Courtesy Photo | Soldiers of the 419th Combat Support Sustainment Battalion, 10th Sustainment Brigade,...... read more read more
By Sgt. Paul Garcia
10th Sustainment Brigade
CAMP TAJI, Iraq - The 419th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion, 10th Sustainment Brigade has been in Iraq for nearly two months now. These citizen Soldiers left their civilian lives to spend the next year fulfilling the patriotic duty for which they volunteered. It was no easy task.
To maintain a functioning civilian life and still be ready to accept the call of our great nation takes a level of discipline, courage, and selfless service that not all possess. These are some of the very qualities that define the Soldiers of the United States of America. That is why this unit, like many others that have deployed in the name of their country, is rewarded with a meager but meaningful symbol that others may look upon and understand: the combat patch.
The patch of the 419th CSSB comes from their higher headquarters, the 304th Sustainment Brigade. It is a relatively new patch in the Army. When looking at it, one would merely see a bridge spanning over a river; but it is much more meaningful than that. It is a symbol of the duty of this support battalion.
The arches under the bridge are a symbol of support strength, and the arches first appeared in the 2nd millennium B.C. showing superior tensile strength over pillars and tresses. The seven bricks that form the railing of the bridge represent the seven core values which all Soldiers possess: loyalty, duty, respect, selfless service, honor, integrity and personal courage. The river represents the obstacles that the Army overcomes and the bridges represent what is built to sustain their missions. As a unit patch, this design is worn on the left sleeve of their uniform. It displays, with pride, the unit of which they are affiliated.
A "combat patch" is a small change to the uniform in which the patch is worn on the right shoulder as well as the left. A ceremony solidifying this authorization was held, in which the Soldiers turned to the Soldier next to them and placed the combat patch on each other's shoulder – a process done so the Soldiers can acknowledge their peers, having been through this ordeal together.
As the Soldiers of the 419th CSSB march on through this year, they will wear their patch with honor. Wherever the Army takes them, the patch will stay with them, residing proudly on their right shoulder. The patch may not tell onlookers what the mission had been or what their specific duty was during the war, but one thing will always be expounded resoundingly from the rightful place of this design – when these Soldiers were needed, they were there.
| Date Taken: | 02.02.2009 |
| Date Posted: | 02.02.2009 03:57 |
| Story ID: | 29525 |
| Location: | TAJI, IQ |
| Web Views: | 565 |
| Downloads: | 240 |
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