HALO Special Forces Military Freefall Patch

The freefall wings were first submitted as a design in March 1983 by Sergeant First Class Gregory A. Dailey of Special Forces ODA-552, eleven years before the Army approved them for wear. Approval came on 1 October 1994 for soldiers assigned to U.S. Army Special Operations Command. On 7 July 1997, General Dennis Reimer approved unrestricted wear. HALO stands for high altitude, low opening, and its partner HAHO for high altitude, high opening. Both are ways to put a team on the ground quietly, a long way from where the aircraft flew.

The Military Free-Fall Parachutist Course is run by the Military Free-Fall School at Yuma Proving Ground, Arizona, under the 2nd Special Warfare Training Group (Airborne). Students arrive already holding the Parachutist Badge from the U.S. Army Airborne School. The four weeks cover wind tunnel training, packing the RA-1 parachute and about 30 freefall operations. HALO and HAHO jumps go out at 10,000 to 25,000 feet. A HALO or HAHO jump made in a combat zone earns the combat jump device.

The patch is black, cut to follow its arched top and flared wings, with MILITARY FREEFALL in white across the top. A blue ram-air canopy spreads behind light blue and white wings. A white dagger stands point-up through the center, its blue grip dropping between the big outlined letters H A L O. SPECIAL FORCES runs along the bottom in white. In freefall tradition the dagger is the Fairbairn-Sykes fighting knife of the OSS, standing for infiltration, and the square canopy points to the MT1-X, the first ram-air parachute adopted as the military's standard freefall canopy.

It measures 4.25 inches wide by 3.12 inches tall. The cut edge is trimmed flat to the embroidery along the outline, so the patch keeps the shape of the design instead of a plain rectangle. An iron-on backing lets it go on at home with an iron and a pressing cloth. For a jacket, ruck or range bag that gets hard use, stitch around the border as well. Blue on black keeps the canopy and wings easy to read.

Freefall qualification takes a jumper who is already airborne and teaches him to leave the aircraft miles up and arrive where he was supposed to. Put this patch in a shadow box with a set of freefall wings and a team photo, or on the bag that goes to the drop zone. It also makes a gift for a soldier headed to Yuma, or for the old team sergeant who went out the ramp at altitude. It belongs with the gear of anyone who has made that jump.