Military has a lot of insignias to signify occupation, ranks, and accomplishments. This serves as torch of honor or a reminder of their duty to the country and the service that they are in. Military patches is one of those insignias. Basically, there are two types of Military patches, the shoulder patch and the unit patches.
Unit Patch- provides information about the unit and the corps that Military personnel belongs to. Unit patches can contain symbols or numerals that relate to the specific unit or special mission.
Shoulder Patch – are worn on the shoulder or sometimes on the sleeves to display the rank of an individual.
Patches can be full of detail or plain like the patch for First Army, which is just an uppercase “A”, but each patch has a significant meaning and history to the unit and the bearer of the patch. The core values of their unit are also being symbolized by the patch. This means that Military patches carries a distinct message.
Throughout the years different patch designs have been created: mascots of an active military troop, retired group, POW’s and the American Flag’s star and stripes.
Regulations are mandated when wearing these patches e.g. the number of patches to be worn or the way it is displayed.
Fact or Fallacy?
The shoulder patches of the U.S soldiers in Iraq depicting the U.S flag is arranged the wrong way. The blue and stars should be on the left and no the right of the patch– This is a fallacy. Explanation: It is definitely not wrong. The backward patch is the Army way. The backward appearance is deliberately reversed. It is in the Army regulation that the flag “to be worn so that to observers, it looks as if the flag is flying against a breeze” This is due to the U.S. Army’s early history: Mounted cavalry and infantry units would designate one soldier as “standard bearer,” to carry the flag into the fight. As the standard bearer charged, his rapid forward momentum would cause the flag to stream back. And since the flag is mounted with the region closest to the pole, that section would always be forward. When a soldier charges, the flag would give the appearance of forward motion. For the right shoulder, the flag only appears “backward.”