According to the reference book U.S. Army Patches, Flashes and Ovals by Barry Jason Stein, the 75th Ranger Regiment organizational flash seen here has been worn since 2001 and is the fourth one worn by personnel in the elite unit if you count the two flashes worn while it was designated as the 75th Infantry Regiment. (Interestingly, the second of those two flashes was a cloth version of the unit’s current Designated Unit Insignia, or unit crest.)
The Regiment’s background trimming, more commonly called an oval, has been worn since 1984 (also per Stein) and is one of the rare ovals that is not a smaller, compressed version of the flash design.
Flashes are worn on the tan beret authorized for Ranger personnel since 2001, while ovals serve as backing for Parachutist and Air Assault badges worn on Service Uniform coats and shirts and on the blue or green Army Maternity Tunic. Compete wear guidance for both insignia can be found in the January 2021 edition of
DA PAM 670-1, paragraph 21-32(a) and (b).
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Although there are units that saw combat as early August 1942 in the Dieppe raid in Northern France that eventually became part of the storied 75th Ranger Regiment, the U.S. Army Center of Military History points to the organization of the 5307th Composite Unit (Provisional) on 3 October 1943 as the genesis of the organization. And for good reason: On this same date, the Regiment’s 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Battalions—the only ones out of six that were reactivated following World War II—make up the Regiment today.
Related Items75th Ranger Regiment Patch (SSI)
75th Ranger Regiment Unit Crest (DUI)
75th Ranger Regiment Combat Service ID Badge (CSIB)The 5307th Composite Unit became a Regiment, the 475th, on 10 August 1944, and another decade would pass before the unit was given its current numeric designation as the 75th Infantry. It became a parent Regiment under the Combar Arms Regimental system on New Year’s Day, 1969, was reorganized on 1 July 1984 at its current home at Fort Moore, Georgia (formerly designated Fort Benning), and was finally given its current designation as the 75th Ranger Regiment on 3 February 1986.
During World War II, the Regiment’s elements saw action in sixteen campaigns (eleven in the European-African-Middle Eastern, five in the Asiatic-Pacific), and during the Korean War the units that eventually became the current Battalions fought in four of the early campaigns. It is credited with participation in all seventeen campaigns in Vietnam, an extremely rare achievement, and with three out the four Armed Forces Expeditions in which the Army took part. While it saw no action during the Persian Gulf War, the Regiment and its elements have deployed extensively in the War on Terrorism, with seven campaigns to its credit and additional campaigns yet to be determined.