by nkomo Mon Jun 08, 2009 12:05 am
I asked the question to a fellow member (JSOCSFC) and this is what he replied:
"Hey Arch,
He was assigned to HQDA.
He was assigned to JCS in a SF/Abn slot. At that time in the 80's-90's, If I remember, those officers (and a few enlisted)assigned to JCS were authorized their own beret flash, as they were in ABN coded positions, but as they werent in a unit authorized a SSI,this "weird" set up was common.The Airborne tab signifies current Abn status of a given unit, but as there WAS no patch for them, so it was worn (along with whatever personal qual tabs the soldier had)by itself, on the sleeve.
He/his unit diddnt have a SSI (SF arrowhead) to issue him, and he just had what he had sewn on while waiting for the patches to come in either to unit supply or MCSS.
As it has been stated this guy was with WV NG,and there arent many bases to get patches and stuff at, this isnt that far-fetched.You would sew on what you had while waiting for the rest to get to you. This was acceptep by many NG unit Cdrs,especially where thre is no MCSS close by the NG unit.
these are my guesses only-Hope they help. You can post these on the site if you want. Take care,
Craig"
These are his guesses. JSOC has been in the USSF for over 20 years and I trust what he says. Granted it is an odd set up, but I don't think it is a made-up piece. Paying what I did for it ($5) and seeing it was part of a bigger grouping, I doubt it was a made-up piece. However, I do see your point concerning the ABN tab. Thanks for everyone's input.
Arch