The organizational flash authorized for wear by personnel serving in the U.S. Army Special Operations Aviation Command (USASOAC) was approved on 12 March 2013. It is worn on the maroon beret that in 1981 the Army reserved for wear by members of Airborne-designated units regardless of the individual’s Airborne or Airborne-related qualifications.
Officers serving in USASOAC wear the flash centered on the maroon beret with their nonsubdued insignia of rank centered on the flash itself (Chaplains are excepted from this rule and instead wear their branch insignia). Junior Soldiers and NCOs, on the other hand, wear the Distinctive Unit Insignia of the Command, which features a black Fairbairn-Sykes fighting knife surmounted on a winged spear tip and a scroll at its base with the Command motto of “Volare Optimos”—Latin for “fly the best.”
The linchpin of the Command is the 160th Aviation Regiment or, more commonly, Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Airborne), or SOAR (A). It was first constituted as a Battalion in 1982 and was reorganized as a Regiment in January 1988 (and redesignated as the 160th Aviation Regiment in 2005). In addition to its HQ Company, the Regiment comprises four Aviation Battalions, two multipurpose Companies, and a training Company.
Other Command components a Training Battalion, a Flight Company, the Technology Applications Program Office, and the Systems Integration Management Officer. USASOAC is a one-star (Brigadier General) command that is subordinate to the U.S. Army Special Operations Command.
Related ItemsSpecial Operations Aviation Command Patch (SSI)Special Operations Aviation Command Combat Service ID Badge (CSIB)