Afghanistan Roto Patches

[Bill A]

The annual "garage" sale was held at the local base. Picked up two "sandbox" patches.

[Pylon1357]

Congrats Bill, two great patches. Both appear theater made.

[sarge5020]

Nice patches. Here's a link to another forum that discusses Afghan War patches.

http://www.cdnmilitarycollectors.com...om-afghanistan

I should say that there are hundreds if not thousands of different theater made patches and that's just what the Canadians had made! I feel sorry for the guy that decides to write a book on Canadian Afghan War patches as new patches will continue to surface for years to come.

Cheers,
John

[Bill A]

Hi John, All the more reason to document as much as we can. It is important for the historical record that the insignia be recorded.

[Pylon1357]

Originally Posted by sarge5020

Nice patches. Here's a link to another forum that discusses Afghan War patches.

http://www.cdnmilitarycollectors.com...om-afghanistan

I should say that there are hundreds if not thousands of different theater made patches and that's just what the Canadians had made! I feel sorry for the guy that decides to write a book on Canadian Afghan War patches as new patches will continue to surface for years to come.

Cheers,
John

Hey there John, I guess you better ge ready to take pity on Bill, You know he 'just has to do it'. LOL

I really have to get off my butt and organize my photos. I know somewhere in my mess, I have a photo of each of the above patches in wear.

[sarge5020]

We certainly need guys like Bill that do the impossible.
I'll post a couple of pictures after work to start things off.

Cheers,
John

[sarge5020]

Here's the stuff that I wore during my tour in 2008-09 while with the Provincial Reconstruction Team based in Kandahar City. The patch with the knight is the one I wore while at Forward Operating Base Costell in Spin Boldak District. The SRA stands for the "Spin Boldak Republican Army." It was designed prior to my arrival.

[Bill A]

Thanks Sarge. Please see your email.

[David Tremain]

Here's a couple of patches I acquired from Ed Storey.

21 = the Vehicle Group, worn by a tank crew in Musam Ghar.
The other numbers represent the TF year, in this case 2009, and the Roto within the year 09.

Tango 23 = the Lord Strathcona's Horse.

Both are velcro-backed.

[servicepub]

My son's current deployment. They tried wearing these but the Sgt-Maj went ballistic.

[Bill A]

Recently acquired these Canadian Afghanistan deployment "souvenir" patches.
Both were identified as being worn on Roto 3-06. Made up on the Boardwalk, Kandahar.

Hi all,

Anyone wishing to seriosly collect formation/unit badges etc from Afghanisan are going to have their work cut out in a very big way.

Unlike the troops I have been here since 2007 in sunny shi*y (Hell) Hellmand so have seen most the British Army, Royal Marines (gay Navy types) and RAF regiment pounces rotate through. Albeit not as a squady but being armed and working on behalf of HMG I have got around a bit and have worked with the USMC and Danish etc.

I have been asked by more than 1 dealer to bring badges /TRF's back but have declined as they are a potential source of a big sh*t storm. Where does genuine, not genuine, issued/un-issued theatre made etc start and end????

Just about every sub unit (company/Squadron) have their own badges, all worn on the UBACS (shirt) either officially or unofficially. Not only British insignia but now afghan (no Union Jacks to be seen, the Afghan national flag worn on uniform, pennants flown on vehicles, to give the impression that the Afghan National Security Forces are in charge.

A collectors minefield - Good luck, looking at the prices fetched I might just get a local taylor to run me up a few dozen badges, get an Afghan policeman and soldier (not to mention a British Army mentor) to stick an example on their shirts, take a couple of pictures and rip you all off,

I'm just joking, but I hope you can see why I don’t want to get involved and please do watch out for the unscrupulous dealer who might just rip you off.

[Bill A]

Hi Hammo, Yes, it is certainly an area where anything seems to go, and the military actually encouraged it, at least by turning a blind eye. It can be a can of worms, with as you said the fact that anyone could make up a design, and many small units eg a platoon or a troop did so.
The Canadians are now out of the action, only involved with training, and establishing what was worn and what was fantasy will be a chore. All the more reason to document the patches now. Even if someone was to make something up and photo it, it can still be researched and tracked down. And there will certainly be lots of fraud and debate about the authenticity of the patches.
The provenance on the patches that I have been accumulating is documented and I do have some suspect patches. They will be noted as such. This is going to be one of the most difficult areas of patching to corroborate. But it should be done. There is an important historical event that needs to be recorded.

[edstorey]

Bill:

Both of the badges you illustrate were for sale in the German PX on the Kandahar Boardwalk and were part of the 30 or 40 badges that they were marketing. Neither badge is associated with the Canadian Battlegroup that was based in Kandahar.

Both of those badges were also sold as logos on T shirts and I would be surprised if either badge was ever authorized for wear on the CADPAT uniform.

Cataloguing and documenting 10 years worth of Canadian battlegroup insignia is a task that even now, one year after the end of combat operations, is proving to be a challenge.

ED

[Bill A]

Hi Ed, That is why I labelled them "souvenir" patches. I am aware that they were sold out of the embroidery shops on the Boardwalk. They came from a Canadian who was on the Roto 3 06, but I did not clearly indicate they were not issue. They were not, repeat not authorized, but then neither were most of the "official" roto badges. I posted these to show the variety of patches available. (Note the fellow from who I acquired these told me that he had, as hammo indicated in his post, put them up for a couple of pics, but ran the risk of the wrath of the CSM and they were stuck in his kit bag after a couple of days.)