The soldiers who run the daily garrison details of nearly every Army base are swapping shoulder patches this week.
In a series of “patching ceremonies,” garrison headquarters units at a wide range of Army bases are swapping out their Army Materiel Command shoulder patches for those of their largest on-base unit.
Soldiers are making the patch swaps at giant bases like Fort Bragg, North Carolina, and Fort Bliss, Texas, and at relatively small garrisons like Wiesbaden, Germany, and Picatinny Arsenal, New Jersey.
The changes come from an Army-wide January order that alters the chain of command for the garrison and headquarters staff that manage the daily business of Army bases. Garrison staff, which handle tasks like building maintenance, contracting, and trash collection for nearly all Army bases, fall under Army Materiel Command, the service-wide command that manages Army installations. But under the new order, those staff will now report directly to their base commander or the senior commander of a base’s largest unit for “tactical” decisions.
Wearing their local shoulder patches — rather than AMC insignia — represents that change in decision-making authority, according to an Army release.
In Germany, Army Garrison Wiesbaden soldiers put on the 56th Multi-Domain Command patch, which features a Cold War-era missile already retired from Army use.
The disc-shaped patch has the silhouette of a black Pershing missile overlaid on a red circle, blue background, and white border. A white smoke cloud appears at the bottom of a missile and yellow lighting flashes adorn the sides. This shoulder insignia was originally approved for the 56th Artillery Brigade in June 1971 and redesignated for the 56th Multi-Domain Command on Aug. 4, 2021.
“While it’s a simple patching ceremony, I hope that … we look at this as an opportunity to strengthen our resolve and see our objectives more clearly and work better together as a team,” said Maj. Gen. John Rafferty, the commander of the 56th Artillery Command.
Similar ceremonies were also held that same day at for Army Garrison Ansbach soldiers in Germany, who went from wearing Army Materiel Command patches to 7th Army Training Command patches.
In the U.S., soldiers at Fort Detrick, Maryland switched to Army Futures Command patches to match the senior command at the base, U.S. Army Medical Research and Development Command, USAMRDC. And on Feb. 5, at Fort Bragg, North Carolina (previously Fort Liberty) soldiers changed from an AMC patch to the 18th Airborne Corps patch.
“The Chief of Staff of the Army had the intent to operationalize garrison commands in support of the senior commander, and the adoption of the senior commander’s patch is a visual representation of that operationalization,” Maj. Gen. Paula C. Lodi, commander of USAMRDC said during the Detrick ceremony. “It means that we’re a little bit tighter knit here on Fort Detrick with a unity of command and unity of purpose.”
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