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Badges, Tabs, and Doodads
In the Army, one wears the badges, tabs, and doodads on one’s uniform. It kind of tells people where you’re at, where you come from, and what you’ve done.
When two Army guys meet, there’s an immediate assessment of each on the other according to his badges, tabs, and doodads. This immediate, line-of-sight sizing up is officially known as “butt-sniffing.”
On the right sleeve, you wear the patch of whichever unit you’ve been to combat with; if you’ve been to combat with multiple units, you pick whichever you want (usually, it’s the one that will give you the best props during butt-sniffing). On the left sleeve, you wear the patch of the unit to which you are currently assigned. Also on the left sleeve, one wears (up to three, only) the tabs to which one is entitled to wear through the application of blood, sweat, and tears. There’s the Ranger tab (Hoowah!), the Special Forces tab (we’re pulling down max per diem for this gig, right?), the Airborne tab (All The Way!), and the Sapper tab (I know nothing about this tab, but I think it’s suspect).
Esoterica: If one is airborne qualified, one wears his airborne badge on his chest, which badge is dependent upon one’s jumping experience. There’s the parachutist badge, the senior parachutist badge, and the master parachutist badge (otherwise known as the “master blaster”). The airborne tab on one’s sleeve denotes that one is currently assigned to an airborne unit. So, one can be airborne qualified, but not in an airborne unit, in which case one only wears the badge. One can be a dirty, nasty leg (i.e., non-airborne qualified) but assigned to an airborne unit, in which case one wears the tab. If you got both, you wear both.
Other badges one may see on the butt-sniffee one is assessing are the Combat Infantryman’s Badge (a musket with a wreath around it), the Expert Infantryman’s badge (just a musket), the Combat Diver badge (Waves, tides, and currents shall not affect the combat diver! Your last breath of air is like no breath at all!), The HALO badge (High Altitude/Low Opening jump), the Combat Action Badge (I’m not an Infantryman, but I got shot at), and the Pathfinder badge (also know as the patch-finder badge). And by the way, may I just mention that if one graduates from the Special Forces Qualification Course, one is a qualified and certified pathfinder, but one does not get to wear the purty badge. That’s because Infantrymen are chauvinists.
On the combat duty uniform (BDU, ACU, multi-cam, spectral cam; they’re changing uniforms so fast, on can hardly keep up), all of the “badges” are cloth images, sewn onto the left side of the chest (of the tunic; you hardly ever have to sew the badge onto your actual chest anymore).
If one is an overachiever (or a masochist), one can earn the right to wear the Airborne, Ranger, and Special Forces tabs stacked up on one’s left sleeve. This display is known colloquially as the “tower of power.”
After 9/11, Special Operations Forces became famous for wearing ball caps. First, ya can’t wear a Kevlar/MICH/ACH helmet all day, every day on a long-term deployment (well, unless you’re Big Army, then suck it up, buttercup). Too, the initial ball caps made a statement. Most were NYPD, FDNY, or Yankees ball caps. You want to mess with us? Americans? Okay, doom on you. ‘Mericans being the blessed capitalists that they are, there soon became suppliers for ball caps with Velcro on the front (to put the badge, tab, or doodad of choice on), a long strip of Velcro on the back (for a name tape or a blood-type tape), and a wee square of Velcro on the top (for a swatch of GLINT tape, so the AC-130 knows who not to kill).
I’m done with that now. No more badges, no more tabs, no more doodads. No more butt-sniffing–threat assessments in the Walmart parking lot as to who is and isn’t a threat isn’t butt-sniffing.
It’s time for me to chill out.*
I still have an affinity for ball caps, though.
But I found the perfect tab for me, now. So I’ll walk around proudly wearing this, instead of the tower of power (which I’d never do on a ball cap, anyway, on accounta that’s kind of douche-y).
*Yeah. I know. Husha yo mouf.
Published in General
When I was in Afghanistan, my battalion was responsible for defense of the exterior of Camp Leatherneck. We had a company that manned the walls, and another company that patrolled several miles outside the base. In addition, a British RAF Regiment (successor to WWII Rat Patrol) was responsible for protecting the approach and take off corridors for the air field colocated with Leatherneck, “Bastion.” Not at any time did we ever see any enemy activity while I was there.*
Yet, often when Air Force planes took off from Bastion they would radio in that they were taking fire from the enemy.
The terrain outside Camp Leatherneck/Bastion was an ancient alluvial plain. There was no plant life of any kind. There was no water. There were no rocks or gravel. There was only dirt. That’s it. And there were no enemy anti-aircraft guns.
The Air Force planes would make that lying radio call, put a check in their box, and after so many times of coming under enemy fire they would earn an air medal. We would dutifully inspect the area, as would the Brits, and conclude again that no guns existed or could exist but the check in the box remained. Lying Air Force pilots would get a hero badge.
*After my battalion left, we were replaced for a couple months by another Marine reserve battalion, and then very briefly by an active duty battalion, after which they contracted out the base security to the Tongans (who the heck are they?). They stopped patrolling around the base and cut back the base perimeter guards substantially. That’s when the terrible raid by the insurgents happened, killing a Marine squadron commander among others, and destroying several Marine aircraft. But still, no anti-aircraft guns ever came with several hundred miles of Leatherneck/Bastion.
Eh. Maybe with awards/medals. Not so much with badges, tabs and doodads. If you wear a Ranger tab, you earned that. Ain’t no correspondence course for Ranger school. And Ranger school sucks, and if you made it through you had to perform in an environment awash in suckitude.
Same thing with assessment and selection, and then the Q-course for the SF tab.
“Th’ yellow one is fer national defense, th’ red one wit’ white stripes is fer good conduct, and th’ real purty one wit’ all th’ colors is fer bein’ in this theater of operations.”
Back during the Vietnam war, the Air Force decided that its AP’s would provide airbase security. Some of those enlisted men probably saw combat.
And . . . ?
What does it mean to “see combat?” There are no definitions that people can generally agree on. I’ve been bombed, mortared, shot at, many times, and not from a distance but up close. Very close. I went on roads frequently that were daily seeing vehicles getting blown up. I helped clear buildings of cities my battalion occupied. But I never got blown up. No mortar shrapnel touched me. I never got shot. I never shot back because the target wasn’t clear and I didn’t want to shoot into the wrong house. But the Marines say I was never in “combat action” because I never shot back. (They’ve changed the definition -again- to allow for that distinction, but try getting that through the political wickets of the awards board. It’s not worth the effort.) A sailor off the coast of Saudi Arabia on a ship that launched one cruise missile was in “combat action.”
An AP providing base security does a vital job. Done right, it stops the enemy from blowing up all your harrier jets.
I have Bill Mauldin’s Up Front. My favorite cartoon:
And nothing.
@skyler, concur.
Defining “combat” is as difficult as defining “fight.” You against multiples? your team against a singleton? Open terrain? Urban terrain? In a house? A single room?
The problem with defining combat, or fight, is that if you find yourself in a situation that doesn’t meet your definition, it can inhibit execution of the appropriate action or reaction. Smart leaders disregard the possibility of winning awards, badges, tabs, combat patches and doodads. That’s for later, when you’re taking schnitt to your SEAL and Marine brethren. In the moment, get yourself and your men through the situation.
The rest’ll sort itself out later.
Command Pilot Wings.
15 years as a pilot, having earned Senior Pilot Wings, and 3000 hours flying (or 2300 primary or instructor hours or 144 months operational flying)
“Because I fly, I envy no man on earth.”
You get Air medals for combat missions. Doesn’t matter if you get shot at or not. Fly in the territory a set number of times, you get the medal.
You get 1 for having flown up to 10 missions via a deployment or employment for an operation. An additional one for every complete 10 sorties following the first award. If something noteworthy happens on one of the missions, it can be written up as awarded for Heroism during flight, but you have to submit evidence with it. If it is awarded for Heroism, you get to wear the “V” device. Otherwise it is simply awarded for flying over bad guy land and is awarded for “Meritorious” achievement.
People making that radio call were not checking boxes. Stupid maybe, but not checking boxes.
I don’t know the time frame when you were in Afghanistan – I flew over May-Sep 2002 and partially from March – July 2003 (the other part was over Iraq). I also did time in the CAOC from May-Sep 2007. For my time over Afghanistan (02 & 03) there were very few Surface to Air Fire (SAFIRE) events reported (as in less than 10 for the entire deployments in 02 and 03.) During my time in the CAOC in 07, I finally convinced the intel pukes that maintaining a single four month old SAFIRE event on the intel board was worse than stupid, it was utterly meaningless. They debated a week before they took it down.
True, that.
I almost was awarded a Good Conduct medal. I think my First Sergeant had it in for me.
I have my Dad’s aerial Gunnery wings from WWII. Same design, but with a downward facing bullet where your shield/star/circle is. Sterling Silver.
I worked with a retired SP (by then the term Air Police was deprecated) who served in Viet Nam. They patrolled the fence perimeter, and they depended on the Army to patrol beyond that.
The Air Force also has the Pararescue specialty where personnel would come out of helicopters to rescue downed pilots. They could come under fire while doing that job.
But again, those are exceptions that prove the rule. Air Force enlisted personnel overwhelmingly provide a logistical service and don’t go into combat.
And that’s true of any aviation arm of the U.S. military, or any military.
I know. But the Army still overdoes it. I understand that the Marines are starting to get infected, but kudos to them for resisting it for so long.
I wrestled when I was in college. North Carolina had a tournament every year for all the schools that had wrestling teams. There were about 35. I placed fifth my sophomore year, and got a trophy about 8″ tall.
My son played soccer with a team that won no games. He got a participation trophy about 2′ tall. We’re ruining our kids.
What was your Article 15 for?
Well, that’s what our air officer explained to me. This was in 2011. I think getting shot at is what made the flight a combat flight.
Al, oddly enough, I was a CO’s driver/headquarter company clerk with Top Secret and NATO Top Secret clearances. The CO and I got along great, but the 1sr Sarge really did dislike me and, I think, blocked my Good Conduct award. I’m not sure why he had it in for me, though I probably gave off a decided civilian vibe without really realizing it.
When he was a trainee, his Drill Sgt sent him out to keep an eye out for the General and let him know when he showed up.
That sounds fishy. You have to have a conviction or an Article 15/Captain’s Mast to not get a good cookie. Perhaps you should seek a review of your records. I once had the opportunity to sit in a class taught by the man in charge of the Army Board for the Correction of Military Records. He was quite proud that they will bend any law they can in order to do what they think is right, especially to protect military retirement benefits (it was a family law class). If there is no Article 15 or conviction by court martial, you will likely be given your good cookie, if I understand the issue correctly.
Skyler, all I know is that I didn’t receive a GC award. I had always assumed it was the 1sr Sarge who blocked it. This was back in 1960.
I was never up for an Article 15. I left the Army after two years as a Spec 4.
Ah, you need three years for the good conduct medal.
Now. What were the rules in 1960, during the draft, when most press-ganged into service only did a two year hitch?
I did’t know that. Wow, and all these years I have been blaming my First Sergeant.
Skyler, are you sure of that? I seem to remember that a couple of buddies who came up with me through Boot Camp and Advanced Training received Good Conduct awards. But that was almost 60 years ago, so I may have “misremembered” that detail.
Sgt. Combs, are you out there. Only you can settle this?
Very sure. It’s a three year requirement with some exceptions, such as if you get killed in combat after one year of duty.
Ah, but what was it like in 1960 for draftees, who only served two years?
Three years.edit: Oops, the army has a different rule. For first award only, upon completion of at least one year upon termination of service if separated prior to three years. This appears to be a peculiarity of the army. But that’s only if you believe wikipedia.
Give me a minute, Ima check on this.
Our beloved Skylar is occasionally wrong, but never uncertain.