Wikipedia:Icons in military articles

Military symbols are sometimes better understood as images in military circles. This can at times run into conflict with Wikipedia policy.

A perennial discussion in military articles on Wikipedia, particularly biographies, has been the use of images and symbology related to various military decorations, units, and other entities.

There have been a number of attempts to reach a consensus about what level of illustration is appropriate and in which places in the article, many of which generated a great deal of discussion and no clear decision as to exact specifications of policy. At odds are a number of Wikipedia policies regarding article presentation and a more image-centric culture, particularly in some Western militaries, where the image of a medal, unit, or rank, is much more recognizable than its name. This essay will attempt to serve as a central resource for identifying where the community stands on different forms of illustration.

Flags and branch symbols

See also: WP:MOSFLAG

A common occurrence is for users to add flags to the infobox of a military person to denote the country of service (example.) This use generally does not comply with WP:INFOBOXFLAG and WP:ICONDECORATION, which states in part, "Avoid adding icons that provide neither additional information (what the icon looks like itself is not additional information unless the icon is the subject of the article) to the article subject nor navigational or layout cues that aid the reader. Icons should serve a purpose other than solely decoration."

There have been at least four discussions of the issue at WikiProject Military History, including at least one poll that did not reach a consensus (May 2007, August 2007, December 2007, December 2008.)

Per WP:WORDPRECEDENT, this does not apply to infoboxes in articles dealing with military battles, where it is common to see flags displayed before the names of leaders and major organizations in the battle. In these instances, the nationality of the subjects is pertinent to the table itself (example.)

Ranks

Military ranks have at times been included in the infobox of articles, and there has been occasional discussion on the matter. A May 2011 discussion was contentious and did not reach a decision.

Ribbons, medals, and military decorations

Including images of ribbons and medals in military biographies has remained a longstanding issue which has eluded consensus. Years of perennial discussions at WikiProject Military History resulted in an an extensive March 2012 RFC. Proposals for compromise have included collapsible boxes and reducing the size of images, but no clear decision has been accepted in several years of discussion. It should be noted, though, that the decorations must adhere to guidelines for referencing, and larger sizes or overly elaborate presentation of ribbons in a way that does not add to the basic understanding of the decoration has been subject to debate.

Generally, it has been found that use of ribbon bars is optional, and neither a requirement for article promotion nor a hindrance to it. Users have argued in favor of including ribbon bars on many articles as a useful tool, but that it would be redundant to add them in both the infobox and as a dedicated section in the prose. Images of medals are generally not used.

At present, popular options for displaying ribbons include:

1. A display of ribbons as they appear on the wearer's uniform, coined by User:bahamut0013.
2. A Wikipedia table listing the awards and the images to go along with them (example.)
3. A picture of the "ribbon rack" of the military person as a single image (example.)
4. Highly regarded and documented military figures do at times have standalone pages dedicated to their awards (example.)

It is also not uncommon for military units to contain a table dedicated to unit awards (example.)

Standards across other-language Wikipedias generally vary on this issue, with some favoring different levels of presentation.

Unit patches, emblems, and insignia

Insignia such as shoulder sleeve insignia, distinctive unit insignia, combat service identification badges, coats of arms, Unit Colour Patches and other images which represent military units have at times been inserted at various places, including in infoboxes of military biographies to indicate the unit where a person has served (example), in an order of battle article next to the units participating in the conflict (example,) or in other unit articles as a list of subordinate units (example.)

A January 2013 discussion by WikiProject Military History was split between one group which found such icons do not convey additional information per WP:ICONDECORATION, and another group which said that the unit symbols were more recognizable than the names of the units themselves. Ultimately the icons were removed from articles being discussed.

It is not uncommon to see unit images displayed in the infobox of the unit they represent, this has not been an issue.