These are the best (and most absurd) unit patches in the US military

Of course, the clueless T&P writer has zero clue about the US Army South patch. It's to represent the sailing ships first used by Columbus. His ships flew sails emblazoned with the Maltese Cross.

I wish I could show some of our patches Brother Dale. We were known as river rats and some of our patches had a heavily armed Rat riding on one of our troop carriers. We were also known as being part of the Alligator Navy because some of our boats would pull up on the riverbank and drop the ramp, letting the Army troops out. The Alligator designation was from the LST ships, don't ask me why. So, there were also some Alligator patches. Different Squadrons, and different Divisions all had identifying patches.