Sunday 1 February 2015

77 Brigade (British Army)

This post is about possible insignia for the Army's 77 Brigade, which is a new unit that will formally be raised in April. This is a specialist unit that will use psychological operations and social media to help fight in "the information age." No doubt a response to the impact social media is having on the current conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East. Now its not a specialist corps (like the Engineers, Medics, Logistics etc) so it won't have a cap badge, however as a brigade it will have an arm patch (known as a Tactical Recognition Flash or TRF in the UK armed forces). In a typical army uniform you will find two TRFs, the one on the right arm is a regiment/corps flash, the one on the left below a Union Flag is a Brigade/Task Group flash.  So here is my design for a brigade flash for 77 Brigade:
Its designed to look like a computer "mouse" with the number 77 on it. The "77" is upside down and the two digits are facing each other, this is a reference to the cursor arrow that you are probably looking at right now. The colours have no real meaning and were chosen for their distinctiveness.

I also read that although an army brigade, under army command that will fit into the army structure, it will also include personnel from the Royal Navy, Royal Air Force and civilian services, This got me thinking and perhaps my imagination ran away with me on this one, but perhaps this unit could be the forerunner to a fourth armed service. I know it sounds far fetched but lets look at history;
100 years ago wars were begging to be fought in the sky as well as on land and sea, both the army and navy had airbourne branches in their structure, but it wasn't until 1918, the last months of WW1 that the Royal Air Force was formed.
As the air became a new theater of conflict back then, cyberspace and the internet has become a new theater of conflict in the present, that as demonstrated by cyber attack allegedly by North Korea on US and South Korean companies show, some nations are already using.
So if a new branch of the armed forces is set up for online warfare, a cyber corps, what will be its insignia? This is my idea:
It features two crossed swords, and a torch, piercing a globe, This is flanked on each side by two old fashion feather quills, joined by a lock. The motto "Vigorous and Vigilant" is on scroll which stretches from the top corner of the dexter quill to the top corner of the sinister quill. This is all topped by a St Edwards Crown, the current crown of state. 
The torch signifies truth and knowledge, it is also often associated with signals and communication in military heraldry, aspects of which would certainly be used in this service. The quills symbolise communication through the written (or typed) word, the swords represents military endeavor. The globe symbolises the World Wide Web, and the lock symbolises security. 
But as I said perhaps my imagination ran away with me a little, but still I enjoyed making the badge, hopefully the quills don't make it look too much like a New Zealand army unit.

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