81st SPS Patches

"Three variations of the subdued unit patch, two large and one small. There was never a color version of this patch but maybe someone knows differently! The other patch is the unusual 81 TFS Weasel Police patch from Desert Storm. This patch has caused some controversy in that some say it is definitely the TFS patch and not SP so if anyone can confirm that this is NOT an SP patch we can put the matter to rest." Patch fotos courtesy of Colin at [email protected] . Thanks Colin!

The skull patch was designed by Bryon Beers, 81st SPS, 1984-87: "There was a contest on designing the 81st SPS patch back in 85. I worked a lot of dead post on mids as an airman & I liked to draw so put the two together and you had the ingredients for a patch design. The skull represented those who have died defending our country. The beret was a symbol of the Security Police. The highly polished beret sheld represented the high standards we maintained on a daily basis. The blue background represented the area of operations for the Air Force, the sky. The fig leafs framing the skull represented our primary duty, to maintain the peace. The upper jaw had 13 teeth representing the orginal 13 colonies and the lower jaw had 24 (I believe) representing the NATO countries. There were quite a few submissions but eventually our commander chose mine to be the squardron patch. It was required to wear on the uniform above the name tag. As far as I know there was never one created for blues only BDUs. On a side note, I later worked as the squadron self help person renovating the gate shacks and such, a position created by LTC Oliver Towns. Anyway, I would hand carve dart boards with the squadron emblem on the front double doors, on the side for people to give as going away gifts."

Gregg Cox says the following about the skull patch: "I was just looking at the site, as I do from time to time, and read the information regarding the skull patch. It might be of interest that the initial patch was produced locally in the UK and the size was not taken into consideration. A few years later, I am guessing 1987 or 1988, Air Force command said that the patches were not within the size regulation and had to be removed, thus the smaller version was created and issued. The older versions were removed and replaced with the smaller versions within a period of just two weeks.

The larger patches, as far as collectors are concerned, are unique and are not very common due to the unauthorized size.

I have been told that the second color varation in the large size is even more rare, as a large number of the first issue were produced and that production of the second issue was held at a minimum. I wore all three versions, and luckily I kept one of each of the original issues as souvenirs.

These are really Cold War patches as their use faded away only a couple of years after the Soviet Union disolved. In fact the Soviets at the time were very interested in the patch and believed it belonged to an Air Force Special Forces group, or so I was told by the Soviets at the time. During INF inspections I was not allowed to wear the patch, but the Soviets asked about it often. Just a bit of Cold War history and some extended information regarding the patch itself."