The Combat Service ID Badge CSIB was introduced in the mid-2000s alongside the blue Army Service Uniform (ASU), with the ASU designed to replace the Class A Green Army Service Uniform that had been worn for roughly five decades and the CSIB replacing the Shoulder Sleeve Insignia-Military Operations in Hostile Conditions (MOHC) Insignia worn on the right sleeve of the old Green Uniform. (MOHC replaced the phrase "Former Wartime Service," or FWTS, circa 2018).
This is why the design of unit CSIB’s are almost invariably taken from the unit’s Shoulder Sleeve Insignia. In the case of the United States Special Operation Command, the Shoulder Sleeve Insignia upon which its CSIB was based was originally approved on 15 September 1988, only to be cancelled and a revised version subsequently authorized on 22 May 1990. The revised version was amended to extend its wear authorization to the U.S. Army Element of Joint Special Operations Command, as well to correct the description, on 10 June 2002.
The design of the Shoulder Sleeve Insignia-MOHCis adapted from the official seal of United States Special Operation Command, or SOCOM. Black is used to allude to the Special Ops performed uncover of darkness, while the color yellow (gold) symbolizes the excellence of Special Operations as performed by SOCOM in defense of the Nation. A spearhead suggest the military and combat capabilities of the command, while the three bands on the spear denote the forces assigned to SOCOM from three branches: Army, Navy, and Air Force, whose joint efforts result in even greater strength as the sum of the unified command forces is greater than the whole of its parts.
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