Uniforms on the Pillar of Autumn

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Uniforms•UNSC Cruiser Pillar of Autumn

Article and graphics by Stephen Loftus (SoundEffect); based on Bungie Software's "Halo"

This is my solely my interpretation of the UNSC uniforms seen in Halo: Combat Evolved. There is certainly room for additions and corrections. There were several color variations of the uniforms seen on the Pillar of Autumn. I've attempted to logically categorize the numerous colors of uniforms into shipboard departments.

It is know that there are at least seven color variations of the crewman uniform, the captain's uniform, female pilot's uniform, two Marine uniforms, and of course the Spartan armor. It is also known that there are colored shipboard locator signs on the decks, pointing the way to key compartments on board the ship. From gameplay, four of the colors assigned to these locator signs are known.

I started with the colors of the signs first (blue, yellow, red, and green) to give me a starting point for determining department colors. The only blue color was the bridge locator sign, therefore I decided that color indicated the command department. In addition to the bridge, I would expect the crew quarters, ready room, and briefing room also to have blue signs. There is a blue colored crew uniform, so I made the assumption this was a command division uniform.

The next color sign I used was yellow. The only yellow sign on board was the Cryo B locator sign. By coincidence or design, the Cryo Tech also had a yellow uniform. Cryo storage (or cargo in general), the navigator on the bridge, etc., seemed to me to be the role of the operations department.

The red signs were the most numerous and indicated areas such as the armory, engineering, airlocks, and lifepods. Those areas could be generalized as engineering/weapons. So engineers, security and tactical crew would all wear the red uniforms.

There was another sign color used on the Autumn: green. The maintenance area and stairs had locator signs that were green. Since all the other sign colors had corresponding crew uniform colors, I am making the assumption that there would be green uniforms for crew assigned to maintenance and related services.

That leaves five other colors left to categorize. I was puzzling over this for a while and it was my fiancé Sarah that gave me the best solution for the problem. Four of the other colors correspond to lighter versions of the primary colors just listed; these are: (light blue, orange, tan, and the light green which I'm making up). Instead of these all having to be categorized into other departments, (I didn't think I could think of that many more) Sarah indicated that related colors could belong to the same department—one color for officers, the other for enlisted. We know from the novels that the navigator was an ensign, and therefore an officer, so that was my way of deciding which color should be the officer, as the navigator in one scene was wearing the yellow uniform. (In a cutscene, the navigator wore blue). So the primary color would be the officer colors, and the light colors would be worn by non-commissioned crew. So blue and light blue would be the command division, red and orange would be engineering, etc.

There is another crew color that didn't seem to have a lighter equivalent; grey. I was searching for a logical choice for this crewman. I had thought of perhaps medical and sciences, since I didn't have them yet, and I may still revert to that, but at one point during my game, most of the bridge crew was made up of grey crewmen! That wouldn't work well. What I decided is that the grey color uniforms are Marines in a formal uniform. The other Marine uniforms are the fatigues and the armor. I figured the Marines could still man key bridge stations in an emergency, such as we saw at the beginning of the game.

This is only my interpretation of possible department colors for the Pillar of Autumn. Please send me an email if there you find something I hadn't considered, or have evidence to the contrary as I've presented it.

UNSC Naval Uniforms

Pillar of Autumn Emblem	Commanding Officer
Command Locator Sign	Command Division Officer
Command Locator Sign	Command Division Enlisted Crew
Ops Locator Sign	Operations Officer
Ops Locator Sign	Operations Enlisted Crew
Engineering/Weapons Locator Sign	Engineering/Weapons Officer
Engineering/Weapons Locator Sign	Engineering/Weapons Enlisted Crew
Maintenance/Services Division Locator Sign	Maintenance/Services Division Officers	NO IMAGE AVAILABLE
Maintenance/Services Division Locator Sign	Maintenance/Services Division Crew	NO IMAGE AVAILABLE
	Naval Pilot, (female)
	Spartan MJOLNIR Armor Mk V