Almighty Father, whose command is over all and whose love never fails, make me aware of Thy presence and obedient to Thy will. Keep me true to my best self, guarding me against dishonesty in purpose and deed and helping me to live so that I can face my fellow Marines, my loved ones, and Thee without shame or fear. Protect my family.
Give me the will to do the work of a Marine and to accept my share of responsibilities with vigor and enthusiasm. Grant me the courage to be proficient in my daily performance. Keep me loyal and faithful to my superiors and to the duties my Country and the Marine Corps have entrusted to me. Help me to wear my uniform with dignity, and let it remind me daily of the traditions which I must uphold.
If I am inclined to doubt, steady my faith; if I am tempted, make me strong to resist; if I should miss the mark, give me courage to try again.
Guide me with the light of truth and grant me wisdom by which I may understand the answer to my prayer.
Another result of requesting a patch of me without asking for anything specific, just "make me a patch." Also from a Marine, in case that wasn't terribly obvious.
I'll be honest. I sort of thought naming your ship the USS Marines was a tad bit silly. It would be like the United States launching a brand new aircraft carrier tomorrow and calling it the U.S.S. Navy. But, Mr. Augerson is allowed to call his ship pretty much whatever he likes as long it doesn't violate Cryptic's TOS, so it's really no skin off my back. He is, much like Mr. Talbot, the embodiment of a Marine. So why not? I can certainly understand why he chose the name he did, and it was my pleasure to make a patch that is representative of the Corp.
I'd actually been wanting to do this one for a few weeks, I believe I accepted the request right after I finished the Challenger patch. I will stick by my rule of doing them in order rec'd, though, it's the only thing that's fair. But, I had the image of it almost right away, and had been carrying it around inside my head that whole time, so it was nice to finally get it out.
Oh, by the way, here's the original pic of the girl. It was NOT created by me, I just borrowed it:
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Mr. Hunter provided me with a lot of information regarding the history of the Kingdom of Callaway; which turned out be quite an interesting read, actually:
The Legend of the Kingdom of Callaway
Early in October of 1861, six hundred (600) Federal troops began converging at Wellsville, Montgomery County, Missouri, on Callaway County's North-East border. Their mission was to subdue "Rebel Callaway". The lawyer and former State Representative, Jefferson F. Jones, with the help of many subordinates, quickly gathered six hundred (600) troops to defend our county from the Federal invasion.
These troops congregated at Brown's Spring, in North Central Callaway County to train and prepare. Equipped, with mostly shotguns and small caliber hunting rifles, they did what they could to present the appearance of a well trained army spoiling for a fight. They went as far as to paint logs black and hide them in the brush with wagon wheels to give the appearance of artillery.
After receiving reports from Union spies on the activities in Callaway County, the Federal commander, postponed his invasion. Afraid that his troops would be annihilated, he waited for reinforcements to arrive.
Meanwhile, Colonel Jeff Jones sent an envoy with a letter to the Federal commander. Though the envoy's primary mission was to apprise Jones of the status of the Federal troops, the letter stated that Jones' force was formed in self defense and that if the Federal Army would not invade Callaway County, nor molest or arrest any of its' citizens, Jones would disband his army.
The Federal Commander, General John B. Henderson, agreed to the terms rather than risk a loss in battle to this "well trained and armed" force of men. In essence he allowed Callaway County to negotiate a treaty as a sovereign state with the Federal Government. This treaty recognized our independence and granted Callaway its' own right to govern itself.
Callaway County became "The Kingdom of Callaway" in October of 1861. After the war was over the 'Kingdom' still refused to be reconstructed and be governed by outside forces. The right of the people was still our supreme law. We were proud that we had faced adversity, had stood strong against it, and had won our right to be who we wanted to be.
The flag of the Kingdom of Callaway:
Mr. Hunter specified he liked the shapes of the Dewey patch, and the Midway patch, so I went ahead and gave him both. He did not supply me with a motto, so I pulled the one from his signature:
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By the time I got to this patch, several people had made requests for it. I basically combined what I liked best about the different requests and made one giant patch out of it all.
Mr. Kelly wanted it based off of the SAS patch. Mr. Hanson wanted a reference to Camelot. Other marines had asked to base it off the actual Starfleet MACO patch. So basically, I took the SAS patch, swapped out the dagger for Excalibur, and slapped it all on top of the regular Starfleet MACO patch format.
Designer's Notes: From Mr. Kerry's original request:
The name Astoria is a historical name, and was chosen in honor of Mr. Kerry's Father-In-Law Lynn Davis who servered on the third Astoria, CA-34, as a Midshipman when he enlisted in 1939.
Four ships of the United States Navy have been named Astoria, after the town of Astoria, Oregon.
• USS Astoria (1867), Algoma Class, was laid down in 1867, but renamed Omaha prior to her commissioning.
• USS Astoria (AK-8), Alaska Class, a cargo ship, was seized by US Customs at the outbreak of World War I.
• USS Astoria (CA-34), New Orleans Class, was a heavy cruiser commissioned in 1934 and lost in the Battle of Savo Island in 1942.
(My Father-In Law served on this ship from 1939 until it was sunk in the Battle of Savo Island, during the Guadalcanal campaign)
• USS Astoria (CL-90), Cleveland Class. was a light cruiser commissioned in 1944, and decommissioned in 1949.
USS ASTORIA CA-34
Specifications:
Classification: Heavy cruiser, NEW ORLEANS-class
Displacement: 9353 tons (as built)
Length: 588 ft 3 in (overall)
Beam: 61 ft 9 in
Draft: 21 ft 9 in min (as built)
Speed: 32.75 knots at 107,000shp
Complement: 51 officers, 700 men (peacetime)
77 officers, 965 men (wartime)
Armament: 9 x 8 in/55 cal (main battery)
8 x 5 in/25 cal (secondary battery)
Duty Milestones:
1. Delivered the ashes of Japanese ambassador Hiroshi Saito back to Japan following his death in Washington D.C.
2. Stationed in Pearl in 1941 – was some 700 mi (1,100 km) west of Hawaii steaming toward Midway with TF 12.
3. Extended cruise in the southwestern Pacific with TF 17.
4. Was in the Battle of the Coral Sea.
5. Was in the Battle of Midway Island.
6. Was in The Solomons campaign, providing cover for the landings at Guadalcanal, and was heavily damaged that night during the Battle of Savo Island, and sunk the next day at 12:16pm August 9, 1942.
I was working on a patch for a ship called 'Angel of War,' and got about 1/4 of the way through it and realized, reading the patch request, that the person requesting said patch was no longer in the Fleet and I was wasting my time.
But dammit, the thing was coming together really well, I had it laid out in my head, and I knew it was gonna look really nice when I was done with it.
So, I sat around and thought for a good long while what to do with it. The answer should have been obvious, but it took me a bit to figure out this would be perfect for my XO, Mr. Mac Ardell. Can't have my Task Force with no patches and whatnot, and the name of his ship and the patch design actually worked really well together.
Mr. Steele's request was... difficult to understand; it sounded like he wanted me to use elements from the TF-79 patch for his ship. I try not to duplicate from one patch to the next - while it can be a timesaver (I have done some duplication in regards to my artwork for the Oathkeepers), I try to make sure every patch is completely original all the way through - I don't think I've ever even used the same font twice.
I was never able to get a hold of Mr. Steele on vent, really, and was hesitant to communicate through text. No offense to Mr. Steele, just his posts are sometimes difficult to grasp. Not everyone in this world has an easy time writing things out.
So, I basically just made what I thought fit the ship name and sort of ignored anything from his actual written request. Sometimes I'll do that, this isn't the first time - the TF-88 patch is a prime example of throwing the requester's ideas right out the window.
I thought this one turned out very nice, the focus on the sword, of course; with celtic knotting around the edges in gold for that regal feel. Excalibur is the mythical sword of King Arthur; and some research online led me to discover that his lineage is generally attributed to Clan MacArthur of Scotland. Their motto is 'Fide Et Opera' which translates to 'By Fidelity and Work' - and it seemed to fit not only the overall patch design, but Mr. Steele's temperment as well.
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This patch had been uploaded as a rough draft by Hope a very long time ago. I have been meaning to redo it for him for a long time, and finally had a chance to talk to him about it, where it promptly went to my waiting board for a couple of months.
Drafts can be very helpful. Here is the draft Hope had posted:
And here is the redo:
A fairly close approximation, just polished up real nice. I downloaded about 1000 or so new brushes for this one, which is where some of the detailing comes in - the 'tech' flourishes down the side and behind the ship name.
I released this the day before Hope's birthday. Mere coincidence, but a nice surprise nonetheless.
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This one had me stumped for a good while. I thought, at first, to have the image of an actual phalanx in battle formation, but had so much trouble finding suitable imagery for this I finally had to abandon the idea.
I learned a few things as I went, which is always cool. The Phalanx formation was utilized by several different cultures, including the Spartans, Macedonians, and Romans, to name a few. Alexander the Great used it to great effect during his lifetime.
The formation itself is, of course, a shit-ton of dudes in a square, all with big giant shields and incredibly long spears.
So I had options in terms of displaying a single phalanx warrior; he could be from anywhere and in any garb - but 90% of what I ran across was stuff from 300. Or stuff that looked like it could be from 300. Great movie, but I didn't want to use anything to much like that in the patch.
Then it came to one night before I fell asleep, as it often does, and I woke up the next morning, recalled it, went to work, and promptly finished it in a single sitting when I got home that evening.
Oh, and one word: Smudgetool.
Last edited by sparrow794 on 07/22/14 0:08; edited 1 time in total
I did this one not long after I was made Chief of Staff. I had been doing a lot of things for everyone but myself, and had previously decided to make the Valley Forge my new permanent in game vessel. I don't generally do more than one patch per person, but, it's a not a hard and fast rule and I felt like I deserved it.
The white chevron forms a V with the duality of meaning 'Victory' as well as 'Valley.' The two blue stars represent earlier incarnations of the USS Valley Forge, CV 45 and CG 50. The crossed muskets are representative of the time period. The gold wreath is also considered a symbol of victory, and is laid out underneath the command symbol for the UFP, as the Forge is a Fleet Flag vessel.
Christian M. Hanson wrote:
Very nice! What inspired the "win first fight later" ?
It's something of a personal motto that I've used for a few years now. It's essentially a very short version of Sun Tzu - that the outcome of a battle is determined not during the actual fighting, but beforehand, during the planning stages. Wars are won in the maproom more so than they are on the battlefield itself.
"Thus it is that in war the victorious strategist only seeks battle after the victory has been won, whereas he who is destined to defeat first fights and afterwards looks for victory."
"Victorious warriors win first and then go to war, while defeated warriors go to war first and then seek to win."
"The general who wins the battle makes many calculations in his temple before the battle is fought. The general who loses makes but few calculations beforehand."
It seemed very fitting for the name of the ship.
Valley Forge was not an actual battle. It was, however, an essential experience for Washington's army. A hard winter that surely tested the resolve of the army; but the time spent at Valley Forge by Washington and his men was much more than that - it was during this time that Baron Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben arrived at camp, bearing a letter of introduction from Benjamin Franklin. The Prussian was given the duty of training the men to become a professional fighting army, and by all accounts, he did just that:
Von Steuben shocked many American officers by breaking tradition to work directly with the men. One officer wrote of von Steuben's "peculiar grace" as he took "under his direction a squad of men in the capacity of drill sergeant." From dawn to dusk his familiar voice was heard in camp above the sounds of marching men and shouted commands. Soon companies, regiments, and then brigades moved smartly from line to column, column to line; loaded muskets with precision; and drove imaginary redcoats from the field by skillful charges with the bayonet.
Without the experience and lessons learned during the army's encampment at Valley Forge, the war may never have been won. Without the harsh winter of Valley Forge, there could be no America; without Valley Forge, there would be no Constitution, no Bill of Rights - no freedom. I tend to believe that this experience, more than any other, was the turning point of the war for Washington and his men.
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I haven't really been keeping this thread up to date. I have quite a few patches to add, some of which were done a while ago, but I'll do my best to give what details I can recall.
This was an incredibly fun patch to make, that started off very horribly. The inital TF 88 patch was based off of a 'Foreign Legion' theme at the request of the CO at that time:
When I showed this draft to some of our members, the response was incredibly negative, to say the least. At the time, I didn't have a full grasp on the mission of TF 88, and was told in no uncertain terms by many people that it should in no way be similar to any kind of 'Foreign Legion' theme.
So, I went back to the drawing board. I completely converted the patch to a Klingon theme more true to what the mission of the TF was; an Aggressor Squadron. You may also see a version of this patch where the words 'Aggressor Squadron' are replaced by 'Opposing Force.' Same idea, just different titles depending on which branch of the US military you are used to dealing with.
The Fleet Admiral was so pleased with the revision he ordered it immediately be placed in the Ship's Store; which is the first time I used a TF patch there.
Last edited by sparrow794 on 09/01/13 3:23; edited 1 time in total
This is another one of those patches that was never actually requested.
Mr. Mercer had designed a patch for this vessel and posted it up for review. When I saw it, I realized I had some artwork on my PC that would actually work very well for a ship called 'Thor's Hammer,' and was inspired to create my own version of a patch for the ship.
This patch was created for Mr. Stewart, but to be honest, I'm not entirely sure he has seen it yet. Which is part of the reason I am often hesitant in creating ship patches for members that have not been with us very long, and/or become fully active within the fleet.
Mr. Stewart wanted his patch based off of some of his former assignments within the Marines, particularly 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Division. He linked me some of the following real life insignias:
I pulled some design cues from these and integrated a 'fleet 7' version of the 1st MARDIV patch completely. The figure in the patch is meant to represent a 'Devil Dog,' and I hope he comes across that way.
This patch was redesigned at Mr. Hansons request. The original, seen below, was designed by Admiral Turner:
Redesigns can be tricky; as there is nothing fundamentally wrong with the initial work. And while Mr. Turner is no longer with us, I try not to be disrespectful about redesigning his work.
The background of the redesign is a space image on the left faded into a Wonderland background on the right. The centerpiece is a knight from a chessboard, two toned in red and white (a major character from these novels is the Red Queen, but I felt the image of the knight piece more appropriate for the patch). A Defiant silhoutte is shown in motion, swooping past the knight. The NCC designation is shown a flourished banner in effort to bring all the elements together in capturing the Wonderland meets Star Trek theme.
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I prefer patch request that lack specificity. It allows me a lot of design freedom. Nonetheless, a lot of requests are for ships that are named for real life US Navy vessels, and I try to do my homework when it comes to these patches.
The actual USS Guam patch:
The Fleet 7 Guam patch:
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This one provided a bit of a challenge, just in the way of finding materials.
Actual USS North Carolina patch:
Fleet 7 version:
The hardest part of this was actually finding a good sized version of the NC state flag that wasn't just a flat 2d image.
Other sections of the patch are recycled; but, hopefully in a way that's not entirely noticeable unless pointed out. The outer braiding is from the USS Marines patch, and the Defiant is from the Looking Glass patch.
Last edited by sparrow794 on 07/22/14 0:16; edited 1 time in total
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