Sweet ladies, gentle gents and all of us there in between.

Allow me to borrow a few minutes of your precious time and bring up a topic that has been intriguing me for some time now, and its importance during the immediate aftermath of a war:

The family tag.

Earlier today I was approached by a concerned citizen and CL regarding the death of a member belonging to a recently retired CL.
A shattered family that was placed under protection order.
Upon investigating the death I noticed that the victim, except being from the same district, lacked any other form of identification which could tie him to that specific Crew Leader.

Based on this newly acquired information I decided to close the investigation.
But the question still lingers:

What would be the reason for a family associate to run a shady operation and without wearing the tag of his/her family?
Could it be that the uppers of the family have a casual stance and therefore don't care about enforcing this policy of wearing/representing the family more strictly?

Or is there something else behind this that can justify what I consider to be a serious form of disrespect?

Do these unmarked associates enjoy a special treatment?
Are they excluded from the protection provided when wearing their family tags?
Are they operating outside the authority of their family?
If the answer to either of these questions is no, then why is this mark of independence tolerated?

Looking back at the associate period which will eventually lead us on the road to being a man of honor and earn our button, the family tag should be the first thing adopted when joining your family.

When we DECIDE to join a family which we will work with for the rest of our lives we also choose to represent a family name that is result of the hard work and career of its patron.

99% of the time, you get to wear your family colors without any effort on your part. It is in the rare occasion of a rogue shooter or a Crew Leader that is so desperate to leave this way of life that they even stop caring about their crew that the family tag really becomes irrelevant.

Most of these people don't care enough to increase their chances of survival in case of these few situations where tags really protect you. In any case, very, VERY few relevant people were ever lost for lack of a family tag. Most of these losses are really young people with little work done so not much is really lost, in my opinion.

I regularly see people either not wear a family tag even if a minority, or wear the one of the previous family.  This was once something people were shot for not doing, but as always times change.

The truth is, only time the tag ever affects anyone it seems is when a family falls so most don't worry about living in this special bubble.  Then when they are first dead in a non war event they wonder why dead. 

The truth to me is in many cases the leader doesn't even notice or chastise; even if in the rules regarding wearing the tag, or in mass mails to members explaining to show their colours.

Family Tags are very important. When you wear it you show respect, loyalty and honor to your family and it can save your life as well.

People who don't wear them, in my opinion, are arrogant and doesn't give a damn about honor, loyalty and respect.

I genuinely do not see a reason to NOT wear the family tag. I really, really do not. As Hawk stated, most crews make it mandatory in the rules - and for good reason. Wearing a tag can be the difference between life and death. Personally, I would not promote the untagged to Made Man until they realize that they ARE a representative of the family and need to tag themselves. It does blow the mind that people are too lazy to attach what is generally only a few letters to themselves though - the time it takes compared to the time it'd take a new member of your family to establish themselves on these shores is mind blowing.

i think the Tag is a good idea to keep the crew safe adnd msot crewleaders tell you to were it for the reason that a rough shooter

decides to shot at you or you crewleader the  tage will keep you safe and let others in the same city give you shelter and help

keep you safe. sor for mess speling i am mostly blind it happens.

I would think as a leader I would be extremely suspicious of an associate not wanting to wear the family tag. Joining a family is a step up the ladder; you are making connections to more experienced and higher ranking people that will prove invaluable later in life. You should be proud to wear the colors of your new family. I feel like I would automatically assume some degree of selfishness/shenanigans was going on. I would interpret it as saying "I don't work for the family, I work for myself!" It strikes me as yet another symptom of the culture of entitlement; everyone wants to be top dog right away.