From CAPT H comes this little tale.
A three-star general says soldiers from the 100th Battalion, 442nd Infantry should be allowed to wear the shoulder patch that traces the battalion's lineage to World War II.Lt. Gen. James Helmly, who heads the 209,000-member Army Reserve, said the issue was raised yesterday morning when he met with members of the 100th Battalion for nearly two hours at Schofield Barracks. He was asked why the 100th Battalion had recently been told to remove its shoulder patch and replace it with one worn by the Hawaii Army National Guard's 29th Infantry Brigade.
Here's a graphic of the offending bit of embroidery.
A little context - the 29th Separate Infantry Brigade , Hawaii National Guard, is being federalized and sent to Iraq, so this isn't some peacetime squabble. In this case, 'separate' means the unit is not part of a division.
COL Chaves, the brigade commander, is responsible for welding this grouping of units into a team and taking them into combat. The 100/442nd Infantry is a unique unit in many respects. Aside from it's descent from the Japanese-American regimental combat team of WWII, one of the most highly decorated units in the war, it is also unique in that it is one of the few deployable combat arms units left in the Reserve after the post-Desert Storm reorganization of the Army. COL Chaves does not normally command and control this unit, and has some others he gets upon mobilization as well. So, he's trying to foster unit identity.
Brig. Gen. Joe Chaves, who commands the brigade, wants all of his more than 3,000 soldiers to wear the same shoulder patch to help develop a "sense of unity," said. Maj. Chuck Anthony, Hawaii National Guard spokesman.Anthony said the 29th Brigade not only includes the more than 600 soldiers who belong to the 100th Battalion and live on Guam, American Samoa and Saipan, but it also has soldiers from California, Oregon and Minnesota.
"Gen. Chaves wants everyone in the brigade to have the one team, one fight attitude."
Napoleon said "Men will die for a bit of ribbon." [Armorer's note: I misquoted the Corsican Ogre - what Napoleon said was actually; "A soldier will fight long and hard for a bit of colored ribbon." I regret the error and google's perpetuation of it...] He was referring to medals - but the point applies here, as well. The truth is men will not die for a bit of cloth, whether it be a flag, a ribbon, or a shoulder patch. Men will kill and die for symbols, and for each other. The latter part is the most important part. The bond of shared objectives and experiences will weld the 29th SIB into a team to be feared by it's opponents.
The way for COL Chaves to build his formation into a unit is to train them hard, and train them smart, and train them together. Not strip away a bit of identity that links a unit to it's past, to substitute one for which they have no affinity. You gain affinity through experience. So, COL Chaves, bust their asses in training, setting team objectives that can only be obtained through cross-tasking and teamwork, and you will meld your brigade into the hammer of our foes. And not be the subject of newspaper articles containing gentle rebukes from general officers, nor noticed by Canadian soldiers, and blogged about by old fart 'Murican soldiers.
LTG Helmly gets it:
"The thing that keep (sic) soldiers alive in combat," Helmly said, "is small-unit bonding and teamwork. ... They identify with their colors and their patch represents their colors."
Do you, Colonel? Actually, by now, I'm sure you do - and if you don't, it's going to be a long year while you learn there, boss.
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