I think you want to paint over those T marks. They are a WWII thing that was gone long before VN.
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Well, sure but I don’t have to use them as there’s others on the fret!
Thanks anyway Lee. All beginning to come together now.
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The T is for technical and gone like Lee said. The last one 8 is a diamond for a First Sgt and would be a good choice for a senior SNCO.
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I’ve just had a late thought: whilst I’ve portrayed the 14th Cav badge on the LH sleeve, would/should there be another on the RH sleeve?
I may have erred in putting it on the sleeve in any case - see this pic - which if so, is infuriating:
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That’s great; thanks again.
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As I recall the Army only did the left shoulder unit patch. The photo I posted above only has the 1st Inf Div badge on the left shoulder.
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Thanks Ryan; I understand that 14th Cav were a Corps Troops asset in any case; conceivably then, V Corps badge would be somewhere, but I’ll end up going mad if |I keep chasing this(!)
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US Army unit assignments are Greek to me, I eat crayons and we are much simpler.
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Some soldiers are stereoscopic - the same patch on both sleeves if they had done a combat tour with that unit previously.
Or it could be a different unit’s patch altogether. Easiest solution with the least amount of research - just the left sleeve.
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The T Chevrons were Korea and WWII era ranks. They were replaced after Korea by the introduction of Specialist grades. The “sham shields”. The T grades would not appropriate for the 60’s
Loader here is a Specialist 4 while the TC is a Sergeant First Class, probably the Platoon Sergeant
These tanks are 14th Cav, but they are wearing 7th Army patches. It wasn’t until later on in the late 60’s or early 70’s when they began to wear the Cav Regiment shoulder patches.
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Left shoulder patch is current unit of assignment. Shoulder patches are worn on the right side to show a soldiers previous overseas combat unit assignment.
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Well, it’s a bit of a pain; depicting 14th Cav patches was a bit tricky as it were, but equally I don’t want to have it all shown as later than the decal sheet proclaims (1962 ) so I’m sure I can manage a rendition of the 7th Army version. Bit of pain but if it needs doing then so be it.
Thanks!
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The reason for the T is that around the Second World War, the US Army had two side-by-side sets of NCO ranks. One was normal NCOs, the other were “technical” NCOs, with the difference being basically that the latter didn’t have combat leadership functions. The T-ranks were not called sergeants, but Technician nth grade.
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They were often called Tech Sergeant, usually assigned to people in technical fields lake mechanics.
Ken
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