Costs of captaincy

And yes, captaincy *is* a word.

To a civilian audience, the idea of having to dish out money for a promotion sounds strange, but that's that how it works for Army officers. Compared to the pay and benefits of being a captain, though, the $75 is negligible -- just part of the deal. Here's where the money goes:

Clockwise, from the top left, that's:

1. The epaulettes for the white dress shirt.
2. The STA-BLACK pins for the reflective belt (morning PT) and a patrol cap
3. Two velcro ranks for the uniform top
4. One rank for the rain coat
5. A sew-on rank for the helmet cover
6. STA-BRITE ranks for the beret
7. Transportation captain epaulettes for the Army Service Uniform (ASU), and
8. Another sew-on rank for a patrol cap.

The most expensive thing is the pair of ASU epaulettes -- $41.20

As a logistics (small "l") captain, I'll have to get new stuff again after going to the captain's career course. At that point, officers in Transportation (88A), Ordnance (91A), and Quartermaster (92A) become Logisticians (FA90A).
From left: Logistics (soldier red; bronze piping), Tranportation (brick red; golden yellow piping), Ordnance (crimson red; yellow piping), and Quartermaster (buff)

Though the Logistics branch colors are most similar to Transportation, it's best not to risk wearing the wrong colors. I'd rather dish out another $40 on epaulettes than worry about getting caught with the wrong gear.

I'll have to take a new DA photo for my ORB anyway.