I was reading the Wikipedia entry on State Defense Forces and came across this, "Some states offer a shoulder patch to be worn in the same style as the U.S. Army Ranger arc as an incentive to become certified as part of the local or unit CERT team."
We have the CERT patch in Indiana. I personally don't agree with it. First of all I think the only ones that should have that arc patch is a true ranger or special forces member. Second if you have taken CERT training, it is not very compelling. You are only allowed to put out a fire in a trash can for example. To me it is so what? I am not a sour grapes guy, I am master MEMS and Qualified to wear the CERT patch, I just refuse to do it. Same way with all of the SGAUS ribbons. I have plenty of awards; I am no ribbon hound. I get my kicks when a runner runs by in the mini marathon and says "thank you," Or some local official thanks us for helping with a tornado or snow storm.
Originally posted by 1LTD: We have the CERT patch in Indiana. I personally don't agree with it. First of all I think the only ones that should have that arc patch is a true ranger or special forces member. Second if you have taken CERT training, it is not very compelling. You are only allowed to put out a fire in a trash can for example. To me it is so what? I am not a sour grapes guy, I am master MEMS and Qualified to wear the CERT patch, I just refuse to do it. Same way with all of the SGAUS ribbons. I have plenty of awards; I am no ribbon hound. I get my kicks when a runner runs by in the mini marathon and says "thank you," Or some local official thanks us for helping with a tornado or snow storm.
I agree that too many butt-wiping awards are given, with tabs included. However, you state that only Rangers and Special Forces soldiers should wear tabs. Why is that? SF soldiers didn't even have a tab until the 1980's. The Army also has the Sapper tab, which it recognized several years ago for Engineers. Then there is the President's Hundred Tab, which is the most senior tab in the Army.
So I see no problem with tabs, but they shouldn't be for worthless things. SDF's are certainly not alone here, either. Look at the Army with its awards nowadays.
As far as CERT, I agree it should not be authorized. There is also another one called SARTECH II that I have seen. These should be no-go's.
CERT is okay for the neighborhood garden club or boy scouts, but quite frankly I believe SDFs should be trained so far beyond what CERT gives you that they would be embarrased to wear it. Its not even a good starting point for SDFs in my opinion.
Originally posted by RiverAux: CERT is okay for the neighborhood garden club or boy scouts, but quite frankly I believe SDFs should be trained so far beyond what CERT gives you that they would be embarrased to wear it. Its not even a good starting point for SDFs in my opinion.
I disagree. The one thing I know is that the soldiers in the SDF's is that they are all volunteers they pay for most of their own equipment and in AL we pay for it all. The tab for cert is a way to build morale and esprit de corps alot of the soldiers in my unit have never been in the military and they deserve some recognition for what they do. The course is a mickey mouse course but it does take dedication to spend in our case 9 weeks in a course on your own time. For our Bn it is a starting point and we go way beyond the CERT course in our training but not all of our Bn's do that. I am currently the Ops NCO for the Bn and the Acting CSM. I served in Operations Just Cause(Panama) and Desert Shield/Storm I have 2 combat air assaults and a combat jump. I also have a CIB Airborne Wings and Air Assault wings most of the people in my unit don't have that so I say let em have there tab.
Then make a tab for a serious accomplishment that actually has some potential use for SDFs. A CERT tab is like giving a soldier a tab for going through basic training. I don't have a big problem if they were given a ribbon or something, but putting a tab on the uniform like CERT is something really special just advertises to others that the SDF thinks CERT is something really special when it is nothing worth bragging about.
How about a SARTECH tab for those who complete some level of the NASAR program? That is actually showing a level of ability that could be useful.
