[SandRat]

(Army photo by Rob Martinez) Maj. Gen. Virgil L. Packett II, commander of the Army Aviation Warfighting Center at Fort Rucker, Ala., pins the Senior Aviation Crewmember Badge on Sgt. 1st Class Ryan Larussa on Fort Huachuca on Thursday. There are three badges — basic, senior and master. The general symbolically presented all three to a trio of soldiers. Besides Larussa, Chief Warrant Officer David Ellis, left, was awarded the master badge, and Sgt. Todd Sherman, far right, was awarded the basic badge. The first Army Aviation Crewmember Badges were awarded Thursday to soldiers assigned to the Unmanned Aircraft Systems Training Battalion on Fort Huachuca.

[AlaskaErik]

My wings...

And on Monday I hang up my flight suit for the last time and retire after serving for more that 31 and a half years.

[oneolcop]

"FORT HUACHUCA — Soldiers engaged in unmanned aerial vehicle operations can now wear winged badges to show others they are an important part of the Army", a two-star general said.

An interesting comment. NOW soldiers can wear a badge that shows they are an IMPORTANT part of the Army.

So what were they before? An unimportant part?

[awjenni]

Wearing winged badges to show they are an important part of the army? What is that?? What about the infantryman and the artilleryman?? what about the communicator or mechanic?? Aren’t they “important” parts of the army??

The army has this terrible habit of making second class citizens of most of their soldiers. If you aren’t wearing some sort of proper badge, trinket, or hat, you ain’t poop.

How about wearing ONE badge, the Eagle, Globe and Anchor, where EVERYONE is important?

[ASOC]

LOL

Thanks for posting SR.

I had thought the device would be a square (like a monitor) with a pair of joysticks jutting out of the sides....

The Army still has a long way to go to beat out the USAF on "wings for something job related" - seems just about every zoomie has wings for something.

But everyone knows which ones *really count* (snikers)

The one badge that I earned while in (and most proud of) is this one