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1st Security Forces Assistance Brigade


seanmc1114
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The Army has created a new type of organization - the Security Forces Assistance Brigade - whose mission is stated as "On order, 1st Security Force Assistance Brigade deploys in support of a combatant commander, integrates with foreign partner forces, assists and advises local security operations to build partner security capacity and capability to achieve regional security in support of U.S. national interests."

 

The 1st Security Forces Assistance Brigade was activated at Fort Benning, Georgia in the summer of 2017.

 

From what I have been able to determine, the members of the unit have so far worn two slightly different SSI as shown here. Both have the same main body of the patch, but the earlier version has a tab with the words "ADVISE-ASSIST" while the newer one's tab reads "COMBAT ADVISER".

 

Here is a link to the unit's Facebook page discussing the symbolism of the SSI. It suggests the patch has been approved by the Institute of Heraldry but I have not been able to find anything about it on TIOH website. If you scroll through the comments on the Facebook link, you will see that the SSI is causing quite a bit of controversy among Special Forces and Special Operations soldiers due to the similarity with their SSI.

 

https://www.facebook.com/1SFAB/photos/a.1769754653324432.1073741828.1767763830190181/1802262226740341/?type=3&theater

 

In addition, it was announced at one point that the members of the SFAB would be wearing a green beret in a different shade from Special Forces. Again, as you can imagine, this did not sit well with members of the Special Forces. However, it now appears the beret will be brown instead. This article even suggests the units will be renamed.

 

https://www.military.com/daily-news/2017/11/02/army-chief-advise-assist-units-wear-brown-not-green-berets.html

 

I am posting some pictures of the SSI being worn. In the hopes of finding a copy of the SSI for my collection, I stopped by Commando Military Supply and Ranger Joe's outside of Fort Benning last weekend. Neither one had the SSI for sale. I asked a guy in Commando Military Supply about them and he said he believed the patches worn by the unit members were locally made by someone in Columbus but that TIOH has told them to stop making them because they didn't meet official standards. He also said a representative from TIOH was in their store a week earlier and told them to stop selling the patches.

 

I then sent a message to the manager of the 1st SFAB Facebook page asking where I might be able to obtain a copy of the patch and the answer I got back is that they are not available to the public now.

 

And by the way, I understand the 2nd SFAB is scheduled to be activated at Fort Bragg sometime this year and I'm not sure if each brigade will have its own distinct SSI or if they will all wear the same one.

 

It will be interesting to see how this plays out and what the final approved SSI will be. In the meantime, the versions being currently worn may turn out to be collector's items.

 

 

 

 

 

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MilRGRHistory

Benning Stitch Brigade, right next to Commandos, made a batch that were cut edge. They only had about 7 left when I picked one up. Here is an "official" one as received by one of the SFAB members - merrowed edge.

 

I'll post my cut edge from Benning Stitch Brigade once I find it again...

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This is one of the early unauthorized patches produced at ft Benning. They are not available commercially, and I would imagine the full color with this tab variation is just a prototype. This thread shows a couple  of variations of the Benning product in multicam for the Multicam uniform. this is an uncut patch which has been stitched onto velcro and never timmed.

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