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Corporals armband


1canpara
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has anyone seen one of these before? It's a set of OD corporal stripes sewn onto an MP style black felt armband....it came as part of the TD grouping I posted a few days ago...

 

thanks for any info you can share on this armband,

 

Rick

 

post-9167-1295068136.jpg

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I believe these were used during basic training during WWII.

 

 

thanks Kman, that makes sense, when I was in basic we had a similar armband for "class senior/officer of the day" but it had no rank associated to it

 

Rick

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Such armbands were used for ACTING rank, usually in a training setting. A platoon of trainees might have armbands marked "PL" (Platoon Leader) with no chevrons, but the other "leadership positions" would have the appropriate chevrons for squad leader, platoon sgt, fire team leader and so forth. Such positions were often temporary -- a day at a time or maybe a whole week -- and then the armbands were passed to other trainees, newly "appointed".

 

The CPL armband shown also might have been worn by an "Acting Drill Corporal". A friend, who had had four years of high school ROTC, was quickly recognized as, he said "an ADVANCED scumbag" and so "promoted". He got a shiney helmet liner too, IIRC marked "DC".

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When I went through basic at Ft Campbell in '67 squad leaders wore them and platoon leaders wore sergeant stripes on armbands. The only benny was it got me out of KP.

post-14358-1295713063.jpg

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We called them "acting jacks"

"Acting Jacks" were Acting Sergeants (as opposed to Corporals) as I remember the term being used during my active duty time.

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When I went through basic at Ft Campbell in '67 squad leaders wore them and platoon leaders wore sergeant stripes on armbands. The only benny was it got me out of KP.

 

 

Great picture! Thanks for posting it!

 

Rick

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  • 10 years later...

In July of 1966 I took my Basic Training at Ft Leonard Wood (aka Little Korea) and was made a Squad Leader. This is my arm band which I still have.

20210918_143410.jpg

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