Big Red One

I have spent my entire, brief Army career in the 1st Infantry Division--the "Big Red One." Though I've had brief regrets about not being in an Airborne or Alpine unit, I am generally proud of being in the 1st Infantry Division. We have an illustrious history starting back in WWI, and we are the Army's oldest, continually serving combat unit. When the division headquarters moved back to Germany in 1996, they adopted the Army's Class A unit patch--a maraschino cherry red '1' on a shield crest of foliage green for the normal duty (camouflage) uniform to signify that we were an "expeditionary force" (ie. serving overseas). This was an anomaly; no other unit in the Army had this privilege (everyone else wears a subdued patch to fit the camouflage). When the rest of the division moved back to the States last year, my brigade, 2nd Brigade, 1st Infantry Division, remained the surviving expeditionary force, and we proudly kept our Big Red One patches on.


Last month, the Vice Chief of Staff of the Army apparently caught wind that we were the lone brigade in the Army wearing Class A patches. He sent an indignant order down to the rogue brigade to cease wearing the offending patch on 1 June. Now, figuring two new subdued "Big Black One" patches for each Soldier in the brigade (a few thousand), at roughly 5-7 dollars a patch, this decision will cost US taxpayers roughly $30,000 to supply the 2nd Brigade, 1st Infantry Division with the authorized patch--not to mention the pre-deployment investment of red one patches on a field of teal to match the Army's new high-tech digital camouflage uniform. The thing is, roughly six months from now we're going to "re-flag" as a different unit under the Army's plan to reorganize forces in Germany, and put on a brand new patch. The other thing is, the Army supply system couldn't move fast enough to match the fiat, so now we're patchless for the unforseeable future. If I'm lucky, I should get a big black one patch from the Army system as a souvenir before I leave Iraq.