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When I was at Myer in E Company (Honor Guard) we were the only ones who could wear the 'Honor Guard' tab, everyone else just had the MDW patch.........

I don't think I like the changes made to TOG........................

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where is your moptop?

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When was that? We always called Echo Company "Echo Fags", and Alpha Company "Wigs".

I never had any intention of going to The Old Guard, but it was my ticket to becoming 11B versus 11M, and I met the requirements, passed the background screening, etc.

I always heard about what it was like to be in a "real unit" while I was there, but to be honest, it was actually a good unit in many ways. I found that 3-325 was trying to be more like the Old Guard (Parade Brigade), and we spent a lot of time in the field, went to JRTC, Naval Amphibious Warfare School at Little Creek, and we went on a Company rafting trip to West Virginia within the first few weeks of me arriving. I think having the 110 GT requirement made for a better unit in many ways, and we had a lot of NCO's that were Panama and Desert Storm vets.

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Really, when? 2000-2002 for me

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1974......We never called ourselves 'E Company', it was always called 'Honor Guard Company' or just 'Honor Guard'. At that time we were the only ones authorized to wear the Honor Guard tab.

What Company were you in, Charley Guard? Did they still wear the Charley Guard thingy hanging off their right pocket on their fatigues?

Was the Key Bridge Sub shop open when you were there? Did you get your dress shoes and jump boots built up at the little shoe repair place across 50 from the barracks?

How about Field Training at Camp AP Hill?

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Wore that patch for the first couple years of my Reserve career after leaving the RA.  It was the 86th ARCOM then.  Hated the patch, and wasn't particularly fond of the ARCOM.

It was the patch on our uniforms when my detachment reported to Bragg for mobilization for Desert Storm.   Command of our unit had been transferred to a brand new headquarters that had been stood up at Bragg just weeks earlier, and the new patches had just arrived at the Clothing Sales.  Our detachment had a small, very informal ceremony as we removed the BH patches and replaced them with this one:

http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u21/George_in_Wis/495af9cc-50c4-4f57-a5c0-429967f1aedd_zps4616af39.jpg

The guys in my detachment were among the very first to start wearing this patch.  When we arrived in theater, the folks in our sister units were still wearing the 1st SOCOM patch. Many of them asked what the new patch was, and several were quite surprised when I told them that it was now their patch too. I wore it for the rest of my career ( 13 years).

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I recognized that one right away....Civil Affairs & PSYOPS

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1974 was 20 years before I got there. Echo Company was still called "Honor Guard", and they had some of the specialty platoons:

* Tomb Guards
* US Army Drill Team
* Continental Color Guard (CCG)

Everyone in the Old Guard wore the Honor Guard tab above the MDW SSI.

I started in Bravo Company, then after a year, I was able to go to the Recon Platoon, which was in Hotel Company.
Don't know anything about a Key Bridge sub shop. Our Corfams were built up at CIF. Jump boots were never part of any of the uniforms when I was there. We had our own press shops in the barracks, and spent an unholy amount of time on the 100% wool blues uniforms. I had to buy a stinking bench grinder, then outfit it with buffer pads to polish my brass, which took an hour alone, for an entry-level PFC with a National Defense Service Medal, nothing else.  Every moment I spent was basically suffering until I could get into a unit totally focused on training and deployments.

When I told my Team Leader that I wanted to go to the Recon Platoon, he said, "You don't want to go with those guys. They just do OPFOR, shoot AK's, and set off a bunch of demo." That just made me want to go there more, and it was even better than that once I got into the Recon (Scout Sniper) platoon.

http://i1085.photobucket.com/albums/j422/LRRPF52/1-3INFRegScouts1995_0002_zps29d47fb7.jpg

We spent quite a bit of time at Fort AP Hill, actually. Initially, it was always truck assault, but later on, someone at Battalion had a love for everything Air Assault, so we did a lot of PZ posture in front of the family housing apartments, then flew to AP Hill in UH-1's from Fort Belvoir's Aviation unit.

This is flying into D.C.:
http://i1085.photobucket.com/albums/j422/LRRPF52/1-3INFRegScouts1995_0015_zps02043c30.jpg

Pics at AP Hill with B Co, 1st Platoon:

http://i1085.photobucket.com/albums/j422/LRRPF52/3rdUSINF1994FortAPHill_0001_zps62baf15f.jpg



We had an NBC NCO who thought it was cool to use 10x the amount of CS when doing the annual CS chamber, and it hung to the MOPP suits as guys got on the trucks to go back to Ft. Myer. The trucks ended up being worse than the chamber due to the persistence of the CS.

Summerall Field, 1994 B Co
http://i1085.photobucket.com/albums/j422/LRRPF52/3rdUSINF1994FortMyer_0002_zps50432d3b.jpg

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Remember the Silver Dollar Saloon, or the Rock Fabrik?

Speaking of Augsburg:

http://www.militaryuniformsupply.com/files/products/6/66th-military-intelligence-brigade-patch-subdued.jpg

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The entire time I was in the army I was told about what it was like "in a real unit."



2ID Korea didn't count because--it was Korea (and Mech Inf)

1ID (light) didn't count because it was a brand new unit that just stood up...



I never did find that "real unit"

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The entire time I was in the army I was told about what it was like "in a real unit."

2ID Korea didn't count because--it was Korea (and Mech Inf)
1ID (light) didn't count because it was a brand new unit that just stood up...

I never did find that "real unit"

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Under your "Unknown" list, the M.F. is MIKE Force (Vietnam).  From Wiki:

The Mobile Strike Force Command, or MIKE Force, was a key component of United States Army Special Forces in the Vietnam War. They served with indigenous soldiers selected and trained through the largely minority Civilian Irregular Defense Group (CIDG) and were led by American SF and Australian Army Training Team Personnel AATTV. MIKE Force was a force multiplier, operating what is today called a Foreign Internal Defense mission.

MIKE Force was composed of the persecuted Degar, Bahnar, Hmong, Nung, Jarai, Khmer Krom, and Montagnards. MIKE Force was active under MACV, Army Special Forces, from 1964 to 1970 and under ARVN until 1974. MIKE Force waged special warfare against the Viet Minh, NLF (Viet Cong), and PAVN (North Vietnamese Army) oppressors in various detachments, volunteering in support of MIKE Force missions.

MIKE Force's mission was to act as a country-wide quick reaction force for securing, reinforcing, and recapturing CIDG A Camps, as well as to conduct special reconnaissance patrols. Search and rescue and search and destroy missions were also assigned. The conventional unit alternative to Special Forces detachments like MIKE was Tiger Force, which was primarily tasked with counter-guerrilla warfare against enemies from behind their lines that emphasized body-count rather than force multiplication.

MIKE Force had a critical role in the search and rescue of downed American pilots because they were mobile and often in close proximity to the DMZ. MIKE Force also designated drop zones, landing zones, called in air strikes on high value targets, and collected intelligence during recons, much like the LRRPs.

In 1970 MIKE Force was disbanded after Vietnamization ruined the loyalty of the indigenous personnel when SF were ordered to abandon them to the command of the South Vietnamese. While many Montagnards were Christian, they were still looked down upon by the Vietnamese and referred to as savages. In 1974 what indigenous personnel of the MIKE Forces remained in Vietnam were, along with their tribes of origin, systematically hunted down and murdered by the North Vietnamese when they took over the South. Some Hmong, Nung, Montagnard, and other groups still escape and evade persecution in Vietnam while struggling for independence, much like the people of Burma who were left by Detachment 101 when, like Det. 101, MACV was ordered home by the President.


   

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Been awhile since I looked in the back of this closet of mine

http://i.imgur.com/RgjSqs7.jpg

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So did I, it was preceded by the follow me

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Lightening Quick Chicken Fucker  - ASA - Army Security Agency.

I could tell you about  it but then I'd have to kill you.

Still got the secret decoder ring



http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5468/7377694352_2312eb1462_z.jpg

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talk talk talk all you do is talk,,, you post whore

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What battalion? When did 16th Sig deactivate?  

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I was wondering if you guys could give me any more background on this one and variants.  

My dad has never talked much about his service beyond the very basics - that he signed-up for the Marines to serve in Vietnam.  He takes pride in the Marine Corps, but isn't one to publicize it.  He doesn't wear USMC ball caps, or hang his medals up on the wall.  When I was a kid he gave me his hat and sword and a box of pins, service ribbons and medals he had been awarded so that I could play soldier with them.  I later figured out that among the medals were included a 1st Lieutenant's insignias.

We were moving one time and I came across some old things of his including some paperwork indicating he finished his basic training late in '67 and also various items referring to 1st Marine Division Reconnaissance.  I asked him about it and he confirmed what it said, but he didn't elaborate.

Also among his things were a wooden plaque (maybe 18'' x 18'') with a brass inlay that (based on my memory of it) looked very much like what you posted above.

He also had a bag full of these challenge coins that look very similar to what you posted above.

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There are quite a few of us in the thread.

Funny, no one is claiming the Puzzle Palace these days...wonder why?