THE SAPPER TAB
Time for DA to approve the U.S. Army SAPPER tab

"Sappers forward!"

Throughout history, Army units have been stopped by enemy mines and obstacles and to get moving again, have called on Combat Engineers---Sappers to come forward and clear the way under intense enemy fire. It takes a special Soldier who trains in peacetime with live explosives and studies the enemy's constant trickery to thwart our mobility, who is ready to give his life to clear the way for our Army to roll on; the day was saved at Omaha beach on D-Day when engineers exploded a way off the beach; thousands of trapped marines saved in Korea when a bridge was airdropped and built across a gorge; Desert Storm was won when Saddam's line of death was pierced by the mighty bulldozer blades and mine rollers of Army Engineers...

The benchmark school an engineer completes is the Sapper Leader's Course, which is comparable to an Engineer Ranger school. It embodies the spirit and technical expertise of the U.S. Army Sapper. It should be the goal of every 12B Combat engineer to go to SLC and earn the coveted SAPPER TAB, to insure our Army continues to roll along into the 21st century. And this story must be told to the rest of our transforming Army so that it knows that combat engineering is THE critical ingredient to Army victory by enabling the combined arms team to move, stop the moves of the enemy and survive the attacks of the enemy. To symbolize the Army's transformation to excellence, on the Army's birthday June 14, 2001 the coveted black beret will be standard head gear for all U.S. Army Soldiers. This sets the Army combined-arms team apart from the rest of the U.S. military.

Available from:

Ranger Joe's Militaria
5709 Bragg Blvd
Fayetteville, NC
910-864-0045

To further this identification of excellence, the subdued U.S. Army SAPPER TAB should be authorized for wear on the left shoulder of the BDU, and the full-color red/white tab for wear on the Class "A" uniform to identify those that take great risks for insuring our Army marches forward to victory. We have DA-authorized tabs for Airborne, Rangers, Mountain troops, and even civilian events like the top 100 marksmen, yet not for Sappers who perform hazardous duties daily. This is easy to fix;

1. ALL U.S. Army Combat engineers should agree to the approval of the wear of the SAPPER TAB by Sapper LC graduates,

2. The U.S. Army Engineer Association should make the DA authorization of the SAPPER TAB as an organizational goal it will fight for until success

3. Have ALL Combat Engineers, active, reserve, retired write to their Major Command (MACOM) and the Sergeant-Major of the Army and Chief of Staff requesting DA approval via the "system".

DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY
THE INSTITUTE OF HERALDRY
9325 Gunston Road, Room S117
Fort Belvoir, VA 22060-5579

Wear Policy
HQDA (DAPE-HR-PR)
Pentagon, Room 2B652
Washington, DC 20310

Awards Policy CDR, PERSCOM
ATTN: TAPC-PDO-PA
200 Stovall Street
Alexandria, VA 22332-0405

Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army: General Eric Shinseki
eric.shinseki@us.army.mil
Pentagon Room 3E668
Washington D.C. 20310
(703) 695-2077

eric.shinseki@us.army.mil

Sergeant Major of the Army

jack.tilley@hqda.army.mil

4. If prejudice is encountered by a ruling Infantry/Armor "clique" running the Army opposed to its Combat Engineers being properly recognized, then the U.S. Congress needs to be contacted and informed that its Army is not being run according to its self-avowed values of RESPECT, LOYALTY, SELFLESS SERVICE. The transformation of our Army must include TEAMWORK and esperit de corps not selective elitism.

To those opposed to the DA approval of the SAPPER TAB, I ask them what is the ethic of the U.S. Army Engineer? Is it to only do what is easy? What is politically convenient? Or is it "Let us try"?

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