My West Point Patches

[Red Devil]

Excellent thread on USMA patches. I had no idea they were collectible; my brother was a West Pointer and he, like most of his classmates, threw as much out when they graduated as possible as they prepared to move to their first postings. I acquired his dress uniform, shako and saber, but sadly most of his patches and insignia were tossed before I asked for them.

 

Again, very interesting thread here. Thank you for posting!

Johannes

[Bluehawk]

You've just solved a mystery for me. I have a beautiful Coast Guard Auxiliary bullion on felt piece built exactly like this blazer crest... so, now I know how it was used. Thank You!

[J_Andrews]

My bro graduated in 1962 and I was keen to skarf up pieces of unifs, etc. BUT the most appealing items -- swords, sashes, shakos, plumes/poms, bayos among them -- were ACCOUNTABLE PROPERTY. IIRC the grads could BUY their shakos, for $40+, but I heard no such thing about other items -- all turned in. There were NCOs with vans and tables collecting these things (AND perfect Garands) in the barracks quadrangles after the ceremonies, checking off names.

 

Clothing was a different matter. Down in the basement locker rooms, all manner of garments were just heaped on the floors: grasshopper dress coats, dog-collar class coats, white and gray trous, dress caps and "overseas" caps, raincoats, greatcoats. Tough luck for me, there was limited time for plundering and my mother had decreed I could not take more than ONE armload.

 

The Story was that the discards were first made availble, at scrap rates, to the nearby NY Mil Academy (a boarding school through 12th grade), secondly to other mil schools.

 

I took one greatcoat that, a few years later, got disassembled to make gray militia unifs for my CW reenactment unit. Lots of good kersey wool in them.

[maddog1129]

you're very welcome bluehawk

[1Ranger]

Here is my bullion blazer class crest. Each class has one of these. The more modern one's have a bit of color and are more personalized from what I have seen of the older classes. There are common themes though

[maddog1129]

The bullion class crests are super nice. Yours is gorgeous, Ranger.

[maddog1129]

A new and different patch I haven't seen before. This one is for the parachute team, the Golden Knights. Images of front and back attached.

[Mark1]

Just picked this up today

[maddog1129]

omg, Mark, that's gorgeous!

[maddog1129]

New additions to my West Point collection. I got a bullion class crest just like 1Ranger's class crest:

 

 

A new athletic patch. There are letter awards for official varsity sports; some sports are run by clubs and compete but not as a varsity league. Those who meet criteria in those can win a club patch award.

 

this one is for triathlon bad picture taker, sorry!

 

another bullion crest blazer patch, from year 2000

 

Here, at last, is the large chenille "A", the "Major A" athletic award for varsity athletes. I was lucky enough to get SIX of these at the same time! :faint:

[maddog1129]

West Point's police department patch

 

West Point fire department

 

Some souvenir patches. these are not official insignia, but some have been around for a long time. the first one is an old felt from the 50's or 60's, the second is brand new and created by a patch designer on eBay (he has other "geographic" patches for Annapolis, USAFA and USCGA also)

 

more souvenir patches

 

I think I have a fairly complete athletic award patch collection, now with major A, black A, gold A, USCC intramural, USMA monogram brigade champ, and one exemplar of a club patch. I wouldn't mind getting some more different club patches, though, and I still would die for an IOCT tab and a class numerals award. Some day!

[maddog1129]

This looks unofficial to me, but is a pretty tinsel-y variant of the USMA coat of arms, in fewer colors than normal. This could go on a blazer, but is a sew-on patch, not a clutchback crest like some of the others. The photo doesn't do justice to the gold and silver tinsel threads.

[maddog1129]

Another class crest, class of 1989. I have a friend who was in this class.

[maddog1129]

Cadre and other units related to West Point, use patches which are slightly different from the regulation cadet uniform patches. The USMA Preparatory School (USMAPS) uses the cadre-type patch, with a USMAPS tab. I've posted the full-color USMAPS patch and tab earlier in the thread. In this instance, the tab remained sewn to the patch when it was either removed from a Prep cadet uniform or put together for use on such a uniform. I'm also showing a separate subdued patch and USMAPS tab, as well as an unmatched USMA Band tab and full color patch.

 

I'm also showing a separate subdued patch and USMAPS tab, ...

 

... as well as an unmatched USMA Band tab and full color patch.

[maddog1129]

We've also seen some pre-1960's cadre variants. In the '60's, I believe, the cadre patches went to the bend variation of the cadet patch (the cadet patch is divided quarterly, in heraldic lingo) in both full color and subdued. Before then, the cadre patch was r/w/b. I have 6 pre-1960's patches, 2 full embroidered, 2 twill and 2 felt.

 

the first pair is the full embroidered. Until this photo, I didn't notice that the embroidery was different on each. One looks erroneous, like it embroidered over a couple of spots that it should have left blank.

 

This should be the twill patches, though it is hard to get the pic to show clearly.

 

it's also hard to get the felt ones to show as felt

[maddog1129]

let me see if I can't get a better depiction of the twill and felt patches felt, felt, twill, twill

[maddog1129]

Even though this could so easily go in ranks, instead of patches, they have now made ACU patch velcro cadet ranks. The 6-bar for the First Captain and Regimental commanders was not included in the set I got, but it has battalion commanders down to blank for plebes. Battalion commander, 5 bars, cadet captain, 4 bars, cadet lieutenant, 3 bars, cadet sergeant, 2 bars, cadet corporal, 1 bar and cadet private, 0

[maddog1129]

six full-color cadre patches Embroidery error on row 2 left

[maddog1129]

7 subdued cadre patches, 5 in more of a brown/desert color, 2 in older OD

[Linedoggie]

This Recondo patch is probably a more recent issue, as it is colored for use with the ACU.

USMA Recondo, dear lord, they have a 85% pass rate. the 2002 Honor Grad from that died on the Pre-Rangerl land nav course 2 weeks after getting his bars.

[maddog1129]

subdued and full color cadet SSI's. the top row are green, consistent with 1960's OD fatigues. row 2 = more bronze color, probably woodland BDU, as I am not aware of cadets ever being issued desert uniforms. Row 3 is ACU, the first 2 are more bronze/sand and the second 2 are more silver. All are Velcro backed. The 4th row is 1 more of the sand ACU type, plus 3 full color patches. The full color are used on the gray athletic jacket, and when they had khaki uniforms, on the khaki shirts. I think the khakis were discontinued in the 60's or 70's

[waltusma]

 

Here are the two company patches that I have. The top one was a musuem gift shop purchase, and while not authorized for wear on any uniform, I always had it on my bathrobe. The bottom one with the black background was issued my Firstie year ('08), which was the first year they were authorized for wear on the gray jackets worn with the "As For Class" and "White Over Gray" uniforms.

 

 

On the note of the BDU patches, the ones that appear more bronzed are most likely cut off patches from uniforms that cadets used for their Plebe swimming classes. The chlorine in the pool had a tendency of washing out the color a bit.

 

Those ACU rank patches I believe are brand new this year, since I saw them for the first time on cadets here at FT Hood for CTLT. They look better than just pins on the ACU velcro fuzz.

[maddog1129]

Cool company patches, Walt. 1Ranger posted his (F-1) earlier. they were the friars then, I think they are the Firehouse now. Thanks for the info on the color variations on the subdued patches. Of course the pool exercises would affect them; I never thought of that! I've read for years that they always let cadets put about whatever they want on their bathrobes. The USAFA cadets have been able to put their squadron patches on their casual jackets for years; it's about time the West Pointers could too.

 

I got a couple more souvenir style patches yesterday: one is about the size of a beret flash, and the other could be for a blazer.

[maddog1129]

Recondo redux, here are all my USMA recondo patches at once

[maddog1129]

chevron rank patches for uniforms. The small chevrons are worn on the long overcoat, and were also worn on the short overcoat, which has been phased out. The cadet lieutenant patches look new and have the iron-on plastic backing. The cadet captain small ranks are kind of chewed around the edges and look much older vintage to me. No glue-on backing, just the felt ground.