my DH is retired Army. Small flowers are fine, tone on tone is fine. What matters is, you made and donated a quilt. The colors and pattern are your choice. Any soldier would be proud to recieve one. I can't speak for the firemen and police officers, but they have the same mindset. I made my DH a quilt from scraps of our kids clothes, boy and girls, and he loves it. Any red white and blue would be fine.