Military Special Ops & Forces Patches
History Page 2

SOCCENT

The command, based at MacDill Air Force Base, Florida wore this patch and its variations prior to the authorization of an official insignia which was aproved27 October 1995.  

SOCCENT2

The command, based at MacDill Air Force Base, Florida wore this patch and its variations prior to the authorization of an official insignia, which was approved 27 October 1995.  

SOCCENT3
 

The command, based at MacDill Air Force Base, Florida wore this patch and its variations prior to the authorization of an official insignia which was approved 27 October 1995.  

MACV-SOG

This group advised and assisted the South Vietnamese Special Exploitation Service, later called the Strategic Technical Directorate.  These rather innocuous titles camouflaged the work that was actually performed; the penetration operations against Viet Cong an North Vietnamese communications on the Ho Chi Minh trail.  The elaborate, almost glitzy, oriental-looking design of the patch would seem totally inappropriate for the mission assigned to this unit which is perhaps why it was chosen.  MACV-SOG had five primary responsibilities.  They were 1) Cross-border operations regularly conducted to disrupt the Viet Cong, Khmer Rouge, Pathet Lao, and North Vietnamese armies in their own terrirories; 2) keeping track f all imprisoned and missing Americans and conducting raids to assist and free them; 3) training North Vietnamese resistance fighters; 4) "Black" psychological operations such as establishing false North Viet- namese Army broadcasting stations inside North Vietnam; 5) "Gray" psychological operations as typified by the Hue-Phu Bay propaganda transmitter.  Some of the darker aspects of this group's mission included kidnapping and assassination.

32nd 33rd Avn Co SF
 

Approved for local wear only.

The origin and significance of the design is unknown.

160th SOAR

Re-designated:  160th Aviation Group (Airborne).  Worn from:  15 April 1987 - 4 April 1988.

Re-designated:  160th Aviation Battalion (Airborne) -- Special Operations Group.  Worn from:  4 April 1988 - December 1989.

Re-designated:  160th Special Operations Aviation Group (Airborne). Worn from:  December 1990 - Current.

Silhouetted against a full moon, a specter (representing army aviation) brandishing a sword comes riding upon Pegasus, the flying horse of Greek mythology, leaving a fiery trail in his wake.  "Night stalkers" is the unit's nickname.  Their motto is "death waits in the dark."  The Third Battalion, headquarters Hunter Army Airfield, Georgia, was deployed to Bosnia as part of IFOR (Implementation Force) Operation Joint Endeavor.

Co C 3rd Bn
7th SFG (Abn)
 

In a scroll above a green beret with a Seventh Special Forces flash attached is the inscription "De Oppresso Liber" (From Oppression We Will Liberate Them).

1st Bn 1st SPG (Abn)
 

Approved for local wear only.

The tori, sacred entranceway/gate to a Shinto Temple, alludes to the Ryukyus as the gateway to Japan.  The knife, a symbol of special forces, the unit's numerical designation, as well as the special forces branch of service insignia (crossed arrows) are also displayed together with the motto "first in Asia," which is the unit's claim to fame.

5th SPG

The design shows a paratrooper in free fall ringed by a halo signifying the high altitude, low landing (HALO) nature of the jump.

Co B 2nd Bn
19th SFG (Abn)

In a scroll above a green beret with a Nineteenth Special Forces flash attached, is the inscription "De Oppresso Liber" ("From Oppression We Will Liberate Them").

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