Soldiers Being FORCED to Remove Combat Patches From Uniforms
http://www.thefederalistpapers.org/us/soldiers-furious-at-what-their-commanders-are-ordering-them-to-strip-from-their-uniformsBy Robert Gehl
Soldiers are livid after being told to remove their combat patches in an attempt to be “welcoming” to new recruits.
It’s an insane move that goes against the unofficial combat patch creed: “You earn it. You keep it. You wear it.” But that’s apparently the policy now for Fort Carson’s 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team.
Soldiers are told to strip their uniforms bare to the bone, only showing the name, rank, American Flag, U.S. Army tape and the 4th Infantry Division insignia, the Army Times is reporting.
According to officials, the move is designed to promote a “unified army culture.”
Brigade Commander Col. David Hodne issued the requirement. He told the Colorado Gazette it’s not about making new recruits feel jealous.
The colonel said he made the switch for a couple of reasons. One was to welcome new blood.
Hodne’s unit, which has seen a radical reorganization over the past year from tanks and Bradley Fighting Vehicles to eight-wheeled Strykers, is loaded with brand-new privates whose uniforms are bare of insignia. Instead of standing out, the new guys look like everyone else in training.
“It’s about the collective, it’s not about the individual,” Hodne explained during a training exercise last week at Fort Carson’s Piñon Canyon Maneuver Site east of Trinidad.
He also wants to send a message to veterans who have as much gear decorating their uniform as the brigade’s boss.
“Character counts more than your resume,” he said. “It’s heart more than what you did five or six years ago.”
The uniform change is a subtle reminder to all the brigade’s soldiers that they have to keep learning to keep up with the emerging threats of a still dangerous world, Hodne said.
After training, soldiers will go back to displaying their impressive achievements. But in the field, they are all the same.
“It goes back to culture,” Hodne said.
Soldiers, though, are not pleased with the new policy. The Independent Journal Review asked several vets how they felt. This was their reaction:
U.S. Army Iraq war veteran Drew Norman:
“This was obviously started by officers without combat time. This isn’t about making the new guys feel welcome, it’s about making the new officers feel superior.
The fact that we have 22 year old college kids ordering 18 year multiple combat tour veterans and lecturing them on war tells you all you need to know about how broken our commissioning system is.”
U.S. Army Afghan war veteran Stephen Carroll:
“I think it’s an absolutely horrid idea. Simply because some of them don’t fall into the group of those who have gone down range doesn’t mean that everyone else should hide what they’ve done. It’s the military, not a group of middle school students.”
U.S. veteran Michael Mumford, who used more colorful language:
“When I was a cherry ass boot we got hazed, beat up and fu*ked with. I admit I hated it but once I had earned my place in the platoon it felt better than any award the Army has ever given me. Inclusiveness isn’t the problem.
The problem is our leadership is soft, only cares about their careers and we lost all the men we respect to the social experiment parade and we don’t feel like we fu*king belong anymore.”
