310th ESC A&A Team Soldiers receive combat patch for wartime service

Photo By Maj. A. Sean Taylor | Col. Michael Midkiff, 310th Sustainment Command (Expeditionary) Forward Advise and Assist Team officer in charge, awards Staff Sgt. David Beasley, A&A tank mechanic, with the 1st Sustainment Command (Theater) combat patch during a ceremony April 28, 2015. Soldiers from the 310th A&A, a specialized logistics unit, deployed to advise and assist Iraqi Security Forces in support of Operation Inherent Resolve.  

IRAQ

04.29.2015

Story by Capt. A. Sean Taylor 

310th Expeditionary Sustainment Command

IRAQ- Soldiers from the 310th Sustainment Command (Expeditionary) Forward Advise and Assist Team, a specialized logistics unit deployed to advise and assist Iraqi Security Forces in support of Operation Inherent Resolve, were awarded their right sleeve combat patch during a ceremony April 29, 2015.

The combat patch is officially known as the “Shoulder Sleeve Insignia, Former Wartime Serve” (SSI-FWTS) and is awarded to a unit that has actively participated in or supported overseas ground combat operations against hostile forces and confirms a Soldier’s status as a combat veteran.

Soldiers from the U.S. Army Reserve 310th ESC, Indianapolis, were deployed to Ft. Hood at the end of October to take over operations for the 13th Sustainment Command (Expeditionary) from Fort Hood, Texas, who deployed to Kuwait to serve as the Operational Command Post for the 1st Sustainment Command (Theater) from Fort Bragg, N.C. A specialized unit was identified from their ranks to join with Soldiers from the active component 82nd Sustainment Brigade, also from Fort Bragg, to deploy as logistics advisers to Camp Taji, Iraq.

Members of the 310th A&A were awarded the insignia of the 1st TSC by Col. Michael Midkiff, A&A Officer-in-Charge (OIC).

The 1st TSC insignia is a two inch disk in diameter with a red edge and blue center surrounding a white diagonal arrow and symbolizes the speed and efficiency of the organization in its supply mission. The arrow points to 1030 hours as a reminder that the mission is always accomplished before the 11th hour.

For the majority of Soldiers within the A&A team, this combat patch is not their first. Many have served multiple deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan during the last 13 years, but for about five members, this was their first.

Staff Sgt. David Beasley, a Reservist and tank mechanic with over 19 years of military service, is serving his first overseas mission.

“I feel like I have finally come full circle in my military career with this deployment,” Beasley said. “I have spent 19 years training for this and I finally get to put all the training and knowledge to use.”

Although Soldiers are authorized to wear combat patches from past deployments, the 310th A&A team will all wear the 1st TSC patch while serving on their current mission.

“There is no better way to display cohesion, teamwork and unity of effort while in combat then openly displaying a common patch,” Sgt. Maj. Terence Clay, the 310th A&A sergeant major, explained.

The Army is the only U.S. military service that authorizes a Soldier to wear a combat patch. Members of the A&A team will now be seen with the 310th ESC or 82nd Sust. Bde. patch on their left arm and the 1st TSC on their right.

• Date Taken: 04.29.2015
• Date Posted: 05.04.2015 06:58
• Story ID: 162137
• Location: IQ
• Hometown: FORT CAVAZOS, TX, US
• Hometown: FORT LIBERTY, NC, US
• Hometown: INDIANAPOLIS, IN, US