[Milsurplus] navy a-1 receiver usn burau of ships type us/A1 sampson united corp

[mikea]

On Sun, Jun 01, 2003 at 09:49:41AM -0700, ed sharpe wrote:
> http://www.smecc.org/whatizit.htm
> the pictures are at the bottom of the page... I am still at a loss as to
> what this is!

The chevrons with the "T" are U.S. Army technician's rank insignia    
-- sort of like the current Specialist rank insignia. Technicians     
weren't in the line of command, while regular NCOs (corporals and     
sergeants) were. I think those are Tech-3 chevrons, the technician    
equivalent of corporal, but I could be wrong.                         

The metal pin showing a parachute within wings is the parachutist's
qualification badge, I think. I seem to recall an uncle wearing a set.

The "AIRBORNE" tab also shows, I think, that the wearer had completed
a course that included at least parachute training; I suspect that it
took more than _just_ parachute training, but don't know.

And while the patch with the red-and-white cording surrounding the
winged-parachute certainly looks like a parachute training qual badge,
I seem to recall that the "Devil's Brigade" (First Special Service
Force) used red-and-white cording. If this *is* one of theirs, it may
be quite rare. It certainly bears out further investigation.

-- 
Mike Andrews
mikea@mikea.ath.cx
Tired old sysadmin since 1964