And by that I mean, I have been assigned the unit I'll become a part of when I commission as a lieutenant in May.

I'm going to the 640th Aviation Support Battalion (out of Long Beach), C Company (Signal Corps.) I don't know a whole ton about them yet, but the REALLY big news in that is that I'm in the Signal Corps, which is the branch (job specialty) I was hoping and praying to get. I get to play around with computers and radios, and will (hopefully) be able to work my way into the technical side of things where I'll get to test and troubleshoot and integrate new equipment. So. Freaking. Awesome.



Yay!

Also, my unit's patch (which is actually the patch of the 40th Infantry Division we fall under):

Mmmmm....HBK...

Uh. What was I in this thread to say again....?

Oh yeah. Opti, the tl;dr version of the story is that the Army gave me the job I wanted, and I found out where I'm going to be assigned to do that job. That's it.

Army bling, baby!

Actually, I do agree that the amount of medals we get for doing...nothing...is kinda retarded. (Although two of those medals go to all the services, not just the Army. I think we're the only ones who give a "congratulations you survived boot camp" ribbon though.) I think my favorite example of the Army bling gone amok syndrome is General Petraeus. God bless the man who now commands the Afghan Theatre, but...



Sir, let me put this as tactfully as possible: I know you earned them, but there's no regulation saying you have to wear them ALL.


I really do like unit patches though. It's all well and good to be One Army, or One Corps, but having a small rallying symbol at the smaller unit level does a lot for cohesion (and friendly competition), which is a good thing I think.

Preng wrote:

Glad to see this after the computer news. Keep us informed as more info comes up, Hawk!

Oh don't you worry. The next really big news will be my actual commissioning. I'm going to go on and on about it so much, and post so many pictures, I'll make you sick.

Actually Sathein, as much as those look like semaphores, they technically aren't (although I believe they were adapted from them.) They're flags that the very first Signal Corpsmen used during the Civil War, when the armies became too large and spread out for audio cues like drums and horns to be effective to command the bigger sized elements:



(Bad pic, but there aren't many photos I can find of Signalers with their flags)


Artist's depiction:




And what the hell, more info cause I KNOW you all want it :

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Signal_Corps_%28United_States_Army%29

___________

Atma, that's interesting. I'm actually not entirely sure what our regs are on choosing what medals we can and can't wear. I was under the impression that you were allowed to pick and choose pretty much at discretion, but I could be wrong.

As for me, I don't have any cool bling to show off yet. I do have some cadet medals/ribbons, but I'd never wear those anywhere except ROTC functions. I'm proud of 'em, but when you're in a room full of guys with *actual* medals earned in combat and/or on duty...a little ribbon for maintaining a 3.6+ GPA seems pretty stupid. Once I commission though, I immediately become eligible to wear three: National Defense Service Medal, Global War on Terror Service Medal, and the Army Service Ribbon. Everybody gets to wear those, but it'll still be nice to have something real to put on my dress uniform. (Well, I also have my Expert Marksman for rifle and pistol badge to wear, but that's a skill badge and not a medal.)

Ah, the good ol' Good Conduct Medal--aka the "Never Got Caught Award." I also totally thought that the Sea Service Ribbon was the GWOT Expeditionary Medal--I swear the colors are almost exactly the same.

I'm gonna sound like a chump here because I'm sure you've told me, but are you CG or Navy? I had always thought Navy, but unless Sailors get the CG Special Ops ribbon, I'm guessing I'm wrong...?

If I may ask, what did you receive the NAMs for? And I understand what the ESWS is (basically), but what did you have to do to qualify for it that made it so difficult?

(Also, just a thought, but you might check out http://militarysignatures.com . You can make some pretty badass sigs there, and if you keep it relatively simple, you don't even have to pay for 'em!)

Well poop. Sorry about that Atma.

What ship were you on (or which one was your favorite)?

Pakistan. Oh good grief.

Anyway, I asked because I was going to surprise you by building you a sig with a picture of your ship on it, but it turns out the site is missing a couple of your awards (the CG Ops medal and the ESWS badge) which I figured were pretty important. It's kind of an Amry-centric site since most of the guys who run it are Army. I'll request they put up those decorations though, and I'll see what I can do when they add them.