HHC, TF 38 Soldiers sport 'CY sandwich'

Photo By Sgt. 1st Class Elizabeth Houx | Indiana National Guard 1st Lt. Brian Adkins, Headquarters Company, Task Force 38 commander attaches a 38th Infantry Division patch to Spc. Katie Modderman, an aviation operations specialist, during the unit's combat patch ceremony at Joint Base Balad, Iraq on Tuesday, Sept. 15. The combat patch is formally known as the shoulder sleeve insignia - former wartime service, and Soldiers receive one for deploying to a combat zone.  

BALAD, IRAQ

09.24.2009

Story by Staff Sgt. Jeff Lowry 

Task Force 38

JOINT BASE BALAD, Iraq -- Soldiers with Headquarters Company, Task Force 38 took part in a combat patch ceremony Tuesday morning, Sept. 15.

For many troops in the unit this was their first deployment and first combat patch.

It was the first time for Sgt. Marcus Lindsey, Anderson, Ind., resident and a Task Force 38 logistics sergeant.

"There's honor in it [receiving the patch]," he said. "Now I can say I served in theater like so many have done before me and so many probably after me will do, but it doesn't make me feel any more important to somebody who hasn't."

The unit waited until its 38th day in theater to hold the ceremony. However, according to regulations there is no time requirement for when a Soldier can receive the combat patch, or as it is more formally known, the shoulder sleeve insignia - former wartime service.

"You were authorized to wear this patch on day one, but I wanted to wait to make it significant. Today is 38, and we are Task Force 38," said the task force commander, Col. David Wood, at the ceremony's closing.

As a subordinate unit to the 38th Infantry Division, 38th Combat Aviation Brigade Soldiers wear the division patch. In full color the patch is spade shaped and divided in half length-wise in two colors. The left side is blue, and the right side is red. In the center is a white interlocked C and Y, which stands for the division nickname, "the Cyclone Division."

Soldiers within the division refer to it as the CY patch, whether full color, or subdued on combat uniforms. And if Soldiers wear one on each shoulder, they are affectionately known as a "CY sandwich."

Other task force Soldiers, previous veterans and first-timers alike, think it's special to wear the CY patch on both shoulders.

"It's nice to be deployed within my own brigade," said first time deployer Spc. Brian Bowman, a Task Force 38 human resources specialist from Greentown, Ind.

Likewise, second time veteran Sgt. Drew Mayer, of Evansville, Ind., and a Task Force 38 forward observer, agreed.

"Yeah there's honor," he said. "The CY patch means a lot to the people of Indiana, and I got to be a part of that." Mayer deployed to Iraq in March 2008 with the Indiana National Guard's 76th Infantry Brigade Combat Team.

"It's pretty good [to deploy with another Indiana Guard unit.] Whenever I volunteered I thought I'd be with a different state and people who don't know about the 76th and what we did," said Mayer who was a vehicle commander on convoys, and also helped manage entry gates during his last deployment.

Many veteran troops within the task force agree that when Soldiers receive their first combat patch, it is an historic event.

"For a lot of guys it's significant," said Capt. Paul Polyniak, of Indianapolis and an automation officer for the task force. "I think for somebody who doesn't have a patch, it's very important. It was a special day for me when I got my first patch." Polyniak earned his first combat patch in 1991 working in a military police role with the 82nd Airborne Division during Operation Desert Storm.

Yet on the day of the Task Force 38's ceremony he was proud to stand in formation to receive another patch.

"I did it in respect to the commander, and in respect of the 38th CAB Soldiers getting their first patch," said Polyniak. "The 38th patch is no less important than the 82nd [patch]. I see a patch on the right shoulder I know they've been there [to a combat zone]."

Approximately 140 Soldiers are deployed with the task force's headquarters company, which is based in Shelbyville, Ind. They are scheduled to be mobilized for nearly one year. Nearly 40 Soldiers with the headquarters company have previously deployed to a combat zone with an Army unit.

• Date Taken: 09.24.2009
• Date Posted: 09.24.2009 08:42
• Story ID: 39207
• Location: BALAD, IQ