More commonly referred to as a unit patch, the Shoulder Sleeve Insignia worn by Oklahoma Army National Guard (ARNG) personnel assigned to the Joint Force Headquarters (HQ) of the state’s National Guard was first approved on 9 May 1952 for HQ and HQ Detachment, Oklahoma National Guard. Nearly thirty years elapsed before it was redesignated for the HQ, State Area Command, Oklahoma ARNG on 30 December 1983. On 1 October 2003, it was given its current designation of Oklahoma ARNG Element, Joint Force HQ, Oklahoma National Guard, and was concurrently amended to update the description and to add a symbolism.
Oklahoma is proud of its Native American population in spite of the fact that several of the nations that now call the territory home arrived there after being forced from their original homelands, the most obvious of these being the Cherokee Nation, for whom Oklahoma was the terminus of the now-infamous “Trail of Tears.”
So the choice of a Native American chieftain in profile for the crest of the state’s Army National Guard coat of arms/device. At the end of the 20th century, nearly forty Native American nations called Oklahoma home, with the Cherokee Nation the largest by far at nearly a quarter-million residents, followed by the Choctaw, Muscogee (Creek), Chickasaw, and Potawatomi.
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Oklahoma ARNG Element, Joint Force HQ Unit Crest (DUI)