The Shoulder Sleeve Insignia (SSI) of the 94th Air Defense Artillery Brigade (ADAB) was approved on 29 June 1984. It was then redesignated as the insignia for the 94th Army Air and Missile Defense Command effective 16 October 2005, the date the command was activated at Fort Shafter in Hawaii; it had been created on 16 August 2004 through the reorganization and redesignation of the 94th ADAB, which had been inactivated since 1998.
Air Defense Artillery branch colors of scarlet and yellow are exclusively used for the insignia, with two upward-pointing arrows positioned above an embattled castle wall on which a sword-wielding sea dragon is charged. The arrows represent ground-to-air missiles and the key component of the Command’s mission (they can also be understood as symbols of the two Arrowheads the unit earned for assault landings as the 94th Antiaircraft Artillery Group in World War II).
The castle is a symbol of strong defense, and the sea dragon recalls World War II service in the South Pacific and the Philippines: the unit was awarded four campaign streamers in all, two with the aforementioned Arrowhead designation, and was also honored with a Philippine Presidential Unit Citation. Not referenced on the 94th Army Air and Missile Defense Command (AAMDC) unit patch is its service during the Cold War as part of the 32nd Army Air Defense. Stationed in Germany, its Nike Hercules, HAWK (Homing All The Way Killer), Patriot, and M163 Vulcan Air Defense System provided the U.S. and NATO with its “First Line Of Defense,” which eventually became the unit motto.
In November 2018, the Japanese Ministry of Defense confirmed that a new ballistics missile command under the direction of the 38th Air Defense Artillery Brigade, 94th AAMDC had been in operation since October. Coordinating with one of the Navy’s 7th Fleet destroyers at Yokosuka, the command is utilizing TPY-2 X-band radar and could potentially work with Japanese Self-Defense personnel in the use of a planned Aegis Ashore system.
Related items:94th Army Air and Missile Defense Unit Crest (DUI)