Pershing Professionals Badge

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Pershing Professionals Badge
Pershing Professionals Badge.png
Awarded by 56th Field Artillery Group, United States Army
Type Badge
Eligibility Proficiency on the Pershing nuclear missile system
Status Discontinued
Statistics
First awarded 1968
Last awarded 1979

The Pershing Professionals Badge is a local individual award created by the 56th Artillery Group to recognize proficiency on the nuclear Pershing missile system. It was awarded from December 1968 through 1979. [1] [2]

Originally awarded only as bronze, the silver and gold versions of the badge were later developed. Cloth versions of the badge were also available. The badge and patches were locally procured in Schwäbisch Gmünd. The badge was colloquially known as the Pocket Rocket or Pershing Pickle.

Schwäbisch Gmünd Place in Baden-Württemberg, Germany

Schwäbisch Gmünd is a town in the eastern part of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. With a population of around 60,000, the town is the second largest in the Ostalb district and the whole East Württemberg region after Aalen. The town is a Große Kreisstadt since 1956, i.e. a chief town under district administration; it was the administrative capital of its own rural district until the local government reorganisation on 1 January 1973.

The badge went through some design changes:

The 3rd Ordnance Battalion allowed some soldiers to wear the badge for supporting the missile launches performed at Cape Canaveral and elsewhere.

3rd Ordnance Battalion Battalion in the United States Army

The 3rd Ordnance Battalion is a unit of the United States Army currently stationed at Joint Base Lewis–McChord. It is assigned to the 71st Ordnance Group at Fort Carson, Colorado, which is under the 555th Engineer Brigade at Joint Base Lewis–McChord.

Cape Canaveral cape at the Atlantic coast of Florida, United States

Cape Canaveral, from the Spanish Cabo Cañaveral, is a cape in Brevard County, Florida, United States, near the center of the state's Atlantic coast. Known as Cape Kennedy from 1963 to 1973, it lies east of Merritt Island, separated from it by the Banana River. It was discovered by the Spanish conquistador Juan Ponce de León in 1513.

The 3rd Battalion, 9th Field Artillery Regiment was the Pershing training unit at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. In 1976, they developed the similar Field Artillery Missileman's Badge for proficiency. The badge was a red rectangle with a silver missile and was awarded in basic, senior and master levels. [3]

Fort Sill military base

Fort Sill, Oklahoma is a United States Army post north of Lawton, Oklahoma, about 85 miles southwest of Oklahoma City. It covers almost 94,000 acres (38,000 ha).

The Field Artillery Missileman's Badge is a local individual award created by the 9th Field Artillery Missile Group to recognize proficiency on the various missile systems. It was awarded from December 1976 through 1979. The intent of the badge was similar to the Pershing Professionals Badge awarded by the 56th Artillery Group.

In 1978, the Army began to rescind authorization for local uniforms and awards and the badge was withdrawn in 1979. Remaining badges were generally given as gifts to departing members.

Related Research Articles

The MGM-31A Pershing was the missile used in the Pershing 1 and Pershing 1a field artillery missile systems. It was a solid-fueled two-stage ballistic missile designed and built by Martin Marietta to replace the PGM-11 Redstone missile as the primary nuclear-capable theater-level weapon of the United States Army and replaced the MGM-1 Matador cruise missiles operated by the German Air Force. Pershing later replaced the European-based MGM-13 Mace cruise missiles deployed by the United States Air Force and the German Air Force. Development began in 1958, with the first test missile fired in 1960, the Pershing 1 system deployed in 1963 and the improved Pershing 1a deployed in 1969. The U.S. Army replaced the Pershing 1a with the Pershing II Weapon System in 1983 while the German Air Force retained Pershing 1a until all Pershings were eliminated in 1991. The U.S. Army Missile Command (MICOM) managed the development and improvements while the Field Artillery Branch deployed the systems and developed tactical doctrine.

78th Infantry Division (United States) United States army division

The 78th Training Division (Operations) ("Lightning") is a unit of the United States Army which served in World War I and World War II as the 78th Infantry Division, and currently trains and evaluates units of the United States Army Reserve for deployment.

95th Infantry Division (United States)

The 95th Infantry Division was an infantry division of the United States Army. Today it exists as the 95th Training Division, a component of the United States Army Reserve headquartered at Fort Sill, Oklahoma.

This Pershing missile bibliography is a list of works related to the Pershing 1 and Pershing 1a Field Artillery Missile Systems and the Pershing II Weapon System.

56th Field Artillery Command unit of the United States Army

The 56th Field Artillery Command was a brigade size element of the United States Army. The unit was constituted in 1942 with the last period of active service being 1963 through 1991 with the nuclear Pershing missile system.

5th Field Artillery Regiment

The 5th Field Artillery Regiment was constituted as part of the Regular Army in January 1907. Individual battalions have lineages that date back further. Currently, it is a parent regiment under the U.S. Army Regimental System, with a single active battalion, the 1st Battalion, 5th Field Artillery, which is assigned to the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division at Fort Riley, KS.

59th Ordnance Brigade brigade

The 59th Ordnance Brigade is a military unit of the United States Army. The unit is currently stood up as the U.S. Army Ordnance School's training brigade. In its previous iteration, the brigade had more than 6,500 soldiers. It was responsible for storage, delivering, maintaining, Nuclear and Chemical Control Orders, and supervising the weapons of mass destruction for U.S. Forces and Forces of the Allied NATO-Countries, except France.

The 9th Field Artillery Regiment is a field artillery regiment of the United States Army first formed in 1916. The regiment served in Hawaii during World War I, 3rd, 4th, 7th, and 9th Divisions between the world wars, and with 3rd Infantry Division during World War II and Korea. Since 1957, the regiment has been a parent regiment under the Combat Arms Regimental System and the U.S. Army Regimental System, with regimental elements serving with the 3rd, 4th, 10th, 25th, 79th, 83rd, and 96th Infantry Divisions and various field artillery brigades and groups. The regiment's single active component, the 1st Battalion, 9th Field Artillery Regiment, is assigned to the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division and stationed at Fort Stewart, Georgia.

32nd Field Artillery Regiment field artillery regiment of the United States Army

The 32nd Field Artillery Regiment is a field artillery regiment of the United States Army, first Constituted in 1918.

41st Field Artillery Regiment

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44th Air Defense Artillery Regiment

The 44th Air Defense Artillery Regiment is an Air Defense Artillery regiment of the United States Army, first constituted in 1918 in the Regular Army during World War I. During World War II the unit served as the 54th Coast Artillery Regiment (Colored), a segregated unit with mostly African American enlisted men and white officers, one of the few African American artillery units in that war. A preceding unit in World War I was the 54th Artillery.

81st Field Artillery Regiment

The 81st Field Artillery Regiment is a field artillery regiment of the United States Army.

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The 84th Field Artillery Regiment is a field artillery regiment of the United States Army.

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Pershing missile launches

From 1960 to 1988 there were Pershing missile launches for testing from various sites in the US. The systems included the Pershing 1 Field Artillery Missile System, the Pershing 1a Field Artillery Missile System and the Pershing II Weapon System. Initial launches were from what is now the Eastern Range at Cape Canaveral, Florida using Launch Complex 30A using the dismounted erector launcher. Later launches were from the full transporter erector launcher (TEL). Further launches were conducted at White Sands Missile Range (WSMR) using tactical equipment. The Pershing 1 and 1a had a range of 740 kilometres (460 mi), thus launches were from various subinstallations into WSMR. The two-stage Pershing II had a range of 1,770 kilometres (1,100 mi), thus launches at WSMR used a single-stage missile with two-stage launches at Cape Canaveral.

Pershing II American ballistic missile

The Pershing II Weapon System was a solid-fueled two-stage ballistic missile designed and built by Martin Marietta to replace the Pershing 1a Field Artillery Missile System as the United States Army's primary nuclear-capable theater-level weapon. The U.S. Army replaced the Pershing 1a with the Pershing II Weapon System in 1983, while the German Air Force retained Pershing 1a until all Pershings were eliminated in 1991. The U.S. Army Missile Command (MICOM) managed the development and improvements, while the Field Artillery Branch deployed the systems and developed tactical doctrine.

55th Support Battalion

The 55th Support Battalion was a unit of the United States Army, which was last active from 9 July 1982 to 15 June 1991.

The United States Army Ordnance Munitions and Electronic Maintenance School (OMEMS) was a school of the US Army from 1952 until it merged into the United States Army Ordnance School in 2011. Its mission was to train military and civilians to safely disarm and dismantle explosives and repair and maintain electronics, missile and ammunition systems.

References

  1. ↑ 56th Artillery Group Reg 672-3 1968.
  2. ↑ Emerson 2004, pp. 93–97.
  3. ↑ Emerson 2004, pp. 95–96.

Bibliography

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