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Which missing Air Cav on ACU uniform top


Tonomachi
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This is a long shot but I picked up this ACU camouflage shirt at the flea market today. It is for an Army pilot by the last name of GARCIA who I'm guessing served with the Air Cavalry. My question is based on the shape of the Velcro can anyone determine which Air Cavalry patch belongs on this uniform? The uniform is dated 2009.

 

 

 

 

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Could be an attack company; could be a lift company; could be a medivac company. It will be difficult to pin down exactly which type of air frame he flew, or which company he flew with, based on the velcro outline alone. Too many companies of every type of mission use a patch of that similar shape.

 

Kevin

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Could be an attack company; could be a lift company; could be a medivac company. It will be difficult to pin down exactly which type of air frame he flew, or which company he flew with, based on the velcro outline alone. Too many companies of every type of mission use a patch of that similar shape.

 

Kevin

Thanks for the information.

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easterneagle87

This is CRAZY!!! Did you buy this at the Redding, CA Goodwill store?!!? Because there is one JUST LIKE it hanging on the rack that I passed on.

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Great jacket!!! The 2-piece aircrew uniform is actually referred to as the A2CU. There will be lots of confusion with how to refer to these uniforms in the future, since the ACU is the nomenclature for the uniform, though the UCP camo pattern is also commonly referred to as ACU.

 

It also looks like this one may have some theatre made insignia as well.

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This is CRAZY!!! Did you buy this at the Redding, CA Goodwill store?!!? Because there is one JUST LIKE it hanging on the rack that I passed on.

The seller told me that he found this in Concord, California.

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easterneagle87

OK!! I went back and got it. For $5 it was cheap. AND IT IS FROM THE SAME GUY! A week ago it had a Garcia name tape! Now it has been take off. Aircrew, Combat, Med Reg. I looked for matching pants, but no deal.

 

The fabric is lighter than the regular ACU's. Not just worn, which it is, just a lighter feel. Is that because it's nomex? Anyway, odd to find it's brother 3 hours away.

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OK!! I went back and got it. For $5 it was cheap. AND IT IS FROM THE SAME GUY! A week ago it had a Garcia name tape! Now it has been take off. Aircrew, Combat, Med Reg. I looked for matching pants, but no deal.

 

The fabric is lighter than the regular ACU's. Not just worn, which it is, just a lighter feel. Is that because it's nomex? Anyway, odd to find it's brother 3 hours away.

I wonder why Goodwill would remove the name tape?

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Its pretty common for retail stores to remove name tapes and other insignia from military uniforms. Lots of stores believe its against the law to sell them with name tapes present, or remove them for privacy reasons. Probably 90%+ of the surplus stores in my area always remove at least the name tapes, and usually ALL of the insignia. Ive seen some pretty major bummer items when searching through the clothing racks at these stores, including a really nice Special Forces/Ranger jungle jacket from the 1980s, some 173rd Airborne DCUs, etc.

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I wonder why Goodwill would remove the name tape?

 

Are you certain it's Goodwill that removed them? I know a lot of veterans who remove their name tapes before donating or selling their uniforms (including my dad, who removed the name tapes from his old pre-Vietnam era fatigues before letting us kids play with them for Halloween.)

 

I think it especially makes sense to remove name tapes from a uniform if the uniform is still in use by the military and/or if you live near a military base.

 

I don't want to get a visit from CID because somebody wearing my old uniform decided to rob the Class 6 store! :D

 

EDITED TO ADD: For those of you not military, "class 6" is what they call the liquor store on an Army post. ;)

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In the past my experience with searching for inexpensive untouched fully patched uniforms was to check places like the Goodwill Stores and Salvation Army Stores besides the flea markets. You come across both uniforms with their patches removed or partially removed at both stores but you also come across fully patched uniforms. The ones with removed patches I always felt were done by whomever had donated them so the removal was done before reaching the stores. Unless there has been a change in the way these stores operate I don't think that they take the time and trouble to remove patches before hanging them up for sale. Things have changed in that I don't come across uniforms as frequently as I used to at these stores. The best time to find uniforms was in the beginning of September when they would bring out their Halloween costumes to include uniforms. However I haven't found much of anything in the past couple of years. It might be because of the online store that Goodwill uses to sell their more valuable donations. The worst place to check in my experience is the thrift stores on military bases as I rarely find fully patched uniforms. I believe these thrift stores won't accept any uniform donations unless all patches have been removed. The best place to find fully patched uniforms is at the flea markets as people who buy abandoned storage lockers find uniforms all of the time. In addition there are people that make a living buying clothing to include uniforms and footwear at the mentioned stores real cheap and resale them at a slightly higher price at the flea markets.

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easterneagle87

 

Are you certain it's Goodwill that removed them? I know a lot of veterans who remove their name tapes before donating or selling their uniforms (including my dad, who removed the name tapes from his old pre-Vietnam era fatigues before letting us kids play with them for Halloween.)

 

I think it especially makes sense to remove name tapes from a uniform if the uniform is still in use by the military and/or if you live near a military base.

 

I don't want to get a visit from CID because somebody wearing my old uniform decided to rob the Class 6 store! :D

 

EDITED TO ADD: For those of you not military, "class 6" is what they call the liquor store on an Army post. ;)

 

I don't know that Goodwill did remove the name tape. Maybe someone named GARCIA did it himself. Pretty common name in some places. BUT... When I saw it last week and the week before it was named. Now it is not. I know what I saw and that's why I initially replied to Tonomachi's thread. Just funny two uniforms of the same type & same patches from the same person ended up in GW's three hours apart.

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If your Goodwills are run by a regional company, its not too surprising they were found at separate stores several miles apart. Many thrift store companies ship donations to a sorting center and everything is sorted and shipped out to several of their branches. This helps make sure all of the stores have good inventory. Ive seen this occur several times, with me finding things that were obviously from the same donor at 3 to 4 different thrift stores of the same company.

 

I have spoken with the managers/owners of several thrift stores, surplus shops, etc. and most do indeed actively remove name tapes from uniforms. As I said earlier, they typically cite that its a law/regulation, or simply that they do it for privacy or security reasons. I pointed out to a surplus store owner and veteran, that cited base security as a reason for taking off nametapes, that the Army hasnt used the DCU uniform as standard issue for over a decade. He simply said well a regulation is a regulation. I once had a booth at an antique store where I sold some excess BDU/DCU jackets, and after some customer complaints, was actually told by the store manager that I needed to remove the insignia or take the uniforms out of my booth.

 

Of course the irony is that Ive been to several surplus stores just outside of major military bases, and there were fully patched/named uniforms all over the racks and in piles on the floor. It seems the further away you get from a major military base, the more concerned people get about patched uniforms.

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In the past my experience with searching for inexpensive untouched fully patched uniforms was to check places like the Goodwill Stores and Salvation Army Stores besides the flea markets. You come across both uniforms with their patches removed or partially removed at both stores but you also come across fully patched uniforms. The ones with removed patches I always felt were done by whomever had donated them so the removal was done before reaching the stores. Unless there has been a change in the way these stores operate I don't think that they take the time and trouble to remove patches before hanging them up for sale. Things have changed in that I don't come across uniforms as frequently as I used to at these stores. The best time to find uniforms was in the beginning of September when they would bring out their Halloween costumes to include uniforms. However I haven't found much of anything in the past couple of years. It might be because of the online store that Goodwill uses to sell their more valuable donations. The worst place to check in my experience is the thrift stores on military bases as I rarely find fully patched uniforms. I believe these thrift stores won't accept any uniform donations unless all patches have been removed. The best place to find fully patched uniforms is at the flea markets as people who buy abandoned storage lockers find uniforms all of the time. In addition there are people that make a living buying clothing to include uniforms and footwear at the mentioned stores real cheap and resale them at a slightly higher price at the flea markets.

I've volunteered at some base thrift stores over the years. The ones I was at did not have a policy in regards to patches. Of course it all depends on the store and time frame in addition to who is working there. Other volunteers may have had a different experience. At times I've had to explain to a few "eager" volunteers/employees that removing patches diminishes the value to collectors. In their defense they really did think the were doing the right thing. After I explained provenance and the fact that the Service member wasn't worried about identity theft when they donated the uniforms they tended to put them out as received. Perhaps base thrift stores have less patched uniforms because the Service member recycled the patches to their newer uniforms. I did that quite a bit when I was in. Just a theory of course.

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snake36bravo

Congratulations! You have Captain Rogelio 'RJ' Garcia's ACU tops!!

 

He was with 3rd Infantry Division, 1st Battlion, 3rd Aviation Regiment (nicknamed the Vipers). He was Bravo Company Commander and his call sign was Warlord 06.

 

Typically 1-3 Avn.

 

Here's the patch.

 

post-2582-0-12638400-1570138325_thumb.jpg

 

Congrats and Strike to Kill!

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Congratulations! You have Captain Rogelio 'RJ' Garcia's ACU tops!!

 

He was with 3rd Infantry Division, 1st Battlion, 3rd Aviation Regiment (nicknamed the Vipers). He was Bravo Company Commander and his call sign was Warlord 06.

 

Typically 1-3 Avn.

 

Here's the patch.

 

attachicon.gif1-3 AVN.jpg

 

Congrats and Strike to Kill!

Many many thanks for the identification as now I can restore this uniform!

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