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81st Airborne Ranger Insignia

Date: 1960s-70s

Description: One sleeve patch and three sleeve scroll variations, silk and machine made. The official name of the unit usually referred to as the Airborne-Rangers changed several times throughout its history. It was originally formed as the 91st Airborne-Ranger Battalion, but was later renamed the 81st Ranger Battalion. During Vietnamization it was expanded and renamed the 81st Ranger Group. Nominally under the Ranger Command (at times), in practice it operated as an autonomous unit, and was strongly linked to LLDB and Delta formations. Indeed, as a sign of this, members of the unit never wore the maroon Ranger beret, instead wearing the green berets of the LLDB (Special Forces). These reorganizational changes contributed to create a variety of insignia being employed throughout the unit's history. The items shown here above are the staple unit insignia. The triangular sleeve patch bears a small "81" in its design, and was the basic insignia used by the unit, though variations were also used. The scrolls were worn above this sleeve patch, and additional variations also exist. The top scroll and lower left scroll are for the reconnaissance elements of the unit.

Members of the 81st Airborne Rangers on patrol, 1960s-70s.

81st Airborne-Ranger member with above pictured patch and scroll (lower right).


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