10th Sustainment Brigade, US Army

10TH SUSTAINMENT BRIGADE, US ARMY

(Shoulder Sleeve Insignia)

(Distinctive Unit Insignia)

Official blazon

Shoulder Sleeve Insignia. Description: A dark blue rectangular shaped shield edged gold arched at top and bottom 3 inches (7.62 cm) in height and 2 inches (5.08 cm) in width overall consisting of a white stylized mountain with five peaks bearing a buff polestar, overall two crossed red bayonets points up fimbriated white.

Distinctive Unit Insignia. Description: A gold color metal and enamel device 1 1/8 inches (2.86 cm) in height overall consisting of a dark blue disc edged with four overlapping loops of rope tied in base bearing a gold mountain with white snow areas, overall a gold pick ax superimposed on the handle by a brown bucking mule; across the bottom are two crossed red bayonets points down. Arced over the top of the mountain on the blue disc are “SUPPORTING” on the left side of the ax and “THE CLIMB” on the right in gold letters.

Origin/meaning

Shoulder Sleeve Insignia: Buff and red are the colors traditionally used by Support. Our national colors, red, white and blue are also the colors used by the 10th Mountain Division, which the Brigade supports. The snowy mountain refers to the military mountaineering of the Fort Drum area. The polestar with its four major directional points represents the worldwide scope of the Brigade’s logistic support missions of maintenance, supply, medical and transportation operations. The bayonets are from their previous shoulder sleeve insignia when they were the 10th Division Support Command and refer to the Roman numeral “X” for 10.

Distinctive Unit Insignia: The bucking mule recalls the unit’s past 10th Division Support Command history of being called the “Muleskinners” and having supported deployments and training exercises with the pack mule and ax. The climbing rope and mountain underscore the unit’s motto of always going to the top. The bayonets highlight their combat readiness and logistics support for the 10th Mountain Division. Gold is emblematic of excellence and high achievement.

The Shoulder Sleeve Insignia and Distinctive Unit Insignia was originally approved for the 10th Support Brigade on 23 November 2004. They was redesignated for the 10th Sustainment Brigade on 25 April 2006.

Literature: Images from Wikimedia Commons. Information from The Institute of Heraldry, US Army.