The Logistics collar device is worn by a select group of Army officers that was established with the creation of three new organizational entities by the Chief of Staff of the Army in May, 2006: the Logistics Branch, the Logistics Corps, and the Logistics Officer Corps. Although all these draw upon three existing branches—Quartermaster, Ordnance, and Transportation—they all exist outside those organizations in what might be described as a “nesting” configuration. The smallest is the Logistics Branch itself: it consists only of officers from those three branches who have reached the rank of Captain and have also completed the Logistics Captains Career Course (LOG-C3), at which point they are transferred to the Logistics branch and are authorized to wear its insignia.
With the establishment of the Logistics branch, the Army addressed the need for officers with multifunctional logistics knowledge and skills, and its insignia reflects the breadth of the branch’s responsibilities while acknowledging the heritage of the older branches upon which it draws personnel and tradition. The ship’s wheel is taken from the Transportation Corps insignia, and symbolizes the movement of men and material from the time of acquisition to when they are delivered to their final destination. Behind the wheel is a key, used in the Quartermaster Corps’ insignia since 1895 and representative of the storekeeping responsibilities the Corps has been tasked with ever since the day of the American Revolution. Crossing the key is a cannon, normally associated with Artillery but in this case reflecting the job of the Ordnance Corps to research, develop, and maintain ordnance.
In the center of the insignia of the Logistics collar device is a star taken form the Distinctive Unit Insignia of the Combined Arms Support Command (CASCOM), rendered in the Logistics Branch’s color of Soldier Red (cable 80095). CASCOM was established in October 1990 through the merger of the U.S. Army Logistics Center and the U.S. Army Soldier Support Center.
Related Logistics Branch Items