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Cut Edge Desert Patches


AndrewA74
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lebelmilitaria

hi, i think the forum would like to see this as few soldiers or marines probably kept these, but heres a receipt from a arab iraqi run "alterations" shop, i had these tapes made up and i bought the 10th Mountain Division as well from the same shop, it was a loner next to 4th ID insignia which they were making there for 4th ID soldiers. I purchased this in the summer or early fall of 2003 at FOB Gunner in Al Taji, Iraq. This was 4th Divisions Div Arty unit area, which by that time had been coverted pretty much into infantry and was covering a area from Taji to Balad, Iraq. I'm assuming this patch was made up as a combat patch for either a Somali or OEF 10th Mtn Div veteran and was never picked up. Unfortunatley in the last 4 years I've lost the seperate Mountain tab. The tapes they were making there were so awful I couldnt pass one set being made up for me. Al Taji was out in the middle of nowhere, and it was pretty much forgotten about as it was the far south of 4th IDs TAOR, so all jobs there were all done by iraqis that i could see when i was there for about a 24 hour period or so.

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jeremiahcable

Interesting thread here, the obvious aside. I was in country from August 04 through April 05 and spent a lot of time out at some of the outpost FOBs, border checkpoints and running up and down the MSRs with 3rd LAR. Consequently I didn't get a lot of PX time and missed out on a lot of this stuff. When I did get to hit the Al Asad PX I didn't notice much local made USMC insignia. Mostly it was the small rugs with AK's and RPGs on them and other such. I scoffed at them then but honestly do wish I'd bought some now. Very informative discussion.

 

Jeremiah

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I may have posted these before, if so, sorry for repeating. Here are some of the in-theatre made insignia that you could purchase at our air base in Qatar (2004). They charged about $8.00 per patch. They wouldn't sell any of there examples, but would make them up and have them ready within a couple of days.

 

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As a collector, I went in and photographed the examples that they had for sale and how they made them. I wrote a small article in the AAMUC's Footlocker a few years back about the insignia.

 

I couldn't tell you if the guys making these were from Pakistan, the Phillipines or whereever. Never occured to me to ask. ALl I know is that they were being made there in front of me.

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lebelmilitaria
I may have posted these before, if so, sorry for repeating. Here are some of the in-theatre made insignia that you could purchase at our air base in Qatar (2004). They charged about $8.00 per patch. They wouldn't sell any of there examples, but would make them up and have them ready within a couple of days.

 

post-203-1186970772.jpg

 

As a collector, I went in and photographed the examples that they had for sale and how they made them. I wrote a small article in the AAMUC's Footlocker a few years back about the insignia.

 

I couldn't tell you if the guys making these were from Pakistan, the Phillipines or whereever. Never occured to me to ask. ALl I know is that they were being made there in front of me.

 

thank God I wasnt hallucinating about patches being in theater as some posters here have suggested, these Qatar made patches were also worn in combat in Iraq as there was a very large R&R center at Qatar that guys would fly down to for a few days and come back w/ combat patches or newly purchased/sewn on insignia they had made there. Just like in VN, when guys would go on R&R to Hong Kong, Taiwan, Thailand etc and return to VN w/ insignia made in those places.

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Nope, they were made there. If you could give them a drawing or an original to work from, they could copy it. I know I have posted this before, but here is a photo inside of their shop with two of the guys who made the insignia. The embroidary machine (looked like a sewing machine to me) was in the shop and you could watch them make the patches. Also I have included a photo of the patches after the were made, but before they were cut apart.

 

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lebelmilitaria

100% exact same thing in Kuwait and Iraq in 2003-2004. Wish I had done the same as you and taken photos of their making them and the patch boards.

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This is probably obvious but what are they made of. Polyester, I presume?

 

Actualy, I think that is an interesting question. I believe the ones I have from Qatar were made of a polyester thread, but I have never black lighted them. I will dig out my light and check.

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100% exact same thing in Kuwait and Iraq in 2003-2004. Wish I had done the same as you and taken photos of their making them and the patch boards.

 

I wish I had bought more! And I wish I had come up with more clever designs for the ones that I did buy. I spent my money on gold jewelry for family and meals at the resorts in Doha!

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101combatvet

These are contractors from Kellogg Brown and Root and they are Flipionos. The messhall orderlies at d-rear in Mosul I believe were from Indonesia.... KBR must have hired in mass from geographical regions. The barbers on a few bases that I visited were all one nationality two..... only got two haircuts on base so I can't remember but they may have been Indonesian also.

 

 

Nope, they were made there. If you could give them a drawing or an original to work from, they could copy it. I know I have posted this before, but here is a photo inside of their shop with two of the guys who made the insignia. The embroidary machine (looked like a sewing machine to me) was in the shop and you could watch them make the patches. Also I have included a photo of the patches after the were made, but before they were cut apart.

 

post-203-1186973563.jpg

 

post-203-1186973617.jpg

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We have opened this topic back up after spending time editing out a series of posts that had become too personal and off-topic. There are always disagreements regarding militaria and other collectibles and we welcome factual discussion, but nothing EVER gets settled when personal attacks are introduced. So enough said about that: I hear these patches are actually made in Iran and smuggled into Iraq as part of a plan to sabotage the US collector's market.

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We have opened this topic back up after spending time editing out a series of posts that had become too personal and off-topic. There are always disagreements regarding militaria and other collectibles and we welcome factual discussion, but nothing EVER gets settled when personal attacks are introduced. So enough said about that: I hear these patches are actually made in Iran and smuggled into Iraq as part of a plan to sabotage the US collector's market.

Thank you. May I please ask that the topic be changed to "Cut Edge Desert Patches"? Since we really aren't anwering my question anymore? This is turning out to be a GREAT reference section! KEEP POSTING!!!!

Andrew

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I thought I would show some closeup front and back scans of the DCU and ACU patches Vance has been sending to me from Baghdad. This should give everyone that hasn't been to Iraq to see them first hand or any from the vets yet a chance to see exactly what the embroidery work looks like. All of the patches shown are of a very high quality and many are very reminiscent of early German Occupation era made patches. Once again, Vance, thank you!

 

Enjoy!

 

Gary

 

First up are a couple more for my 1st ID collection. The reverse has a very fine mesh cheesecloth applied.

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A very nicely embroidered set of uncut DCU CIB's. These have a very fine rip-stop paper applied into the embroidery on the reverse.

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Three different Special Forces patches. Vance and I had talked about whether the Special Forces tab was being made there or could be found and no sooner had I asked, he found me one.

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Here is a reversed 1st CAV for ACU. The second Airborne patch designation slips my mind right now, but I'm sure it is a Command patch.

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Without digging into my files, I believe this is the insignia for Multi National Forces-Iraq. If I'm mistaken or incorrect, please correct me.

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