PHILADELPHIA –
The flag symbolizing the Army’s newest major command, Western Hemisphere Command, was made in two weeks by two embroiderers at Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support, just in time for an activation ceremony where the flag was uncased, Dec. 5 at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.
DLA Troop Support’s Clothing and Textiles supply chain has a unique team of 13 embroiders in its Flag Room, where Cindy Chong, embroidery digitizer machine operator, and Nancy Chhim, sewing machine operator, made the first-ever USAWHC flag.
“It’s nice to be a part of something brand new like this, being a tiny part of this reorganization effort for the Army,” Chong said. “Design-wise, there’s something appealing about the simplicity of the eagle head on the globe, which is emphasizing the Army joining together for this one command.”
USAWHC unifies the former U.S. Army Forces Command, U.S. Army North and U.S. Army South into a single, four-star operational headquarters.
DLA coordinated the expedited order with representatives from the former FORSCOM, who created the flag design with The Institute of Heraldry, and The Army Tank-automotive and Armaments Command ’s Clothing and Heraldry directorate, said Flag Room Supervisor Adam Walstrum.
“This is a pretty common item, but this is a brand-new item, or re-flagging, so this is the first of this [command’s] flag that we’re making here,” Walstrum said.
Chong and Walstrum highlighted the collaboration between their team, TACOM and TIOH, in the efficiency of meeting this requirement.
“The coordination is important in order to turn this around in two weeks,” Walstrum said. “It’s definitely a big part of the support we provide that we’re right at the source, so we can work with TIOH and get the approval to manufacture pretty quickly.”
From an embroidery perspective, the design is common to Army organization flags including the command’s insignia, and a designation scroll with the name “Western Hemisphere Command” below it, Walstrum said.
“The flag starts with the insignia device, the eagle and the globe being digitized and machine embroidered by Cindy, front and back, on an unfinished flag base,” Walstrum said.
Then the flag went to Chhim for completion.
“When Cindy finishes digitizing, she sends it to me, then I size the flag and fringe it,” Chhim said.
Chhim also applied the pre-embroidered scrolls to both sides of the flag.
“Both of them have the unique challenge like most flags, where things need to be as illustrated on both sides, so that everything is exactly as the drawing is, left to right, everything reads correctly on both the front and back sides,” Walstrum explained.
This first USAWHC flag will likely be one of few based on Army regulations, Walstrum said.
“Component Command flags are not mass produced, the limited manufacturing authorization makes these colors even more unique to each command,” Walstrum said.