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

The army is too complicated. Give me my EGA, that's good enough.

If you're not in a combat zone, the only thing that matters is a high PT score.

In 1975 if you seen a big red one, YES, that meant something to those that cared or knew what it meant.

It means you did more than those without them.

Obviously the CIB means more but that doesn't mean the patch is worthless.

Combat patches? Marine Corps doesn't have that problem.

If you never had to dive to the powder dirt, to take cover from incoming rockets, you do not deserve to wear the patch. If you never had to apply a tourniquet or dressing to a bleeding wound, inflicted by the enemy, you do not deserve to wear the patch. If you have never had to stand and watch a KIA carried up the ramp of a plane, to be transported home, you don’t deserve the patch. If you know at an moment, with any step, it may be your last, you don’t deserve the patch. And, if you make it home, and you dwell on the fact that you made it, when others you knew did not, and you carry that guilt daily, you sure F’n don’t deserve to wear the patch!

It could or could not mean something it depends on the person wearing it. It is something earned one way or another, nothing to cry about if you don't have one

That Combat Patch means something!
It means the the wearer served in time of war. They risked their life for the greater good of our nation. Yes your service means something.

The soldiers that havent been deployed yet, and therefore havent earned one yet are usually the ones that say its "just a patch". Those that have earned one, like myself, they hold many memories. Some good, some bad. So for myself yes it meant something, i see the brothers and sisters that werent able to take that ride back home with us at the end. I see alot if sweat, blood and sometimes tears, in that patch. Different strokes for different folks, but yes, to ne it definitely means something! A "Slick Sleave" will never understand the good and bad we went thru to earn that damn patch. The brotherhood, when ya had to count on someone to cover ya while ya ran across tbe street while they were firing. The high fives after mission, when ya felt great that it was such a successful day and we all came back. The stress and sorrow that ya felt as ya Medevaced your buddie out, hoping those werent the last words you could say to him. The excitement intention in butterflies you have in your stomach when you get home and see your significant other that you haven't seen in 6 months to a year. A slick sleeve has not been through any of that so as they say it's just a patch but to us that have been there done that we see a lot of stuff in that patch I know I do anyways

It should really mean something