Isle Reserve unit loath to relinquish patch

Army National Guard and Reserve units across the country are establishing formal training relationships with active-duty soldiers as part of a pilot program to bolster forces in a time of fewer troops and leaner budgets.

Among the associations created is a link between the Army Reserve’s famed Hawaii-based 100th Battalion, 442nd Infantry Regiment, and the larger 3rd Brigade at Schofield Barracks.

But while other reserve units dutifully adopt the receiving unit’s left shoulder patch per Army orders, it remains unclear whether the 100th — which has fought unit patch battles before — will also fall in line or has been given a pass.

The Army at the Pentagon declined to answer whether the so-called patchover will take place. Spokeswoman Lt. Col. Christina Kretchman did say the 27 units selected to be part of the “Associated Units” pilot program would begin the relationships by Oct. 1, with patch ceremony dates up to individual commands.

A separate association is taking place between the 1st Battalion, 151st Infantry, of the Indiana National Guard and the 2nd Brigade at Schofield. A patchover ceremony to the 25th Infantry Division’s Tropic Lightning shoulder insignia is tentatively scheduled for Oct. 15, the Hawaii unit said.

The Associated Units plan calls for paired-up units to maintain training ties prior to a deployment.

The 100th-442, with its lineage tracing back to the highly decorated Japanese-American soldiers of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team of World War II, was given special permission by the Army in 1955 and 1956 to wear the 442nd liberty torch unit patch.

The unit also won the right to keep its patch on a 2005 deployment to Iraq.

But the unit that counted U.S. Sen. Dan Inouye among the ranks of its World War II heroes also is an anomaly. The more-than-400-soldier battalion is the only infantry unit remaining in the Army Reserve, while other units have taken on service support roles.

The powerful Inouye died in 2012, and the Hawaii National Guard — which has combat arms units — has for years eyed bringing the 100th into its ranks, according to an official who didn’t have authorization to speak about the history.

The issue of the 100th-442 changing patches, with the legacies of Inouye and others behind it, remains deeply felt for some.

Former U.S. Rep. Mark Takai, who died in July after a battle with pancreatic cancer, wrote to the Army in April asking that the 100th be allowed to continue wearing its liberty torch patch.

The World War II soldiers of the 100th-442 “were ordinary men from working-class families, mainly from Hawaii, with later arrivals volunteering from barbed-wire-enclosed internment camps on the United States mainland,” Takai wrote.

With their unwavering loyalty in the face of racism, their valor in battle and their hand in shaping the political landscape in postwar Hawaii, the 100th-442 “takes great pride in its rich heritage,” Takai said.

In a question-and-answer sheet about Associated Units, the Army in late April said the units “will exchange assigned personnel to enhance mutual understanding across components, and will wear common (unit) patches.”

In March 1st Lt. Grace Vandertuin, a spokeswoman for the 100th’s higher headquarters at Fort Shafter Flats, the 9th Mission Support Command, said the 100th wouldn’t be wearing the 25th Division patch.

“The 100th Infantry Battalion is the only combat arms unit in the United States Army Reserve,” Vandertuin said at the time in an email. “We are rich in our heritage and are authorized our own patch and we will wear our own patch.”

The Army Reserve in Hawaii did not respond to more recent requests for comment.

The Army said the association relationship modifies administrative control, making the larger unit’s commander responsible for its associated unit’s training program, reviewing its readiness report, assessing its resource requirements and confirming collective proficiency.

Maj. Karen Roxberry, a spokeswoman for the 2nd Brigade at Schofield, said plans include bringing in some Indiana National Guard soldiers for training in Hawaii, including jungle operations.

The 2nd Brigade is in regular contact with the Indiana unit, she said.

“No doubt, there are challenges in being geographically separated, but with modern technology we can include 1-151 Infantry in many of our training events,” she said. “This can be done remotely through virtual and constructive gaming. We will also work to bring their soldiers out to Oahu at every opportunity.”