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News | May 12, 2021

Airmen show unit cohesion by wearing new DLA Aviation unit patch

By Cathy Hopkins DLA Aviation Public Affairs Office

On April 1, the Air Force switched its airmen’s everyday uniform from airman battle uniforms to operational camouflage pattern uniforms. As a sign of unity, airmen assigned to Defense Logistics Agency Aviation designed a DLA Aviation unit patch that they will begin wearing on their new OCPs in mid-May.  

Air Force Master Sgt. Dalton Thomas is a logistics career broadener within DLA Aviation’s Customer Operations Directorate’s Air Force Customer Facing Division, who created the patch design with the help of his fellow airmen. The patch will be worn by all airmen assigned to DLA Aviation throughout the activity’s 18 locations.

Thomas said he started work on the design this past January and picked elements that would represent the Air Force and the agency’s aviation supply chain and heritage.

Air Force Capt. Lisa McCarthy helped Thomas gather descriptions of the elements which include a global grid vector, a cog, a Hap Arnold star, a single upward flying aircraft with a jet stream and an elk silhouette. (Read a description of meaning behind each element.)

In choosing design elements, Thomas said the original thought was to put an aircraft on the patch, but the team chose the delta symbol as more representative of the future of Air Force aeronautics.

“The cog is an Air Force symbol for logistics support across all Air Force career fields and represents the importance of each organizational unit as a cog on the job providing aircraft support,” said Thomas.

“Patches have long been part of the Air Force heritage and culture.  They reinforce camaraderie, build unit cohesion, and express esprit de corps,” said Air Force Brig. Gen. David Sanford, DLA Aviation commander, who authorized the patch. “Our Aviation patch highlights our Air Force members contributions to the joint mission and their ability to [support] the warfighter always.”