Combat patches: Are they for show or do they really mean something??

Obviously you never served in Combat. Wearing a Combat Patch is an honor bestowed on those who have gone into combat or are serving in a unit that is expected to see combat at some time. It also shows comraderie among the troops from other units. These are badges of honor. Not just some stupid Patch.

Its just a patch that has as much or little meaning as you give it. If you are proud of the job you did, wear it with pride if authorized or vice versa. Nothing that says you have to wear it afterwards. Folks that get hung up on the "worthiness" of a patch or badge dont have much else to offer in my opinion.

SGT you have to be in a combat zone to wear the patch of your unit (4th ID, 82ND ABN, 2 AD, etc. etc on the ACU right sleeve and when worn, now in a pin on the right breast pocket of the Blues. Yes they are meaningful it ID's the warrior as a Combat Veteran.

Cave-eat, my knowledge on this stuff is 20 years old and maybe be 20 years out of date.

I suppose now it is just an Overseas duty station. The real issue is how your deployment is looked at as far being in support of "combat operations" . Now the real life future difference what that means IIRC , is whether or not you will receive a 5 point veterans preference or a 15 point veterans preference, if you apply for any future federal jobs.. Usually though even with just a 5 you rise to the top of hiring lists. 15 pts is for combat vets, disabled combat vets and such. Personally I don't think you will or should rate the 15 unless you become permanently disabled/injured over there, which i hope doesn't occur. As I said though 5 is just fine. The Patch issue? LOL You wont be in the military forever , and people know themselves whether or not such is deserve or not. The Patch is authorized for 30 days in a combat zone or by orders if the service in the combat zone or operation was shorter than 30 days. If you get paper, wear it, if you don't, don't wear it, just like any other "award"

It means everything. It shows you were in combat or in support of a combat unit.

Most patches that are unit related seem to be good to wear when you are in that unit. . If you serve in a combat zone, you deserve the pay and benefits for being there. If you're not in the zone, it's just like another assignment. Some folks uniforms look like the stickers on the suitcase of a traveler. Sporting a Ranger tab, Airborne or CIB that you didn't earn could get your own behind kicked by those who earned them.

I remember the mad dash to get to Grenada to get your “ticket punched”. We wanted to go to get out of Kansas! You know what you’ve done and what you deserve, even when it’s not recognized.

Why should Kuwait be considered a combat zone? It has it been a combat zone since 1991.

I’am A Marine and always believed that the shoulder insignia(patch) were Divisional Coat of Arms not Combat patches. I thought you got the right to wear it just by being a member of that division.

It is just a patch, however if you have a combat patch which signifies that you where in a combat zone and your and E6 looking to be selected for E7 will then it may play a part in the selection process. You can have an excellent record, drill sergeant, recruiter, master gunner, many awards and achievements. Then so can your competition the only thing that separates you is they have combat zone experience and you don’t. That can be a discriminator, even though you have no control of your assignments in most cases. So to answer your question it is just a patch and possibly more.