Reply With QuoteDoesnt look like any have an SSI, however 3rd from viewer left has a Local patch on his right pocket. Typically they were Gunnery patches and similar to these:
Mine always had full sew on to whatever I was entitled
Insignia on M65 Field Jackets (1970s and 1980s)
I was looking at some Army photos from the 70s and early 80s and noticed some soldiers didn't have all the required insignia on their jackets. Some had no SSI, others had no name tape etc.
Was this just done in the field?
Here's a pic of some 11th Armored Cavalry troops and the second guy from the left has no name tape and the guy on the far right has no SSI.
Doesnt look like any have an SSI, however 3rd from viewer left has a Local patch on his right pocket. Typically they were Gunnery patches and similar to these:
Mine always had full sew on to whatever I was entitled
So was this lack of insignia authorized?
I looked through an AR 670-1 manual from 1979 but couldn't find anything regarding this....
What's the insignia next to the beret flash?
You have rank and unit patch on the beretOriginally Posted by G-AWZT
The ranks on the beret are interesting in that they are the Subdued metal rank with a plastic backing like the Infantry collar disks. No idea why no nametapes I know my 1SG back in 82 would'a skinned me for not having one.
Armor didn't have it own CMF until about '79 or'80, being these guys were on M551's they would have been 11D, or 11E
A possibility could be that they were just resupplied by a laundry unit of some sort and their kit was issued with only army tapes and no other insignia. This happened a lot when in the field for a while, especially when overseas. That's one of the main reasons the pin-on ranks were introduced in '67.
It looks like they're OPFOR. We had slightly different uniform regulations - and, in fact, our own uniforms. Alternately, these might be field uniforms, which even in my day (late 90s) could be overlooked if they weren't up to regulations. In garrison, it was another story, but mucking about on a 2-week field problem? Not a big deal/get it fixed when we get to the rear.
Is that why they're wearing a black beret? I didn't know our armored guys wore them until I saw this picture.
I believe berets were quite popular in the 70s.
Here's some info I found:
"In the 1970s, Army policy allowed local commanders to encourage morale-enhancing uniform distinctions, and the use of berets boomed. Armor personnel at Fort Knox, Ky., wore the traditional British black beret, while U.S. armored cavalry regiments in Germany wore the black beret with a red and white oval.
Troops of the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, N.C., started wearing the maroon beret in 1973, while at Fort Campbell, Ky., the trend exploded, with post personnel wearing red, military police donning light green, and the 101st Airborne Division taking light blue as their color. In Alaska, the 172nd Infantry Brigade began using an olive green beret.
In 1975, the Airborne Rangers got approval from the Army Chief of Staff to use the black beret as their official headgear.
Over the next few years, the whole thing got out of hand, and in 1979 senior Army officials put on the brakes, Bradford said. The leadership allowed the Rangers to keep their black berets and in 1980, agreed to allow airborne troops to continue wearing the maroon version. But all others varieties were declared off-limits."
http://usmilitary.about.com/cs/gener...rethistory.htm
Interesting I never knew that TallGuy. I remember seeing an olive green beret with flash being sold as US Army infantry at a militaria convention years ago. I thought it was a fake. I should've picked it up.
Quite so. Which is why my brethren from Nam earned CIB's, then the politics started and 11D's became 19D's and we became the redheaded, bastard step children of the Army caught between both worlds.
And for reference in this thread, here is another 11th ACR era pic from Germany..
My Platoon Sergeant when I got to Germany in '83 had a CIB from Vietnam and, at the time, I couldn't figure out how he'd gotten it, being Armor.
I used to see black berets on tankers all the time when we went to Hohenfels in '78-'79. By the time I became an Armor officer in '83 the berets (and tanker's jackets) were history. All the PSGs would talk about the good old days when you could actually WEAR the tank qualification patches we were still awarded.
There were CIBs handed lout for the wrong reasons sometimes in VN.
I have heard reports of them being withdrawn in some circumstances from guys who stayed in.
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