be bareheaded, or vice-versa), worn out-of-season (such as a navy officer wearing dress blues in the middle of summer, when dress whites would be worn), or otherwise anachronistic (such as wearing medals or ribbons for a war that hasn't happened yet when the film takes place)

[[quoteright:350:[[Series/NCISHawaii https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ncish_jmsdf_unifor_closeup.jpg]]]]

[[quoteright:350:[[Series/NCISHawaii https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ncish_jmsdf_sailor_photo.jpg]]]]

* In ''Series/HogansHeroes'', in addition to members of the SS often wearing black prewar uniforms (especially galling in Hochstetter's case; as a member of the Gestapo, he would have been in plainclothes; in addition, although he's adressed as Major Hochstetter, he wears DependingOnTheEpisode the collar insignia of either a Standartenführer or Oberführer, the equivalent of a full colonel and brigadier, respectively. Finally, in some episodes, he has the SS runes on one side of the collar tabs, while SS officers of that rank would have had oak leaf rank tabs on both sides of the collar.), a senior RAF officer is addressed as "Colonel Crittendon" even though in the RAF the equivalent rank would be a Group Captain; given that the intended audience was the United States, this is a somewhat justified trope as relatively few viewers would have known what a Group Captain was.

* In the episode "Gaijin" of ''Series/NCISHawaii'', the regular JMSDF sailors are seen with the same blue NWU type camouflage uniforms used by the US Navy before they were removed from service. While some of the patches are correct (as if they're also used by the JMSDF), the name patch in English with Japanese kanji should not include a sailor's rank. The JMSDF Rising Sun patch is also incorrect. The uniform shouldn't include the JMSDF Rising Sun patch. The actual JMSDF blue digital camos have a different shade than the US Navy blue [=NWUs=] previously used.

[[quoteright:350:[[Series/NCISHawaii https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ncish_jmsdf_uniform.jpg]]]]