What's your opinion when a National Guard soldier or reservist wears an active duty unit patch because they were attached ?

Very simply put the division between ARNG/USAR and the AC needs to stop. My research found nearly 378,000 ARNG/USAR and other services Air Guard, Navy Reserves, Air Force Reserves and Marine Reserves deployed through 2006 in support of the Global War on Terror. Though not active duty, these men and women still volunteer and responded when called upon to do a job. If attached to an Army unit and authorized the patch, they earned it no less than the active duty service member. I was occasionally teased about being a NG and reservist while deployed. All in fun but the truth be told, if it wasn't for these reservists and guardsmen, active duty service members would never have been allowed to leave theater as there would have been no replacements. 3 deployments totaling 42 months as NG and reserves is a lot and in some cases more than a few active duty people I run into.

There isn't any opinion to it - regulations and policies on wear of the SSI-FWTS are pretty specific although most people (AC and RC) aren't aware of them and don't abide by them. If that is the patch that they are supposed to wear because it is the unit they were in (assigned/attached individually), then that is all that matters. On the other hand, just because a unit fell under, was assigned, attached, etc. to another unit doesn't authorize it to wear that higher unit's patch. The policies changed around 2007/2008 from wear the patch of the first unit above you while deployed that has their own patch (i.e. division, command, or separate brigade) to wear your own unit patch regardless of anything else.

My personal opinion is this, regardless of the regulation. If a guard/reserve unit is deployed BN sized or larger then I feel you should wear the patch of that unit. If you’re in a CO/TRP/BRTY or smaller element and attacked to an active duty unit, then you should wear the active duty patch. While attached to a unit for wartime service you’re as much a part of that unit as anyone else. You’re definitely now part of that unit’s history.

This is a funny subject for Reserve and National Guard Soldiers. I often ask guys that are wearing multiple patches, as I can, if they have orders for the patch they are sporting. I have a published order for each of the two that I am authorized to wear. They are in my iperms. I would think that if they have that, they are authorized. I am the keeper of the standards, but don't want to cause a whole component of the Army to be pissed at me. Just saying.....Only my 2 cents.,

A solider is entitled to wear the patch (combat patch) of the unit in which said patch was earned. If they have more than one then they may choose which one to wear. DA determines which units are credited with combat service (what we used to call wartime service). In many cases the National Guard or Reserve unit authorized a shoulder sleeve insignia, does not get called up, only portions of the unit do, and therefore a National Guard or Reserve patch is not authorized for wear.
In virtually ever case the choice of which authorized patch to wear on the uniform is the choice of the individual soldier, not the unit.

I am OK with it. But, I also never really understood why most/many RC Soldiers (generally) wanted wear the patch of the AD unit they were assigned to vs. their own patch.

The rules have changed for combat patches (SSIFWS) more than once... As an example, in OIF 1 you could wear the patch of the unit were in support of. In OIF 06-08 the rule was, if you had a patch you wore on your left sleeve, that was also your combat patch. CSM Mellinger, CSM, MNFI, would stop random Soldiers and call them out if their left and right sleeve did not match. We actually had Guard and Reserve Units (the vast majority of our 8000 person TF) in our JTF who actually initiated Congressionals because of combat patches....

I actually like/d seeing combat patches for storied units like the 29th Infantry, 42nd Infantry etc.

But, my experience told me the vast majority of the RC Soldiers wanted to wear an active duty patch...

Does it really matter what patch you wear?

And you've been in long enough to know it's authorized SFC Jim Mergott. Good to see you're still around brother.

Sometimes its the only option for the Soldier. Some units wear their states JFHQs SSI (Shoulder Sleeve Insignia). There's an Army Reg somewhere that prohibits them from being worn as a SSI FWTS (Former War Time Service). So the Soldiers in those unit have to wear whatever SSI their higher organization is assigned to.

Overthinking this perhaps? Feelings aside (as they do not write Army regulations), relax, follow the current regulations and drive on.

I earned all my combat patches while on Active Duty before I transitioned to the Reserves.