Patches: Show of pride or worthless clutter? - Air Force News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Air Force Times

Patches: Show of pride or worthless clutter?

Bring up patches and airmen get fired up.

Senior Airman Steven Lavoie, a cryptologic language analyst, considers it a downright insult that the Air Force won’t let airmen wear patches on their airman battle uniforms — particularly the hard-earned schoolhouse and award versions.

“When an airman puts himself through the hell that is U.S. Army Ranger School, why is he not allowed to wear that proudly?” Lavoie wrote in an e-mail from Osan Air Force Base, South Korea. “Ditto for SF, BUDS, etc. … any medal, award or qualification patch should be not only authorized, but mandatory.”

Master Sgt. Steven M. Dix, a nuclear weapons specialist at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, needed only two words to sum up what he thinks of patches on ABUs: “Hell no!”

Dix, Lavoie and nearly 85 other airmen — active-duty, Guard and Reserve — responded when airforcetimes.com asked readers to weigh in on patches for the airman battle uniform.

The naked ABU has been a source of consternation for many airmen since the Air Force introduced it in 2006, replacing the battle dress uniform complete with patches. Today, the only acceptable accouterments on cammos for most airmen are a name tape above the right front pocket and a career field badge and the U.S. Air Force tape above the left one.

When the Air Force decided to go minimalist, it gave two reasons: lower costs — the expense of buying patches is gone — and less hassle — no more changing patches with each assignment.

What service leaders hadn’t factored in was flight suits. Patches on flight suits are still OK, a wear rule that strikes more than a few ABU wearers as unfair.

“Allowing flying units to keep their patches while eliminating them from all other units only further perpetuates the stigma that in our Air Force, there are fliers, and then there’s everybody else,” wrote 1st Lt. Benjamin Moritz, a maintenance officer with the 55th Wing at Offutt Air Force Base, Neb. “Why should fliers be the only ones allowed to show pride in their units and their jobs?”

Whenever the Air Force Uniform Board solicits suggestions, there’s inevitably an airman who suggests the wear rule gods rethink their ban on patches. There have been pleas for the American flag, school patches and Army-earned qualification badges such as the Ranger Tab. And, inevitably, the requests get shot down. The last one nixed — in 2009 — was from officers who wanted to wear the Weapons School patch.

Despite airmen’s dismay, the brass have no intention of fiddling with uniform policy. Both Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz and Chief Master Sgt. of the Air Force James Roy declined to comment, saying through their spokesmen that any wear-rule recommendations would come from future Uniform Boards. As of now, there is no word if the Uniform Board will meet this year.

A matter of pride

Lavoie spoke for many of his fellow patch proponents when he framed the issue as one mostly of pride — pride of country, service, unit, training.

Patriotism is the sticking point for Chief Master Sgt. Tom Duggan, an imagery analyst deployed in Afghanistan. He said he’s plenty proud of defending his country but not happy he can’t show it on his ABU, especially since the soldiers who he works beside can wear the American flag on their sleeves.

“I have always been proud to be an American serviceman ... why not let us all wear the flag of the country we defend?” asked Duggan, based at Hurlburt Field, Fla., when he’s at home.

Tech. Sgt. Cory O’Connor said he really wants the flag on his cammos, too. What irks him is that he can’t have it but airmen who wear flight suits can, he said.

“It really bugs ... me that pilots and aircrew can wear a morale patch that reads ‘YGBSM’ on their arm, but I’m not allowed to have an American flag on my shoulder,” wrote O’Connor, a communications craftsman with the Nebraska Air National Guard’s 155th Aerial Refueling Wing.

Staff Sgt. Adam Bearden is a military dog handler and worked with an Army unit when he was in Iraq. He and the soldiers wore the same fatigues, the Army Combat Uniform, and everyone had patches.

“What I’ve noticed with working with the Army is their pride in what they have accomplished. ... There is a patch that signifies their unit currently assigned. On the other sleeve is the patch of a unit they were assigned to while deployed in the past,” wrote Bearden, a member of the 366th Fighter Wing at Mountain Home Air Force Base, Idaho.

“I know I was honored to tell other Air Force personnel, who were not allowed to wear the Army Combat Uniforms, what the patches I displayed signified and why I was allowed to wear them,” he said.

Senior Airman Patrick Hatcher, a maintainer, is conflicted. The Missouri National Guard member said he likes patches but can see good coming from a common uniform.

The no-patch rule has helped knock down barriers between his 131st Bomb Wing and the two others — Air Combat Command’s 509th Bomb Wing and the Air Force Reserve’s 442nd Fighter Wing — based at Whiteman Air Force Base, Mo. Still, he said he wants a unit patch for his shirt pocket. It would show his pride and help others know what wing he belongs to, he said.

“It is sometimes very hard to distinguish between the different organizations and if we had patches, this would make it a no-brainer,” Hatcher said. “It would give us and the other organizations an identity.”

The practical minority

Although far fewer airmen came to the defense of the naked ABU, those who did were passionate in making their case.

“I wholeheartedly disagree with going back to putting patches on the uniform,” wrote Capt. Erik Shelland, an intelligence officer with the 732nd Expeditionary Security Forces Squadron, Detachment 2, deployed to Camp Striker, Iraq. “Didn’t we get rid of the patches in order to make the uniform more wash-and-wear friendly and to spend less money at alterations? A lot of airmen already saw this coming.”

Tech. Sgt. Peter Bowden, a combat arms and maintenance instructor with the Georgia Air National Guard’s 165th Security Forces Squadron, hammered home the money angle.

“Cost, care, maintenance and the physical appearance of clutter are out of the equation now. If airmen are concerned about uniform bling, they need to re-evaluate their priorities and probably consider transferring to the Army, where patches, badges, insignia and tabs are all the rave,” wrote Bowden, whose unit is based out of Savannah International Airport, Ga.

“Simply give me a functional battlefield uniform and the tools to do my job and I’m confident most airmen would be happy,” he went on. “Save the money taxpayers would spend on patches to outfit the entire Air Force, at four patches per airman, and issue me a practical tactical vest, durable flashlight or radios that work, and you certainly won’t hear any complaints from me.”

Staff Sgt. Jason Garrett, a member of the Colorado Air National Guard’s 140th Security Forces Squadron, proposed a compromise.

“I see a rather simple solution to all of this,” wrote Garrett, who works out of Buckley Air Force Base, Colo. “The Air Force should simply adopt either the Army’s or the Marine Corps’ ACU with the Velcro attachments and carry on.”

In the early 1990s, the Air Force allowed Velcro-backed patches with an airman’s name and rank, similar to the aircrew name patch, but airmen hated them so much that the leadership backed off and went back to sew-ons. Flight-suit patches are still attached with Velcro so that aircrew members can remove them before flying combat missions.

Sewn on or attached with Velcro, on flight suits or ABUs or both, patches are sure to keep airmen talking. They have for years, as Chief Master Sgt. Armand Barrett can attest.

“I have seen patches and emblems and badges on many military service uniforms; and you know, with the exception of a scant few, I didn’t have a clue what any of them represented,” wrote Barrett, a member of the 920th Rescue Wing at Patrick Air Force Base, Fla.

“I did recognize one thing on almost all service uniforms; and to me they are what matter most — Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, Coast Guard! If you have a penchant for patches, join NASCAR!”

DISCUSS: Patches on uniforms

FLAG WEARERS

A glance at who can and who can’t put Old Glory on their fatigues:

* Air Force: Allowed on either shoulder of the Airman Battle Uniform or the Battlefield Dress Uniform if an airman is deployed and has the OK of his task force commander but must come off once the airman returns home; allowed on the left shoulder of the flight suit.

* Army: Standard issue for the right shoulder of the Army Combat Uniform.

* Navy: Standard issue on the right shoulder of desert and woodland camouflaged uniforms; not allowed on new blue tactical uniform.

* Marine Corps: Not allowed on digital cammies.