The design of the Shoulder Sleeve Insignia approved for the Utah Army National Guard (ARNG) Element of the Joint Force Headquartersa (HQ), Utah National Guard is taken from the seal of the State of Utah, which displays a beehive resting on a table with numerous bees flying around it and the inscriptions “INDUSTRY” and “UTAH 1847” above and below it. But the image of a single, very large bee superimposed on a beehive was not the original design of the patch, nor was the Utah Army National Guard Element of the state’s Joint Force Headquarters the originally intended wearers.
The first patch design was approved for HQ and HQ Detachment, Utah National Guard on 1 February 1956 and was subsequently amended to extend its wear to other nondivisional units of the Guard. Its elements were similar, but had noticeable differences such as the golden beehive being displayed resting on a tabletop against a green background, a dark brown bee with translucent wings, and the bee’s orientation (facing upward).
That design was rescinded and a second one—the one now in use—approved on 5 March 1964; this one was redesignated for HQ, State Area Command, Utah Army National Guard on 30 December 1983. A third design was authorized on 10 October 1996 and was given the current designation for Utah ARNG Element, Joint Force HQ on 1 October 1993. It lasted longer than any of the previous designs, but it too was rescinded and the Marc 1964 design was reinstated with an effective date of 13 January 2020.
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