Badge Identification

[RedCatcher1986]

In building my Cold War collection of West & East German militaria, I obtained a West German Luftwaffe uniform of a Stabsfeldwebel and I have been able to identify some of the badges however one remains a mystery to me.

I have identified the:
Einzelkampfer badge
American expert marksmanship badge
A silver military proficiency badge
The ribbons look like the German Sports Badge

However the last ribbon remains mysterious to me. Maybe someone could help me identify it?

[Towarish]

Hi there,
the badges are:

DSA - Deutsches Sportabzeichen in Gold
and the Rettungschwimmerabzeichen in Bronze

Cheers,
Philipp

[RedCatcher1986]

Hi there,
the badges are:

DSA - Deutsches Sportabzeichen in Gold
and the Rettungschwimmerabzeichen in Bronze

Cheers,
Philipp

Thanks very much for the assistance Philipp!

[Lemm]

Very nice... I was trying to do a similar setup but have started badly with the NCO cap being "lost" in the mail..


Phil

[Arthur Spooner]

I have one additional information for you regarding the "Deutsches
Rettungsschwimmabzeichen" (German rescue swimming badge).
It is not allowed to wear the bronce version at a Bundeswehr uniform.
Maybe interesting for you.

Matthias.

[RedCatcher1986]

Very nice... I was trying to do a similar setup but have started badly with the NCO cap being "lost" in the mail..


Phil

Where did you buy the cap from? The first several caps I purchased I bought from milsurp.com and they arrived quickly and they were not that expensive

[RedCatcher1986]

I have one additional information for you regarding the "Deutsches
Rettungsschwimmabzeichen" (German rescue swimming badge).
It is not allowed to wear the bronce version at a Bundeswehr uniform.
Maybe interesting for you.

Matthias.

Thanks for the information Matthias.

I purchased the Luftwaffe uniform from a former Bundeswehr member near Aachen, Germany. It arrived via Deutsche Post already assembled it was just packaged up so I wonder if he was wearing the Deutsches Rettungsschwimmabzeichen improperly the whole time or what. I just now have the tunic hanging up on my wall next to a map of the former West Germany

[Lemm]

Where did you buy the cap from? The first several caps I purchased I bought from milsurp.com and they arrived quickly and they were not that expensive

I purchased it on ebay from Best Protection Shop in Germany. They said they posted it and even supplied me with a registered number but I can find no such number in DHL tracking. I have complained to Paypal who are looking into it. Must admit in over 10 years of collecting this has only ever happened twice before but in essence it shouldnt happen at all.

Phil

[RedCatcher1986]

I purchased it on ebay from Best Protection Shop in Germany. They said they posted it and even supplied me with a registered number but I can find no such number in DHL tracking. I have complained to Paypal who are looking into it. Must admit in over 10 years of collecting this has only ever happened twice before but in essence it shouldnt happen at all.

Phil

How long ago did you purchase it? Because in my short time in dealing with dealers overseas particularly Europe, the thing I've noticed is that they tend to get held up by Customs. Most of the time they supply you with a tracking number in their native post whether its DHL or Royal Mail or whatever it may be but it may not recognize it once its been passed to the next postal carrier. Usually the DHL or Royal Mail or whatever postal service number will become invalid once its passed over to say the United States Postal Service. But some items have taken longer to arrive depending on the country of origin. The items Ive ordered from Eastern European countries like Bulgaria, Romania, Ukraine etc etc have taken a lot longer to clear customs versus say items arriving from Germany and the United Kingdom.

Ive lived in Australia before and being an American national living in Australia, I know Australian Immigration and Customs can been a bit excessive. I had an apple in my backpack I brought from the United States and they took it examined it for 30 minutes before throwing it out so I know how Australian customs can be.

[Gordon Craig]

Thanks for the information Matthias.

I purchased the Luftwaffe uniform from a former Bundeswehr member near Aachen, Germany. It arrived via Deutsche Post already assembled it was just packaged up so I wonder if he was wearing the Deutsches Rettungsschwimmabzeichen improperly the whole time or what. I just now have the tunic hanging up on my wall next to a map of the former West Germany

Phil,

Matthias is correct. Only the silver and gold levels were to be worn and then only on the ribbon bar. However, it is not unusual to see the bronze level being worn.

Regards,

Gordon

[Gordon Craig]

How long ago did you purchase it? Because in my short time in dealing with dealers overseas particularly Europe, the thing I've noticed is that they tend to get held up by Customs. Most of the time they supply you with a tracking number in their native post whether its DHL or Royal Mail or whatever it may be but it may not recognize it once its been passed to the next postal carrier. Usually the DHL or Royal Mail or whatever postal service number will become invalid once its passed over to say the United States Postal Service. But some items have taken longer to arrive depending on the country of origin. The items Ive ordered from Eastern European countries like Bulgaria, Romania, Ukraine etc etc have taken a lot longer to clear customs versus say items arriving from Germany and the United Kingdom.

Ive lived in Australia before and being an American national living in Australia, I know Australian Immigration and Customs can been a bit excessive. I had an apple in my backpack I brought from the United States and they took it examined it for 30 minutes before throwing it out so I know how Australian customs can be.

Phil,

Give parcels a lot of time. If you bought this tunic from a dealer in Germany it will come DHL. Deutschepost got out of the parcel business a few years ago and all parcels come via DHL. I have never been able to track a parcel using the tracking number supplied to me by someone in Germany. They, on the otherhand, are able to track it very well. My last parcel from German took almost 6 weeks to get from there to Canada. Most of that time it was in Canada Customs and Customs never opened the parcel.

Regards,

Gordon

[RedCatcher1986]

Phil,

Give parcels a lot of time. If you bought this tunic from a dealer in Germany it will come DHL. Deutschepost got out of the parcel business a few years ago and all parcels come via DHL. I have never been able to track a parcel using the tracking number supplied to me by someone in Germany. They, on the otherhand, are able to track it very well. My last parcel from German took almost 6 weeks to get from there to Canada. Most of that time it was in Canada Customs and Customs never opened the parcel.

Regards,

Gordon

They had a big notice to international persons that due to increased security measures regarding mail (Thanks to the events attempted from Yemen) that there was to be expected delays in mail originating from Europe and other continents with destinations to the United States & Canada, it took me almost four months to recieve my collection of East German SED party badges that I ordered from Bulgaria, and three to recieve some model T-62 and T-55 tanks I ordered from a dealer in Russia. You've gotta love politics and current events of a region and it's influence on our hobbies.

[Lemm]

I will live in hope that it does arrive but it has been some 6 weeks and items I have purchased weeks after have all arrived. I have never had to wait this long before and as for our customs yes you are correct it took them about two weeks before they released an Imperial Prussian Artillery Waffenrock I purchased without even opening it. Hopefully thats where the cap lies.

Phil

[RedCatcher1986]

I will live in hope that it does arrive but it has been some 6 weeks and items I have purchased weeks after have all arrived. I have never had to wait this long before and as for our customs yes you are correct it took them about two weeks before they released an Imperial Prussian Artillery Waffenrock I purchased without even opening it. Hopefully thats where the cap lies.

Phil

Good luck, hopefully your items arrive soon