Posted on 12/07/2007 1:47:58 PM PST by Bear_Slayer
I joined the MT National Guard last month.
I was supposed to drill tomorrow, but they changed it for me to tonight.
I just got my uniforms 10 minutes ago.
The patches were rubber-banded together. I'm not sure which patch goes where.
I have two for my last name and 1 that says "US Army"
I also have a circular, which looks something like a sunburst over a mountain top. I'm not sure though and as far as I can tell it could be up-side down.
I don't want to look like a dork!
Can anyone help me?
Please don’t take this the wrong way, but haven’t you been to Basic Training already?
“Please don’t take this the wrong way, but haven’t you been to Basic Training already?”
Give him a break. :-) He is prior service in another branch - USN. I’ve been in his shoes.
I’m going to sleep soundly knowing that the safety on our country rests in the hands of crack troops like yourself.
***
What a nasty, snide thing to say. I salute this gentleman for serving his country. None of us was born knowing everything, and this process sounds very confusing. At least he had the good sense to ask for help.
I hope that showing up on your first day with the National Guard with oddly placed patches is the worst thing that ever happens to you as a Guardsman. :o)
If you got a post laundry place, take them there.. they might charge you a couple bucks, but they always did my patches right on the spot..
Well, I don’t know how the National Guard works (I’m Active Duty), but as I understand it, if you want to join the Army and you’re from another branch, you have to attend the 4-week Warrior Transition Course first. I would imagine that would apply for prior service - maybe. I think if you leave the Army for more than five years, you have to re-do Basic Training. Which is understandable - but that would suck.
I cannot offer you any answers, but please accept my heartfelt gratitude for your service. God bless you.
If you got a post laundry place, take them there.. they might charge you a couple bucks, but they always did my patches right on the spot..
just kidding.
“What a nasty, snide thing to say. I salute this gentleman for serving his country. None of us was born knowing everything, and this process sounds very confusing. At least he had the good sense to ask for help.”
Very well said! I salute him also and again thank him for coming to the aid of his country (quite literally).
Oh BTW, Bearslayer - Don’t let anyone put you down for being in the ARNG. The reserve component is serving just as much as the active component is. Our blood is just as red. Actually, it is getting hard to distinguish the active from the reserves.
they’re velcro now?
Once upon a time, I went from active duty USAF to reserve at the same base (and back to active duty since).
The first day of the first drill, there was a guy who was prior navy. He had sewn his E-6 rank on only one sleeve and it was about 3 inches left of where it should go. Rather than seeing his rank from the side, you could see it when you faced him.
“A couple of bucks to attach some velcro patches? Highway robbery I say!”
Now that is funny! :-)
Oh, and my point was, that it is surprising he would work with the unit right away, without any Army indoctrination. And yes, the US ARMY goes on your left side, over your heart. Unit patch on left shoulder, flag on right. Putting your patch under the flag would be a bad idea. :-) That’s the one part of your uniform where everyone wants to put a patch, but a lot of people can’t. Putting it there makes it your combat patch.
HA your comment reminds me of my son, then a LCpl in USMC, calling me from “somewhere in San Diego” looking for directions to Balboa Med Ctr. He and his driving partner, on official business, had no maps, no piece of paper or pencil to write anything down.... didn’t want to go to the MCRD so as not to appear to be inept... I said, “son, I am just very glad that our national security is not resting on you and your buddy today...” and got on mapquest.
God Bless Our Troops
Do you have a woman of some type to help SEW the darn things on? Mom, neighbor, wife, sister, ETC???
Otherwise you can take them to a dry cleaner but not if you need them in just a few hours — but you might call if any are close.. you are Mountain time, right?
Thank you for your service.
Yep, see the picture in post #32.
Remind me to explain the concept of a 'joke' to you sometime.
see post #48 :)
“He had sewn his E-6 rank on only one sleeve and it was about 3 inches left of where it should go.”
Yep, sounds like something I would have done.
The unit I’m in is a tactical MI unit. Still, very few of us have been downrange. It has been said here that if you want to deploy, you should have joined the National Guard. In fact, our unit has put a freeze on people going to Iraq or Afghanistan. My former team leader has been begging to go to Iraq for many months, but they won’t let him go. I personally feel that some of the jobs soldiers are doing, they should be done by civilians instead (like jobs involving paperwork, etc.). Only a finite amount of Americans will join the Army and Marines (and the other services). Have civilians do the non-militaristic work in garrison.
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