Should we remove combat patches to be sensitive to those who don't have them?

Your feelings do not override the regulations, I didn't see combat until my 19th year in the military whereas a lot of my peers did and there was no crying involved. Wait your turn just like everybody else if you didn't participate you don't wear one it's as simple as that.

Absolutely ridiculous. This is how the military works. Don't like it? You should not have signed up. What kind of stupid reduction of military tradition, code, ethics, standard, regulatory guidance is this coming to?

This is all summed up in one word: "Stupid."

Most stupid thing I've heard lately. Better break out the pink berets.

They should remove those without a combat patch, that way they'll be sensitive towards those of us that earned the right to wear a combat patch.

That has got to be one of the most ludicrous requests I have ever read. If I were required to take off everything I wear on my uniform, just because some other Soldier doesn't have the same experience that I do, I would have a blank uniform, with a single rainbow ribbon to show I graduated from Basic.
The uniform tells your story, it shows others what they could aspire to, or give them goals. It's motivation.
Now, if you ask me whether a Soldier who spent his entire deployment in Kuwait during OIF/OEF, should remove his/her combat patch??? I would say damn straight.

Are we seriously going to entertain the participation award and everyone gets a trophy era? It isn't enough they receive the National Defense ribbon just for coming in the Army during the conflict, now they cry because we earned a patch on our right shoulder for actually deploying to said conflict areas. Looks like I retired at the right time. I hope SMA Daily is looking into this.

I see this an old post but for reason RallyPoint included in an email but it cannot be true , No details are included to assist in corroborating this. The story is designed to get people angry for no reason and looking at this it worked. Why would Rallypoint promote this. The suggestion is that today's soldiers are not as tough as we were years ago and I know some young soldiers and they are as much soldiers as we ever were. When I joined in the 80's and served in the 101'st so many of my sergeants and officers served in Viet Nam and had combat patches and numerous other medals and I or any other new soldiers never had any problem with that in fact It made us proud to serve under them and relieved that when we deployed for war we had leaders that had experience in combat and knew the gravity of their decisions. I would never actually see combat but I did deploy in a war mission years later "Desert Storm" and even though I knew I might see combat I felt good that so many in charge of my unit had those patches as I knew I had the best chance of getting through it with them. If you are authorized to wear a combat patch wear it proud and know it makes new recruits feel better not worse.

No.

There's an easy fix for not having a combat patch!

The patch maybe the only award for combat service that some earn. Not all service gets a service ribbon, or a CIB.

During WW1 Blackjack Pershing ordered the Marines in theater to remove their EGA's so that the press corps couldn't tell the Marines from his soldiers, because the people at home were becoming huge Marine fans...His soldiers, however, maintained their 'patches'. That was pure sour grapes then as this question is now. "Offended" is such a whiney, wimpy word. Got a good reason? State it. If it simply offends you, then guess what buttercup....earn one yourself.

WTF this is a slap im the face to all those who earned the. Even money says this policy was thought up by some POSS who never got close to earning their own combat patch.

Combat patches are dedication to Conrads losses in battle. If you don’t have one consider yourself lucky and feel blessed that you have not have go through the initiation to get one.

wtf are you kidding me ,

keep it wtf these men and women have earned this right , man is our army falling apart
hurt

NO WAY!!!!!! This is absolutely ridiculous. That deployment patch is earned, so what if these new age privates don't have one! They haven't earned it yet! They will get over it!

So eliminate all awards, decorations, rank I’d? Can’t wait to tell a General his/her star (stars) have to go cause I don’t have em.

Absolutely not!

I think getting combat patches are an important rite of passage for Soldiers, much like the CIB, CAB, Airborne and Air Assault badge, etc.

This is just like someone with no Combat experience telling me what I need to do to get to deploy and what to expect but they don’t have the combat experience to tell me anything.

Let the snowflakes earn it