Play our music game. See if you can find the hidden
Army marches on our site. Click the icons you find on each page. Some have music
hidden
behind them, others do not. Good luck! Music courtesy USAREUR Band
August 2010
MISSION STATEMENT
Our Association is a
not-for-profit fraternal organization. It's purpose is a) to foster
camaraderie among the graduates of Signal Corps Officer Candidate
School classes of the World War II, Korean War, and Vietnam War
eras, b) to organize and offer scholarships and other assistance for
the families of Officer and Enlisted OCS cadre who are in need, and
c) to archive for posterity the stories and history of all of the
Signal Corps OCS Officers who served this great country. We are open
to ALL former Army Signal Corps OCS graduates, and
their families. Please, come join us. For more information about our
Association, to see a list of our Officers and Directors, or for
contact details, click on the OCS Association link at left.
If you have any suggestions for improvements to this site,
please send them
to WebMaster@ArmySignalOCS.com. We
are here to serve you.
It's Popcorn Time AGAIN!
If
you watched and liked the WWII movie we posted in June, then you
will love what we have for you this month. In June we posted
a movie sent in by Robert Oelrich, Class 10-42,
that showed his time as a Signal Officer during WWII. The
movie ran just over 1 hour.
This month we have Part II of Oelrich's
movie, which mostly takes place on Hawaii and runs a full 3
hours, 6 minutes and 29 seconds. It covers his time time
with the 443rd Signal Battalion, and has lots of great shots
of downtown Honolulu back during WWII, as well even more
interesting shots of the Signal group's effort to build a
communications link to the northern part of the island, to
link the radar site out there back to HQ in Honolulu. Duh...
kind of a late effort, no boys? The last time I was down on
the farm, the idea of closing the barn door after the horse
had already escaped didn't make much sense?
Anyway, it's great viewing to watch the movie and see what
people were doing and thinking back then.
By the way: there are some sections in this movie that
repeat themselves. We did not edit-out
anything from Bob's movie as he sent it to us. It is presented
here just as it was when we at the Association received it.
It may be less than a Hollywood production... but it's also
more truthful, entertaining, and a whole heck of a lot more
relevant than watching Jersey Shore or the Kardashians.
For those of you who did not see Part I, click this movie
camera icon to watch Part I:
For all of the rest of you, click below and enjoy! It's
great!
NOTE: For full screen viewing, after the movie
starts, right click on the screen and select "Zoom" then
"Full Screen." Hit the escape key at any time to get back to
normal size.
So now that you enjoyed
our movie, where's yours?
Come on you Korean and Vietnam vets... you aren't going
to let those guys from WWII outshine you, are you? Jeesh,
those WWII guys were working with 8mm film, and they are
still sending us more videos to archive than we are
getting from you Vietnam characters. Where's your sense
of pride? Where are your videos of your time in the
Army?
Come on troops, let's not get beat by a bunch of old
folk whose claim to fame was setting up a few VFW bars
we "First Lieutenants, Second Awards" could drink at
when we got home. Have you no shame? They had to teach
us how to get the best women, how to drink, how to win a
war, and how to take pictures of it too?
How about digging into your old footlockers and pulling
out some of those movies from Korea and Vietnam, and
sending them to us?
We need them. Truly, we do.
Do You Know How It All Started?
ARMY SIGNAL CORPS OFFICER
The
mission of the Signal Corps is to provide and manage
communications and information systems support for the
command and control of combined arms forces. Signal
support includes Network Operations (information
assurance, information dissemination management, and
network management) and management of the
electromagnetic spectrum. Signal support encompasses all
aspects of designing, installing, maintaining, and
managing information networks to include communications
links, computers, and other components of local and wide
area networks. Signal forces plan, install, operate, and
maintain voice and data communications networks that
employ single and multi-channel satellite, tropospheric
scatter, terrestrial microwave, switching, messaging,
video-teleconferencing, visual information, and other
related systems. They integrate tactical, strategic and
sustaining base communications, information processing
and management systems.
The Branch Insignia for our unit is: two signal flags
crossed, dexter (on or stating from the wearer's right)
flag white with a red center, the sinister flag red with
a white center, staffs gold, with a flaming torch of
gold color metal upright at center of crossed flags.
“Crossed flags” have been used by the Signal Corps since
1868, when they were prescribed for wear on the uniform
coat by enlisted men of the Signal Corps. In 1884, a
burning torch was added to the insignia and the present
design was adopted on 1 July 1884. The flags and torch
are, of course, symbolic of signaling, or communication.
Branch Plaque: The plaque design has the branch insignia
proper (red, white, and gold) with gold letters. The
outer rim is gold with a narrow band of orange. The
background is white.
Regimental Insignia: A gold color metal and enamel
device consisting of a gold eagle grasping a horizontal
baton from which is suspended a red signal flag with a
white center, enclosing the flag from a star at the
bottom, a wreath of laurel all gold and a top left and
right a white scroll inscribed “PRO PATRIA” at left and
“VIGILANS” at right in gold. The regimental insignia was
approved on 20 Mar 1986.
Regimental Coat of Arms: The coat of arms appears on the
breast of a displayed eagle on the regimental flag. The
coat of arms is: Argent, within a bordure Tenne a baton
fesswise Or and suspended there from a signal flag Gules
charged at center with a square of the first, in chief a
mullet bronze. Displayed above the eagle’s head is the
crest: On a wreath of the Argent and Tenne, a dexter
hand couped at the wrist, clenched, palm affronte,
grasping three forked lightning flashes, all Proper,
flashes Argent.
continued...è
Fog of War, or Just Fog of Reporting?
Back in September of 2006, The Washington Post ran a
front page story that said "Situation Called Dire in West
Iraq."
The interesting thing was that at the time, everyone thought
that the war in Iraq was going all squirrely. Things were
"terrible" in Anbar, and as far as the press was concerned,
America was in a mess as big as Vietnam, and losing.
Interestingly, while the article was being printed in The
Washington
Post, just two days before there was a meeting that was
held by a bunch of tribal sheiks in Ramadi, the capital of
Anbar no less, to decide whether to oppose Al Queda and work
with the Americans, or not.
Well, we all know what the result of that meeting was: the
"enemy" changed sides, helped us get to the root of the
problem, with the result that it changed the course of the
war. Of course, the Bush surge didn't hurt either.
Now, on August 19, 2010, America is marching out of Iraq with
its flag held high, the locals on our side (for the most
part), and while not a perfect situation, what is being left
behind is at least one that offers the citizens of Iraq a
better chance of ruling themselves than they have had since
King Hammurabi (Babylonia, 1792-1750 B.C.) was in charge.
Look. It's not perfect. First, nearly everyone agrees that we
should never had entered the damned country to begin with.
But regardless of what your view is on how and why the war
started, the fact is, when you put a bull in the China shop,
you own the broken glass you create.
As the Brits might tell you, going into Iraq was "a bit of a
rick..." Even so, now, on our way out, some might say "Bob's
your uncle." But the real question is, where was the
press during all of this? As far as I can see, the U.S. news
media failed to see not only what was happening in Iraq, but
the turning point too.
Are they doing the same in Afghanistan? Are they so "balls up"
(British) over writing about politics that they've stopped
reporting? Are they so "cobblers" to play politics that they
can't be "arsed," and that all they can publish is "two bob
bits"? As far as I'm concerned, the American press is little
more than a bunch of "plonkers" that couldn't "play a
straight bat" if they had to. They're nothing but "dossers."
What are your thoughts? Is it time that the American press
changes the way it approaches the news? Are they failing to
report on the important developments, those that show how
the war is going, in favor of shock journalism or
party politics? As Jim Michaels of USA Today said, "...if we
applied today's press standards to WWII, the headlines after
D-Day would have read: '10,000 Allies Killed or Wounded in
Record Violence.' "
Something is wrong folks. We of my generation didn't get our
fair shake from the press for what was clearly a malformed
war in Vietnam. But hey, that was in the past, and I'm over
it. Yet still, I can't help but feel that I don't want that
long line of Army officers that followed us to end up in the
same boat today that the press tried to sink us in, in the
past. As the Army Manual of Leadership Statements and Quotes
says, "What is past is prologue." It's just too damned bad
that the press doesn't understand this. Where from our
perspective "The soldier must be rooted in the past to
understand the present so that he may project himself into
the future." From the press' standpoint, they could care
less about learning from their own mistakes. All they care
about today is getting their byline in the news.
To download your own copy of the Army Manual of Leadership
Statements and Quotes, click the PDF icon. If you have a
comment or two that you want us to print, by all means send
it to us.
Symbolism of Regimental Insignia: The gold eagle holds
in his talons a golden baton, from which descends a
signal flag. The design originated in 1865 from a
meeting of Signal Corps officers, led by Major Albert
Myer, the Chief Signal Officer, in Washington, DC. The
badge was a symbol of faithful service and good
fellowship for those who served together in war and was
called the “Order of the Signal Corps.” The motto “PRO
PATRIA VIGILANS” was adopted from the Signal School
insignia and serves to portray the cohesiveness of
Signal soldiers and their affiliation with their
regimental home. The gold laurel wreath depicts the
myriad of achievements through strength made by the
Corps since its inception. The battle star centered on
the wreath represents formal recognition for
participation in combat. It adorned a Signal flag and
was first awarded to Signal Corps soldiers in 1862. The
battle star typifies the close operational relationship
between the combined arms and the Signal Corps.
The Coat of Arms has the Signal flag suspended from a
baton, which was adopted from the badge that originated
in 1865 and was called the “Order of the Signal Corps.”
The bronze battle star represents formal recognition for
participation in combat; it adorned a signal flag and
was first awarded to Signal Corps soldiers in 1862.
Orange and white are the traditional colors of the
Signal Corps. The hand on the crest personifying the
Corps has grasped the lightning from the heavens, and is
applying it to military communications.
Branch Colors: Orange piped with white. Orange - 65004
cloth; 67110 yarn; PMS 1655. White - 65005 cloth; 67101
yarn; PMS White. Orange was selected in 1872 as the
Signal Corps branch color. In 1902, the white piping
was added to conform to the custom that prevailed of
having piping of a different color for all branches
except the line branches.
Birthday: 21 June 1860. The Signal Corps was authorized
as a separate branch of the Army by act of Congress on 3
March 1863. However, the Signal Corps dates its
existence from 21 June 1860 when Congress authorized the
appointment of one signal officer in the Army, and a War
Department order carried the following assignment:
“Signal Department - Assistant Surgeon Albert J. Myer to
be Signal Officer, with the rank of Major.
This page updated 23 August 2010. New content will be
added throughout August and September. A new Home Page will
be published in late September Please check back often.
NOTE: If you see factual errors in our
content, or disagree with anything we say on this site, please send us
an eMail at:
WebMaster@ArmySignalOCS.com.
We will be more than happy to publish your comments on our Home Page.
However, you must identify
yourself to us so that we can attribute your comments to you. If you
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know... but please still identify yourself to us so that at least we
know who you are.
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