Air Force Special Operations OD Patch

The black field on this Air Force Special Operations Command shield stands for the night, the hours when AFSOC does its work. The winged dagger running down the center is meant for readiness and the swift, silent movement of forces, and the star disc above it calls back to the heritage of Air Force special operations. In this subdued version the dagger, wings, scroll and border are all stitched in olive drab, so the whole shield reads dark and low. AFSOC is the Air Force's component of U.S. Special Operations Command, headquartered at Hurlburt Field, Florida. It is the smallest major command in the Air Force and one of the busiest.

AFSOC was activated on 22 May 1990, when Twenty-Third Air Force at Hurlburt Field was redesignated and its non-special-operations missions moved elsewhere. Its crews had already flown in Operation Just Cause in Panama in 1989, with AC-130 Spectre gunships overhead, MC-130 Combat Talons and HC-130s hauling troops and fuel, and MH-53 Pave Low and MH-60 Pave Hawk helicopters going in low. The new command's first combat came in Operation Desert Storm and then Operation Restore Hope in Somalia. After 9/11 its airmen deployed to Afghanistan, Iraq, the Philippines, Syria and the Horn of Africa, and Special Tactics teams fought at Takur Ghar, Shok Valley and Ramadi. Today it fields three special operations wings at Hurlburt Field, along with units in New Mexico and England.

The patch is a 3-inch shield with a cut edge and an olive drab border on a black field. The winged dagger rises through the center, point down, with long swept olive drab wings spreading from the hilt. Above it sits the star disc in muted color, a light teal star on a dark blue disc with a red center, the one spot of color on the shield. An olive drab scroll with rolled ends wraps the base and carries AIR FORCE SPECIAL OPERATIONS COMMAND in black letters. Up close, the subdued thread keeps every element sharp without catching light.

Air Commandos have a reputation that was built quietly, one mission at a time, over decades of flying where and when others did not. Gunship crews, Talon and Pave Low crews, combat controllers, pararescuemen and the maintainers who kept old airframes flying all share it. Post-9/11 alone, AFSOC airmen earned a Medal of Honor, 12 Air Force Crosses and 64 Silver Stars. Many of those awards went to Special Tactics airmen, the Air Force's most decorated. The subdued shield is the patch for people who did their work in the dark.

Frame it in a shadow box with your squadron patch, wings and a photo of your aircraft, or sew it on the vest you wear to Air Commando reunions. It also makes a good gift for a son or daughter who wants to know what their parent did at Hurlburt. The patch has an iron-on backing and can be sewn on for a permanent hold. It is the command shield in its working colors.