55th SRW OPERATION DESERT SHIELD
One of the very first patches made for Operation Desert Shield came from the 55th SRW. This RECON SAFARI 1990 patch, according to Major Greg Ogletree's ASMIC Article in the Spring 1995 issue of THE TRADING POST, was designed by Captain Steve Enswiler. The patch shows a raven with Arabian headdress, riding an RC-135 into the Middle Eastern theater of operations. A city and camel are visible in the background while the Saudi-Arabian crossed swords can be seen in the foreground below the RC-135. If you look closely enough, you can even see the cheeks on the RC-135 aircraft. Special thanks go out to Mr. Koen Leuvering of Eindhoven, The Netherlands who was instrumental in obtaining this patch for my own personal collection! Thanks Koen - without your help I'd still be after this patch.

About Andreas Hunold: Andy is a retired German AF MSgt, now working at the NATO Air Base Geilenkirchen, Germany as a local civilian and his hobby is the U.S. AIR FORCE! "I'm interested in just every USAF unit and I collect everything from fact sheets to base guides, photos and of course cloth patches! At present I have slightly over 10,000 USAF patches in my collection and quite a few from the 55th SRW."