Patch work boosts student morale

  • Published
  • By Airman Glenn Moore
  • 325th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
TYNDALL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. --  Creativity designs it, morale upholds it, determination drives it and pride molds it.
Designing a class patch is an important tool to unify the classes. It brings classes together to build camaraderie and separates them from other classes at the 325th Air Control Squadron. 

"It's a pride and morale booster," said 2nd Lt. Kevin Peel, 325th ACS air battle manager student in class 07003. "It distinguishes each class from one another." 

"We designed our patch to represent each area that we cover," said 2nd Lt. Theresa Esparza, 325th ACS ABM student in class 07003. "The E-3 Airborne Warning and Control System radome and phased-array radar represents the different things we do in the air and the spear on the patch is for our guys on the ground." 

While most class mottos describe the class itself, class 07003 decided to use what keeps them motivated. 

"Our class put, 'There's always one' on our patch," said 2nd Lt. Nathan Jurgens, ABM student in class 07003. "It means there's always one threat out there or one of our Ground Control Intercept brethren downrange." 

Although class 07003 went with the traditional shape of a class badge, some classes venture off the beaten path and create something a little different. 

"Most patches are round or square, but ours is a straight cut out of a monkey, which we got from an analogy that we use," said 2nd Lt. Rolando Perez, a student in class 07004. "We chose blue and gold as the color because it represents the 325th ACS, 325th Fighter Wing, and Air Education and Training Command patches." 

"Also, we focused on our three main ABM divisions and used each for icons," said Lieutenant Perez. "We thought that because AWACS was the main focus of our trading that we should use the radome." 

"We also used the 'Scope Monkey' analogy and above we placed the E-8C Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System emblem to represent the newer platform, helping our 'boys in green' get it done in the air and more importantly, on the ground," he continued. 

These 'boys' are Soldiers. The JSTARS' primary mission is to provide theater ground and air commanders with ground surveillance to support attack operations and targeting that contributes to the delay, disruption and destruction of enemy forces. 

"The last piece we had to decide on for our patch was our motto," said Lieutenant Perez. "We decided to put 'Just Screwing Around' on our patch because it explains how we work on equipment. It also shows how our class can think outside of the box." 

"Our class really had a great time creating our patch," said Lieutenant Perez. "We hope our patch reflected our class spirit while at the same time was able to build on tradition."