Halo Celebrated In Military Heraldry - Kotaku Comments

Halo Celebrated In Military Heraldry

Balance_In_Life — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 20:08:26 MST

@DCSimian: Nice taste though!

Balance_In_Life

Halo Celebrated In Military Heraldry

Balance_In_Life — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 20:08:04 MST

@DCSimian: Yes... yes you do! Muahahahahaha

Balance_In_Life

Halo Celebrated In Military Heraldry

toiletduck — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 15:23:31 MST

@Witzbold: It depends on the unit I think, but the aviation brigade we trained with had them.

toiletduck

Halo Celebrated In Military Heraldry

Zero_Beat — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 11:36:59 MST

@Scuba Steve:

Halo is nerd. Halo is mainstream. Thus, nerd is mainstream.

Zero_Beat

Halo Celebrated In Military Heraldry

tetracycloide — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 10:58:30 MST

my father is working in iraq and the commander of task force troy (the spy vs. spy patch) is actually a good friend of his. small world indeed.

the 'ride my shorts' patch is based on the small cargo arcraft that unit flies, the C23 sherpa which is manufactured by an aviation company called 'shorts.'

tetracycloide

Halo Celebrated In Military Heraldry

detraya — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 10:46:04 MST

wow.. these patches are amazing.

detraya

Halo Celebrated In Military Heraldry

Witzbold — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 10:40:42 MST

@toiletduck: So they use one of those CH-53s then? Thats rather interesting.

Witzbold

Halo Celebrated In Military Heraldry

toiletduck — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 10:25:11 MST

Ok, for all of you morons going "hurr helicopters aint no guud fer splodin mines hurr", here's how it works. The helicopters used are the heavy lift types, they fly real low to the ground, so low the vibration of the rotors will unearth the mines. This allows the engineers to blow up the mines however they see fit.

toiletduck

Halo Celebrated In Military Heraldry

Witzbold — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 08:46:41 MST

My goal will be to one day get a patch made / put into use with a prinny on it.

Though the whole image of how Prinnies blow themselves up isnt exactly a good one Id imagine...

One can always dream though.

Witzbold

Halo Celebrated In Military Heraldry

not_tom_brokaw — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 08:38:41 MST

awesome patches. Don't know if I'd wear them with my airsoft/cosplay gear though, might get flak for it.

I think these are more of morale patches that groups would create for fun; definitely not "standard issue" if you will. Personally I'm a big fan of the "______ meter" patches.

not_tom_brokaw

Halo Celebrated In Military Heraldry

DCSimian — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 08:26:16 MST

@Balance_In_Life:

Dammit man...do I have to change my avatar being the newbie? :p

The Spy vs. Spy one was full of incredible.

DCSimian

Halo Celebrated In Military Heraldry

SumDum_Guy — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 08:18:22 MST

@sumdum_guy:

Plus the Air National Guard has different policy towards this too (to their advantage)

SumDum_Guy

Halo Celebrated In Military Heraldry

SumDum_Guy — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 08:15:00 MST

@vongarr:
Not necessarily. The Navy has had some pretty cool crap. Plus they seem to have a much more liberal policy with how they adorn their aircraft with "art"

SumDum_Guy

Halo Celebrated In Military Heraldry

SumDum_Guy — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 08:13:08 MST

@Witzbold:

When I get home, if I can find my photos, I'll shoot them to you. Mainly tail flashes, and other "secret" ones hidden behind MX (maintenance) panels.

SumDum_Guy

Halo Celebrated In Military Heraldry

vongarr — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 08:13:00 MST

The Air Force has all of the cool patches.

vongarr

Halo Celebrated In Military Heraldry

Witzbold — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 08:09:32 MST

@sumdum_guy: Man thats too bad to hear about personalized nose art and such not being as common as it used to be. Then again with the price tags of the "equipment" nowdays I can kinda see why some folk would be miffed.

Sad though, since man back in the days they had some damned fine art work on the sides of bombers and fighters. I think my father had a book of it somewhere in the house.

@weirdwolf: Interesting! Thanks for the info. :)

Witzbold

Halo Celebrated In Military Heraldry

Mister Adequate — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 08:02:53 MST

@SSJPabs: Quite the opposite. If you put videogame stuff on your patch, that makes the armed forces nerdy, not the videogame un-nerdy.

Mister Adequate

Halo Celebrated In Military Heraldry

SumDum_Guy — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 07:55:05 MST

..back to the topic on hand ...
These patches are pretty cool, and more often than not, reflect and provide social commentary. I have seen some that are pure gold, and others that were just plain dumb. I am not a patch collector (a stereotype) so I often pass on them. Its usually too bad that they usually cannot be worn publicly, given the political correct environment the military and its members must operate in. These types of patches are usually reserved for Friday after the beer light comes on and usually stays within the confines of the squadron bar.
For exercise ULCHI FOCUS LENS that occurs annually in Korea, there's a patch with Larry, Moe and Curly on it (the stooges). The caption reads something like "Same Buffoonery, Different Year".
Same thing goes for nose art on the fighters and bombers. Last time I remember seeing nose art that was adorned in an unobstructed location was on B-52s and KC-135s on the flightline on Castle AFB. Nowadays, the personalized nose art are "hidden" behind certain access panels, speed brakes, etc. The only ones who know where those are are the crew chiefs and pilots/aircrew. (Those I have pix of, although not as many as I should).

SumDum_Guy

Halo Celebrated In Military Heraldry

Norellicus — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 07:50:36 MST

@Esupio: lol

I'll have to come back and read this later, work firewalls block blogspot for some dumb reason :(

Norellicus

Halo Celebrated In Military Heraldry

Chilly Hollow — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 06:56:59 MST

@myxylplyx: Excellent! Interesting website. I discovered Beloved belonged to the Ghost Recon group, for example. Didn't know that. Will rib him when he plays the game next.

Chilly Hollow

Halo Celebrated In Military Heraldry

Weirdwolf — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 06:47:36 MST

@Witzbold:

Eventually yes I believe so, they were used in North Africa first mounted to Matilda tanks in 42 but like the jet engine and the atomic bomb we had been piddling around with the idea for a while beforehand.

Weirdwolf

Halo Celebrated In Military Heraldry

Esupio — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 06:07:33 MST

Helicopter Mines?

I didn't know they existed
or required countermeasures

'SHIT, HELICOPTER MINES'
'FLY OVER THEM'

Esupio

Halo Celebrated In Military Heraldry

guammybear07 — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 06:06:06 MST

"Really? You need helicopters... For safely deactivating land mines?"

Are you serious?....think about it, one of the main combat missions of marines since their existence is amphibious warfare, they are sent into enemy territory by landing on the beaches. That helicopter squadron isn't there to clear land mines, it to clear enemy beach heads of sea mines.

guammybear07

Halo Celebrated In Military Heraldry

dunetiger reads kotaku, seems pleased — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 05:55:23 MST

Cortana's not such a bad name for a kid and she will outlive the reference by a long shot. It's not, for example, as bad as naming your Irish-German daughter "Sakura".

dunetiger reads kotaku, seems pleased

Halo Celebrated In Military Heraldry

Captain Impulse — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 05:13:54 MST

@kojirodensetsu: Yeah I read the books, but my wife hasn't, and she's stuck on Cortana. My wife is difficult to read sometimes...you never know if she's joking or serious at times. She can deadpan pretty much anything.

Captain Impulse

Halo Celebrated In Military Heraldry

kojirodensetsu — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 04:47:09 MST

@Captain Impulse: A Halo girl name you could use that wouldn't get her made fun of all the time would be Catherine. That's the first name of Dr. Hasley from the books. Cortana was created with Dr. Hasley's flash brain clone or something. Well whatever it was, Cortana's personality was modeled after Dr. Hasley.

kojirodensetsu

Halo Celebrated In Military Heraldry

Captain Impulse — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 04:40:22 MST

@Sabre_Justice: My wife wants to name our first daughter Cortana. God help her!

Captain Impulse

Halo Celebrated In Military Heraldry

Scuba Steve — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 04:05:31 MST

Halo is not nerd. Halo is mainstream..

Scuba Steve

Halo Celebrated In Military Heraldry

Witzbold — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 03:49:16 MST

@weirdwolf: Those were the ones outfitted on the Shermans right?

Witzbold

Halo Celebrated In Military Heraldry

Weirdwolf — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 03:25:23 MST

@Witzbold:

I believe you mean a mine flail, they were used by the British army for the first time during the second world war,(we used bulldozer blades during the first world war,) and they quickly became a standard.
The first tanks were built about ten minutes away from my house.

Weirdwolf

Halo Celebrated In Military Heraldry

Sabre_Justice: Okay, no more long name. — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 03:19:12 MST

Not impressed til I see Cortana painted on a helicopter.

Sabre_Justice: Okay, no more long name.

Halo Celebrated In Military Heraldry

Witzbold — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 03:07:44 MST

@Reptar2022: Interesting, thanks for the info!

Looks a lot different from the picture of an older one I saw. Although Im guessing different countries outfit old tanks differently and such.

Witzbold

Halo Celebrated In Military Heraldry

Reptar2022 — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 03:03:16 MST

I'm Navy so I don't know the specifics of the Army's MCM. All I know is that they usually call them mine trawlers or mine rollers. Here's a picture of a roller.

[en.wikipedia.org]

Reptar2022

Halo Celebrated In Military Heraldry

Witzbold — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 02:59:25 MST

@Reptar2022: Whats the name of the truck that the army uses? I was trying to find that particular vehicle but was not familiar with the name itself.

After reading through info about the HMCS its just as you said.

Thanks for the reply and information though, the shared knowledge is always highly appreciated! :)

Witzbold

Halo Celebrated In Military Heraldry

Reptar2022 — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 02:57:20 MST

@Optimistic Prime: Usually the patches are official in the fact that the unit created them. They are not, however, usually authorized for actual wear on uniforms. It all depends on the unit officer in charge.

Reptar2022

Halo Celebrated In Military Heraldry

Reptar2022 — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 02:55:13 MST

@Witzbold: Helicopter mine countermeasures, operated by the Navy, are only for sea based mines. the helicopters drag a screen over the water surface to attract and detonate magnetic proximity mines.

Land mines are deactivated by the Army and it involves driving a big ass heavily armored truck over the area. the truck has a special rotating drum o nthe front with chains that slap the ground ahead of the truck to detonate pressure activated mines.

Reptar2022

Halo Celebrated In Military Heraldry

Optimistic Prime — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 02:48:23 MST

As great as most of these are, I can't believe military standards would allow most of them to be official patches. That's not to say the guys on the ground don't have them, but I wouldn't expect to see a soldier with any of the seven dirty words on his arm. (tatoos excluded)

Optimistic Prime

Halo Celebrated In Military Heraldry

Witzbold — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 02:35:30 MST

@ChickenOfTheSea: Jesus apologies, totally missed an important part of the article that states about the "mine" related part of the story. :x

Actually with further research it seems the helicopter mine countermeasurers squadron works with detecting mines located in the sea more than on land. Although Im still looking for further information to see if they also assist in land based missions.

Witzbold

Halo Celebrated In Military Heraldry

Witzbold — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 02:27:31 MST

@Witzbold: *face meet palm*
[members.aol.com]

Time to do more research!

This does make a lot of sense though. Sure beats sending the guys on the ground in first.

Witzbold

Halo Celebrated In Military Heraldry

ProfessorZ42 — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 02:23:08 MST

@SsJpabs: Halo hasn't been nerdy for a long time.

ProfessorZ42

Halo Celebrated In Military Heraldry

dunetiger reads kotaku, seems pleased — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 02:21:37 MST

"Combat Life Support" = win.

@SSJPabs:
Naw. It just seems that minesweepers are the guys that get picked on and forced to do paperwork. And then every week, one of 'em gets sand stuffed down their pants.

dunetiger reads kotaku, seems pleased

Halo Celebrated In Military Heraldry

Taco Bell™ — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 02:20:48 MST

This patch = instawin.

Taco Bell™

Halo Celebrated In Military Heraldry

electricpickle — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 02:17:34 MST

@legacyed:
why yes I do believe that is. I understand now we are spreading freedom by way of meme

electricpickle

Halo Celebrated In Military Heraldry

Witzbold — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 02:16:59 MST

@ChickenOfTheSea: How did this turn into a conversation about land mine disposal?

You can disarm landmines by hand, its just not something folks really would like to do. There are also special vehicles made to assist with the clearing of potential mine fields. Pretty much looks like a giant bulldozer that pushes up all of the ground infront of it setting off the mines. Although Im certian theres another type that uses a bunch of chains in the front that thrashes the ground in a similar manner. Which are usually used in parts of Southeast Asia that can afford it. If not those areas have folks who do de-mining by hand.

One of the more famous people who is now involved in helping spreading information about the hazards of landmines. Read a book about this fellow, real interesting / hard life hes had.

[en.wikipedia.org]

In Iraq now granted there are minefields what it seems is that they are older ones left over by the Russians generally its not landmines as much you have to worry about its IEDs, which at times if the troops on the ground spot something suspicious and get the ok, they will call in for a near by vehicle or heli to open up a burst on the object in question. Granted its not what they do all that often, its just in some case situations. Others they will have it marked and disarmed by a proper demolitions expert.

Witzbold

Halo Celebrated In Military Heraldry

Insomnia Bob — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 01:55:46 MST

@SSJPabs: No... it's just nerded up the military. Way to go, America's Army: True Heroes.

Insomnia Bob

Halo Celebrated In Military Heraldry

SSJPabs — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 01:52:10 MST

I think this has officially made Halo un-nerdy.

SSJPabs

Halo Celebrated In Military Heraldry

edb87 — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 01:47:04 MST

@Insomnia Bob: XD

Those are pretty cool. I've got a green military jacket with ubernerd patches on it. Some of those would rock socks, for sure.

edb87

Halo Celebrated In Military Heraldry

red — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 01:27:40 MST

totenkopf

red

Halo Celebrated In Military Heraldry

TheCleaningGuy — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 01:20:27 MST

Wow, great patches!
If I was willing to get shot at for patches, I'd join the millitary for those!

TheCleaningGuy

Halo Celebrated In Military Heraldry

InsidiousTuna — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 01:05:34 MST

@Insomnia Bob: Yeah, but you've still got a mine exploding in the ground. The best you could hope for is to successfully cordon off the area and then pepper the ground with fire, hoping you got them all. I'm not an expert on explosives or standard military operating procedures, and I don't really feel the need to look it up, but I thought we had better ways to disarm land mines than shooting them from a helicopter. But at least it keeps personnel safe, so it really doesn't matter.

InsidiousTuna

Halo Celebrated In Military Heraldry

scotty — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 01:04:08 MST

Needs more Ouendan :\
Or atleast some EBA.

scotty

Halo Celebrated In Military Heraldry

Insomnia Bob — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 00:59:42 MST

@ChickenOfTheSea: But it's bound to be safe-er. Landmines aren't exactly made to be easy to disarm. It's the same theory behind why the bomb squad detonates stuff in a hotbox... it's easier to blow it up under controlled circumstances than attempt to disarm it, and risk the life of the technician.

Insomnia Bob

Halo Celebrated In Military Heraldry

Witzbold — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 00:55:52 MST

@jihadjoe343: You know as they say, "laughter is the best medicine" eh? ;D

Witzbold

Halo Celebrated In Military Heraldry

Pound my tom-tom — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 00:55:11 MST

@Insomnia Bob: i'd rather disarm mines from a couch myself but that's just me

isn't the last one on the 1st page a variation of Battle Toads?

Pound my tom-tom

Halo Celebrated In Military Heraldry

jihadjoe343 — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 00:54:07 MST

Oh man...my favorite has to be the "Hope this shit works" one. Maybe not the thing you want to be seeing when a medic runs up to you, but at least you'll get a good laugh out of it.

jihadjoe343

Halo Celebrated In Military Heraldry

MrGlass — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 00:52:27 MST

Wow, these are awesome.

I have an Israeli paratrooper wings on my laptop bag (paratrooper bags make great lightweight laptop totes - the wings were just luck), and I get questions from people who think I was in the Israeli Army. I can only imagine what the reaction would be if i had an actual military patch. Shame, as some of these are truly awesome.

MrGlass

Halo Celebrated In Military Heraldry

Murrytmds — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 00:52:20 MST

Those things on the Halo one reminds me of the S on the Shadowrun logo more than anything.

Murrytmds

Halo Celebrated In Military Heraldry

bangbangblah — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 00:43:19 MST

Trying to pick out a favorite, but 90% of those are just too awesome.

bangbangblah

Halo Celebrated In Military Heraldry

Seven Is Darker — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 00:40:58 MST

@Witzbold:

Hahah damn right.

Seven Is Darker

Halo Celebrated In Military Heraldry

InsidiousTuna — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 00:38:39 MST

@Insomnia Bob: [www.penny-arcade.com]

The only way to "disarm" a land mine from the air would be to shoot it and blow it up. Safe for you, yes, but you're still setting off a land mine. Which isn't safe. Safe disarmament ideally means it doesn't detonate.

InsidiousTuna

Halo Celebrated In Military Heraldry

bnpederson — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 00:37:41 MST

@myxylplyx:
Tell me one of them was the Halo patch. :P

bnpederson

Halo Celebrated In Military Heraldry

myxylplyx — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 00:32:54 MST

My grandma designed and stitched two of those. She's an ex-green beret.

myxylplyx

Halo Celebrated In Military Heraldry

Witzbold — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 00:32:47 MST

@legacyed: No its not the battle toads we all know and love from the nes days.

Witzbold

Halo Celebrated In Military Heraldry

Balance_In_Life — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 00:31:18 MST

@Insomnia Bob: I rofled

Balance_In_Life

Halo Celebrated In Military Heraldry

Witzbold — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 00:30:22 MST

@Insomnia Bob: YOU WIN! FLAWLESS VICTORY

Witzbold

Halo Celebrated In Military Heraldry

Nexus6 — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 00:25:05 MST

@Insomnia Bob: LOL

Nexus6

Halo Celebrated In Military Heraldry

Insomnia Bob — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 00:17:44 MST

By the way: [www.nioutaik.fr]

Insomnia Bob

Halo Celebrated In Military Heraldry

legacyed — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 00:16:45 MST

And are those BattleToads on the last patch of the first set?

legacyed

Halo Celebrated In Military Heraldry

legacyed — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 00:14:57 MST

The first thing I thought of when I saw a US military patch that featured a reference to Halo was that this can only give Jack Thompson more fodder in his crusade against the linkage between the military and the use of video games as training tools. But I was pleased to see there was a patch that was seemingly designed just for Mr. Thompson: "How about a nice cup of shut the fuck up".

legacyed

Halo Celebrated In Military Heraldry

Anemone — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 00:13:25 MST

@ChickenOfTheSea: Seriously... Whatever happened to sending in the disadvantaged urban poor? I'm going to be banned now aren't I? >_<

Anemone

Halo Celebrated In Military Heraldry

Kirbytheslayer: In-Kirby XMB — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 00:11:52 MST

@ChickenOfTheSea: Geico Patch tops that.

Kirbytheslayer: In-Kirby XMB

Halo Celebrated In Military Heraldry

DranzerKire — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 00:11:46 MST

lol at the "How about a nice cup of shut the fuck up" patch xD

DranzerKire

Halo Celebrated In Military Heraldry

Insomnia Bob — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 00:11:19 MST

@ChickenOfTheSea: Well, here's a question: would you rather disarm a landmine on the ground, or in a helicopter?

...I'll wait while you do the math.

Insomnia Bob

Halo Celebrated In Military Heraldry

InsidiousTuna — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 00:09:05 MST

@Kirbytheslayer: defeated JavaScript: Ha! I'll one-up you and mention the South Park one on the first page of the patches!

InsidiousTuna

Halo Celebrated In Military Heraldry

Kirbytheslayer: In-Kirby XMB — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 00:07:50 MST

A lot of those patches were brilliant.

I liked the "Man, I hope this shit works" one, but witz already said it, so I'll mention the Spy vs. Spy one.

Kirbytheslayer: In-Kirby XMB

Halo Celebrated In Military Heraldry

InsidiousTuna — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 00:05:36 MST

"Helicopter Mine Countermeasures"? Really? You need helicopters... For safely deactivating land mines? Whatever, I'm not paying for it.

Wait... Yes, I am. :(

InsidiousTuna

Halo Celebrated In Military Heraldry

Witzbold — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 00:04:46 MST

The "Man I hope this shit works" has got to be a personal creed of my own. Love those patches.

Witzbold

Halo Celebrated In Military Heraldry

Evdor — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 00:03:57 MST

Wait a minute, if the chatter of Xbox Live is anything to go by...

You mean the people who are defending the country are those people?

Oh god. America is doomed!

Evdor

Halo Celebrated In Military Heraldry

Witzbold — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 00:03:45 MST

lol this is just all too excellent.

Witzbold