A Company 2916th Aviation Battalion Desert Hawks Always Ready Patch Hook Backing

The Desert Hawks of A Company, 2916th Aviation Battalion fly UH-60L Black Hawks out of Barstow-Daggett Airport, and their main job is getting senior leaders out to the fight at the National Training Center. The 2916th is the aviation battalion that belongs to Fort Irwin itself, part of the 916th Support Brigade. Rotational brigades come to the Mojave Desert to train against a full-time opposing force, and the commanders and visiting leaders watching them need a ride into the box. Alpha flies those VIP missions several times a month. The rest of the battalion goes by the Raptors.

Alpha flew a mix of UH-72A Lakotas and UH-60s from 2011 to 2015, then settled on the UH-60L Black Hawk, with seven on hand as of 2025. Its crews also fly air assault, resupply, reconnaissance and casualty evacuation missions, and they drop paratroopers. Those missions support the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment, the Blackhorse, which plays the enemy at NTC. Bravo Company flies UH-72A Lakotas as Sokol, the enemy air threat, and Charlie Company is Desert Dustoff, the MEDEVAC company on call around the clock. B Company, 229th Aviation Regiment, the Flying Tigers, rounds out the battalion with the MQ-1C Gray Eagle.

This is a 3 by 2 inch rectangle on a desert tan field with a black merrowed border. A hawk drawn in bold black lines fills the left side, one wing swept up behind a hooked head. A Co sits at the top right with "Desert Hawks" in red, and 2916th AVN BN runs below it in black. Under that, gold wings spread from a silver propeller, the winged prop every Army aviator knows, and Always Ready is stitched across the bottom. The back is hook backing only, the hook side with no loop piece, so it presses straight onto a loop panel.

Nobody goes to NTC to see the 2916th, but every unit that rotates through depends on it. The Desert Hawks put commanders over the ground where their units are fighting, and when a rotation ends the crews get ready for the next one. The battalion flies year round in the heat, dust and wind that visiting units deal with for a few weeks at a time. Charlie Company's MEDEVAC coverage reaches past the training area into San Bernardino County, and in October 2021 a Desert Dustoff crew rescued a Navy F/A-18F Super Hornet pilot in Death Valley National Park. Always Ready is a fair summary of the whole outfit.

Put it on the loop panel of a flight bag, plate carrier or range bag, or set it in a shadow box with the Desert Hawks 4 Stars patch and a photo from the Barstow-Daggett flight line. It also makes a good gift for a crew chief or pilot who flew with Alpha. Hook side only, so it goes on and comes off as the job changes.