Air Force honor guard member (17640870012)

The United States Air Force Honor Guard Badge is a military badge of the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal ...

that is authorized for wear by all personnel who are assigned to the

United States Air Force Honor Guard The United States Air Force Honor Guard is the official ceremonial unit of the United States Air Force and is assigned to Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling, Washington D.C. Overview The Honor Guard's primary mission is to represent the U.S. Air F ...

(USAF HG), or to active members of a Base Honor Guard (BHG). For males, the badge is worn as a decoration centered on the left uniform pocket, below standard awards and decorations. For females, it is worn on the right side, even with the bottom of their decorations.AFI36-2903: Dress and Personal Appearance of Air Force Personnel
dated 18 July 2011; accessed 11 January 2014 The badge is derived from the emblem of the USAF Honor Guard that was created in 1976 by Malcolm Haynes. It is composed of crossed

M1 Garand The M1 Garand or M1 rifleOfficially designated as U.S. rifle, caliber .30, M1, later simply called Rifle, Caliber .30, M1, also called US Rifle, Cal. .30, M1 is a semi-automatic rifle that was the service rifle of the U.S Army during World War ...

rifles with fixed bayonets silhouetted over a silver/gray Roman helmet adorned with a scarlet red horsehair

festoon A festoon (from French ''feston'', Italian ''festone'', from a Late Latin ''festo'', originally a festal garland, Latin ''festum'', feast) is a wreath or garland hanging from two points, and in architecture typically a carved ornament depicti ...

on a field of

ultramarine Ultramarine is a deep blue color pigment which was originally made by grinding lapis lazuli into a powder. The name comes from the Latin ''ultramarinus'', literally 'beyond the sea', because the pigment was imported into Europe from mines in Afgh ...

blue with the attached organization motto. The Roman helmet is symbolic of the

Praetorian Guard The Praetorian Guard (Latin: ''cohortēs praetōriae'') was a unit of the Imperial Roman army that served as personal bodyguards and intelligence agents for the Roman emperors. During the Roman Republic, the Praetorian Guard were an escort fo ...

of the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post-Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings around the Mediterr ...

---the original Honor Guard of the

Western World The Western world, also known as the West, primarily refers to the various nations and state (polity), states in the regions of Europe, North America, and Oceania.

---whose duty it was to protect the reigning emperor. The red festoon denotes courage and valor. The silver/gray of the helmet proper represents the excellence expected of all USAF Honor Guard personnel. The crossed M1 rifles historically denote the unit's primary weapon (the

M14 rifle The M14 rifle, officially the United States Rifle, Caliber 7.62 mm, M14, is an American selective fire battle rifle chambered for the 7.62×51mm NATO (.308 in) cartridge. It became the standard-issue rifle for the U.S. military in 1959, ...

became the unit's primary weapon in 2002; however the Honor Guard's

Drill Team A drill team can be one of four different entities: # A military drill team is a marching unit that performs routines based on military foot or exhibition drills. Military drill teams perform either armed or unarmed. # A dance drill team creat ...

still continues to use the M1). The ultramarine blue background symbolizes the primary

theater Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actor, actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The p ...

of Air Force operations - the sky and beyond. The attached motto, "To Honor With Dignity" best describes the unit's mission. Some slight differences are apparent between the badges worn by members of the USAF HG, and those members of the BHGs. The USAF HG badge features the words "USAF HONOR GUARD" below and "TO HONOR WITH DIGNITY" above the main insignia and is polished

silver Silver is a chemical element with the Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag (from the Latin ', derived from the Proto-Indo-European wikt:Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/h₂erǵ-, ''h₂erǵ'': "shiny" or "white") and atomic number 47. A soft, whi ...

. The BHG badge features the words "BASE HONOR GUARD" above and "TO HONOR WITH DIGNITY" below the main insignia and is multi-colored.Official U.S. Air Force Honor Guard Homepage
/ref> The badge is worn only while actively assigned to the USAF HG or BHG; upon completion of the member's tour of duty it must be removed. Prior to the full implementation of the

Airman Battle Uniform The Airman Battle Uniform (ABU) is a U.S. camouflage combat uniform formerly worn by members of the United States Air Force, United States Space Force, and some civilian employees of the U.S. Department of the Air Force until April 2021. It repl ...

(ABU) on 1 November 2011, a subdued patch version of the BHG badge was sewn onto the old

battle dress uniform The Battle Dress Uniform (BDU) is a camouflaged combat uniform that was used by the United States Armed Forces as their standard combat uniform from the early 1980s to the mid-2000s. Since then, it has been replaced or supplanted in every br ...

; but since unit and duty patches are not worn on the ABU, both the USAF HG unit patch and BHG patch have been relegated to history.

References

United States military badges

See also

References