United States Army Reserve Minuteman Patch

The Army Reserve began on April 23, 1908, with a reserve corps of medical officers, the nation's first federal reserve. Congress created that Medical Reserve Corps so the Army could call on civilian doctors in war. From it grew the force of citizen-soldiers who hold civilian jobs and drill on weekends. The gold Minuteman on this patch is the colonial militiaman who kept a musket by the door, ready at a minute's notice. A Reserve soldier would recognize the idea in his own life.

The National Defense Act of 1916 created the Officers Reserve Corps and the Enlisted Reserve Corps, and the Medical Reserve Corps joined the officer corps in 1917. About 90,000 Reserve officers and 80,000 enlisted Reservists served in World War I, and in World War II more than 200,000 of the Army's 900,000 officers were Reservists, nearly one in four, and they led a large share of the companies and battalions. More than 240,000 Organized Reserve soldiers were called up for Korea, after which Congress renamed the force the U.S. Army Reserve, and more than 69,000 were activated for the Berlin Crisis in 1961. More than 84,000 supported Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm in 1990 and 1991, the year the U.S. Army Reserve Command was established, and that command is headquartered today at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.

The patch is 4 inches round with a gold merrowed edge. UNITED STATES ARMY RESERVE arcs around the outer band in gold block letters on blue. Inside a thin gold ring, the Minuteman bust faces left in profile, wearing his tricorne, on a small round base. Two laurel branches curve up on either side of him, stitched in gold with brown detail lines. The colors are gold and Army blue, plain and easy to read at a distance. It has an iron-on backing and can be sewn on.

Reservists answer two callings at once. They are mechanics, nurses, truck drivers, engineers, civil affairs teams and military police who keep a civilian career going between drills and annual training. When the call comes, they leave jobs and families on short notice, as they did for Korea, Berlin and the Gulf. Thirteen soldiers of the 14th Quartermaster Detachment, an Army Reserve unit, were killed in a SCUD missile attack during Desert Storm. Their service is the same Army service, worn one weekend a month and every day of a mobilization.

Put it in a shadow box with your unit patches and drill orders, or on the jacket you wear to a Reserve Center reunion. It also makes a good gift for a parent or grandparent who served in the Reserve while raising a family. A Minuteman, two laurel branches and the Army Reserve.