Is wearing a combat patch required? Did you feel you earned it in a support MOS?

Then don't wear it. That's up to you. You're not required to wear the patch or anything else on your uniform. In combat Ur tapes & rank. There are those who don't want to & those who think if your not infrantry you shouldn't. It's oh well the regs say you may wear. Which means the individual soldier has the choice. I kno soldiers who don't wear the cib or cab or other badges. Doesn't mean they didn't ear them.

it's not a participation patch, you earned it. wear it

I was honored to wear combat patch even in your support role does not make are sacrifice any less in fact it's more difficult is a thankless job and you'll always be called The Pog snowflake Hobbit because you were not a 11 Bravo

The issue here is that it's not a combat patch. Wearing one has nothing to do with combat in the true sense of the word. Combat Zone does not mean combat it just means you were in a designated hostile fire zone. Even those, HOA for example, are subject to scrutiny and the is no "combat" going on.
Ok, I'm done with my rant.
Army uniforms tell a story. Your SSI and SSI-FWTS tell your story and you should be proud to wear it.

I'm maintenance as well. We worked our asses off. Myself and my mechanics also went out on the convoys for maintenance support. If your in the environment you deserve the patch and you should wear it proudly. It means your seasoned. You did the job at home, and you did the job during combat operations. Infantry units and other combat units need support. It's a fact.

I disagree, Specialist. When deployed, the enemy doesn't care if you are Maintenance, Medic (like me), a cook, or paper pusher. We are less likely to get shot or hit with an IED here, compared to the frequency of a combat zone. It may be the same 'job', but the hazards are much higher.
Besides I got two different combat patches; which ID'd us to the unit we were attached to. It keeps troop movement information accurate. I saw plenty of combat during both deployments.

I was career Air Force and I earned two patches. One with the 25ID/3BCT OEF 2003 and MNC-I OIF 2008. At the time, the units I was assigned to (Air Support Operations Squadron, TACP units) were the only ones authorized by Air Force regulations to wear Army unit and combat patches. And like some Army support personnel that commented above, I did not go outside the wire, I was never shot at, but I believed the work I did helped those that did. I will say that when I walked into an Army office to discuss business with them, once they saw my combat patch I noticed a slightly more respective tone from them. I guess the patch told them that I walked their walk.

Remember this, from an Old Logistics Sergeant. I faced the same danger and fired the same weapons. I wear my Combat Patch with Pride.

It was called "Former Wartime Shoulder Sleeve Insignia" not a "Combat Patch" even though that is the nickname it has acquired over the years. The Army is a team made up of many different players and positions. The Infantryman putting rounds down range could not do so without the medical folks trying to keep them healthy, the transportation folks getting them and their supplies where they are needed, the supply folks getting them their supplies, the intel folks trying to make sense as to who and what they are actually delivering rounds at, the cooks trying to get them chow when they can, the ordinance folks fixing the broke stuff, the engineers building and bridging things along with trying to find things that go boom, the artillery and armor folks to back up the actual grunt boots on the ground, the aviation folks getting them and their equipment to places and providing air support via the attack helicopters and the admin types trying to handle all the paperwork associated with just being in the Army. So, if you have been downrange, your contribution and job is nothing to be ashamed of or to try and hide. The grunts and medics get the Combat Infantry and Medical Badges for a reason and I am guessing that some of the support folks get their Combat Action Badge for this same reason. But if you get the "I was there" medal / ribbon and are authorized to wear the insignia of a unit you went downrange with, wear it as you earned that right.

I was a Security Forces member in the Air Force. At one ceremony in theater, they gave AF members combat patches as well. For 10 seconds I was happy, honored, proud. Then I saw who else was getting these patches. AF personnel trying to write us up for being out of uniform - shirts untucked or blouse off with shirt and DCUs on on our porches after a 14 hour work day. In Iraq, 130 degrees, talking. She would send her spies out to get us. She, who can't properly load a magazine into her M16. Either Msgt or Smsgt who was our first sgt.
But also, this is an Army, honorably earned patch. Not, your here, so I guess you get one too. I felt it disrespectful to those before, during and after me that earn those in the Army.
So first, honor and thank you. But then, this is passed out like candy to non deserving individuals who don't have work to do so they try to get you into trouble, others messed up our previous tower to vehicle rotation so we didn't go psychotic in the towers for 12 hours daily by our selves. With nothing to help.
Oh, and these morons put their packages on a shared drive. Lies and the tower changes were for bronze star application. He also put our convoys at risk when he would do ride alongs so he would have down range time or something. He upped those times as well and lied about what his role was. He had to be treated as a media person because he had no experience and was in our way and wasting a seat. Write ups were for 1st sgt application. Medals, medals, medals. Screw many over to make yourself look good. You can't prove it.