"Slick Sleeve" No More!

By now, everyone probably knows that this is my first deployment.  What many don't realize; however, is that this makes me a "slick sleeve".  A "slick sleeve" is someone who walks around without a patch on their right arm.  The right arm patch is very important because it is the patch that is reserved for those who have served in a combat zone.  This is why the right arm patch is called a combat patch.  When I first joined the Army it was not uncommon to see Soldiers walking around without combat patches, but now you will likely be hard pressed to find a Soldier that doesn't sport a patch on the ever important forearm.  The combat patch is kind of a rite of passage.  A symbol that says you've been there and done that.  It's something I never had...until now.

As of yesterday I have officially been in a combat zone for 30 days, which is the requirement for earning the right to wear a combat patch.  There is a ceremony that is performed to award the patch which basically consists of reading the history of the patch and having the highest ranking officer (for me the Staff Judge Advocate) slap it on for you (since our uniforms have velcro!)  My friend, Greg Vetere (a graduate of Loyola Law School, New Orleans) and I have made this entire trip together, starting at Fort Benning, and he and I were awarded our patches the same day!

So, I am no longer a "Slick Sleeve" (although I wouldn't quite call me a war hardened veteran just yet!)  The patch I wear is the patch of the 1st Cavalry Regiment, to which I am assigned.  Below is a history of the First Cavalry Patch (taken from the 1st Cavalry Division Association webpage), the largest patch in the US Army.

 

"The big yellow patch does something to an  individual that makes him a better soldier, a better team member, and a better American than he otherwise would have been."  General Creighton Abrams, while commander of  all U.S. Forces in Southeast Asia

"Wearing this First Team patch changes us all, to some extent.  It makes us walk a little prouder and talk a little louder, because of the pride we feel for our unit.  Wearing the largest patch in the Army inventory also brings with it a responsibility to be the best." General Peter W. Chiarelli Commanding General of the First Team during Operation Iraqi Freedom II

Description of the Patch

On a "sunset" yellow triangular Norman Shield with rounded corners 5 1/4 inches in height, a black diagonal stripe extends over the shield from upper left to the lower right. In the upper right, a black horse's head cut off diagonally at the neck, appears within 1/8 inches of an Army Green border. The traditional Cavalry color of yellow and the horse's head is symbolic of the original organizational structure of the Cavalry. The color black is symbolic of iron, alluding to the organizational transition from mounted horses to tanks and heavy armor. The black stripe, in heraldry termed a "Sable Bend", represents a "baldric" (a standard Army issue belt worn over the right shoulder to the opposite hip - sometimes referred to as a "Sam Browne belt") which retains either a scabbard which sheaths the trooper's saber or revolver holster.

History of the Patch

Shortly after the 1st Cavalry Division was authorized the War Department issued a directive asking for the submission of possible designs for the 1st Cavalry Division's "shoulder sleeve" (shoulder patch).  The regulations for the competition required (1) that the patch should have only two colors, (2) that it be an easily recognizable sign around which men could reassemble during or after battle, and (3) that it would bring men together in a common devotion.

The design chosen, a distinctive bright-yellow Norman knight's shield with a diagonal stripe and the silhouette of a horse's head, was submitted by Colonel and Mrs. Ben H. Dorcy.  At the time, Colonel Dorcy was commander of the 7th Cavalry Regiment at Fort Bliss.  His wife, Gladys Fitch Dorcy, later would be hailed as the "official mother" of the First Team.

The Dorcy's held an unusual edge in the design competition.  They were internationally recognized experts in heraldry, the study of the symbolisms and genealogy of coats of arms.  But their duty station in El Paso also had something to do with their choice of symbols for the 1st Cavalry Division patch.

One afternoon in September 1921, after the patch competition had begun, the Dorcys enjoyed an especially beautiful sunset.  Mrs. Dorcy was cutting up one of her husband's old dress-blue capes.  The cape's liner was bright yellow; blue and yellow had long been the traditional colors of cavalry.  At that moment, a trooper rode past their house on a handsome, blue-black thoroughbred.  The design of the patch quickly took shape in their minds after this conjunction of seemingly commonplace events.

Material from Colonel Dorcy's cape liner became the yellow cloth for the first patch.  The colonel drew a sketch of a Norman shield and a horse's head on the cloth.  Across the yellow field of the patch, his wife sewed a diagonal bend, symbolic of the scaling walls of enemy castles.  The stripe - a "Ben Dexter" in heraldic terms - also represents a baldric, a belt worn over one shoulder in medieval times to support a sword or bugle.  Swords and bugles, of course were two of the strongest symbols of cavalry.

Originally, the patch was yellow and blue.  But black, symbolic of iron and armor, later replaced the blue and improved visibility.  The patch also was the largest divisional patch approved in the United States Army.  "The patch had to be large enough to be seen through the dust and sand at Fort Bliss," Mrs. Dorcy later explained.  "And we made it that way because it is worn by big men [AND WOMEN!] who do big things." emphasis added.

On another note, tomorrow is my little man's first day of big boy school.  He is enrolled at Oak Forest Academy and is so very excited because he gets to go to school with Dusty (who's in 12th grade), so that means he's really big!  Cross your fingers for him (or should I say for his teachers!) and if you see him, give him a big boy hug!!