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Airbornelawyer
05-16-2004, 17:00
On another forum, this question came up, and I was wondering if anyone here knew the definitive answer.

Chapter 28-10 of AR 670-1 includes SF in the list of branches where personnel are authorized to wear the numerical designation of their regiment on their branch insignia. My understanding is that in the Army regimental system, 1st Special Forces Regiment is a single regiment to which all SF personnel are affiliated, so the only authorized numeral ought to be "1", if any. But someone says they have seen 5th Group personnel wearing a "5" on their crossed arrows. I've never seen that.

Is this authorized and/or customary now?

Thanks,

The Reaper
05-16-2004, 17:18
Originally posted by Airbornelawyer
On another forum, this question came up, and I was wondering if anyone here knew the definitive answer.

Chapter 28-10 of AR 670-1 includes SF in the list of branches where personnel are authorized to wear the numerical designation of their regiment on their branch insignia. My understanding is that in the Army regimental system, 1st Special Forces Regiment is a single regiment to which all SF personnel are affiliated, so the only authorized numeral ought to be "1", if any. But someone says they have seen 5th Group personnel wearing a "5" on their crossed arrows. I've never seen that.

Is this authorized and/or customary now?

Thanks,

I believe in this case, the "regimental" unit is the Group, and the Regiment, which is ceremonial, is not appropriate, or we would all have the same regimental affiliation.

My arrows had a "7" on them, and I never saw anyone object.

I had a roomie who had been a Garry Owen though, and the memorabilia looked like we were on opposite sides in the same unit. Swords versus arrows.:D

TR

Airbornelawyer
05-17-2004, 12:05
Thanks for the info. Is there a reg or directive in this regard? As an infantry officer, if you put in a 4187 to affiliate with the 75th or 501st, etc., you would wear the "75" and so forth on your crossed rifles no matter where you were assigned thereafter. How would that work in SF, unless you were formally affiliated with a Group?

Regarding the treatment of a regiment's sub-units, the old style practice would be to put the regimental number at the top (in this case a "1" for 1st SF) and the sub unit below. But like you say it wouldn't make too much sense for SF given that the top number would always be "1". As an example of such insignia, here is Span-Am War era brass for Company F, 25th Infantry: