drewchaneyau

There were no special uniforms or insignia in the period 1946-1991. Sorry.

Thanks.....Any idea what this insignia is for?

Good Day Guys....I need some authoritative help! Soviet Political Officers, Political Commissars / politruks etc etc.......has anyone got authoritative information on their insignia of office? I seek help too with the Academy awards. I know that the Lenin Political Academy existed, but have bo definitive example of what their academy awards look like. Can you help? Any help received will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks -Drew, Sydney

Good Day Group. Can anyone shed some light on Albanian Political Officers uniform and insignia regalia? Did they have specific regalia or attend at a Political Academy? Any information on this subject most appreciated. Drew - Sydney, Australia

G'day Guys n Gals....anyone out there up to date with current Japanese army insignia - branch, units etc?

Drew

G'day Gentlemen.......an amazing thread. I never knew of the Marine PK armband.......is this an acceptable representation thereof?

What about other armbands? Or do we just have the cuff titles?

Drew Chaney - interested in German KRIEGSBERICHTERS

Here it is. It's about 100 mm wide / 63 mm high.

Thanks Hugh.........do you know the exact designation of your item?

Drew

Drew,

This translates roughly as "Directorate of Morale Guidance and Public Affairs Kuwaiti Army". Hope this helps.

With regard to Saudi insignia these were once fairly freely available but since the security clampdown in 2003/4 it is now very difficult to come by any insignisa - I have contacts with the Britiah Military Mission attached to the Saudi National Guard (separte and disticnct from Minitry of Defence & Aviation) - I will ask if they are aware of such a department.

Owain

SUPERB...........All that internet surfing one Friday afternoon at work paid off.......my Boss will be glad I put his time to good use, ha ha........WONDERFUL to have confirmation. Again Owain, thanks for your wonderful help! Any chance of getting the Kuwait badges????

Rhodesian Intelligence Corps

This is a great photo, as it confirms that the badge I have and light blue felt backing do in fact go together............I thought it may have been a 'dealers delight' or just palin WRONG!

GREAT COLLECTION

Drew Chaney

A picture of 1POU beret and stable belt in my collection of worldwide PSYOPS items.

Let me know if you can help me........I collect PSYOPS worldwide. Drew

I can see why you collect the head gear. Their beret embelms are very impressive. The Psych emblem is very unique compared with the others! Was this a psych warfare unit or medical unit?

Most definitly PSYCHOLOGICAL OPERATIONS. The beret is for 1 Psychological Operations Unit.

1 POU established as part of the Corps of Infantry on 1 July 1977 and Headquartered at Old Cranborne Barracks, Salisbury (Harare). The main emphasis of 1POU was operations against the terrorists - structured towards psychological confusion of the enemy - the objective of so undermining his morale that he becomes unwilling to fight and is encouraged to defect from the forces of communism. Drew Chaney

Good Day guys - herewith a picture of my Indian and Pakistani Army Intelligence Corps insignia. Kind regards, Drew Chaney

ps - if you can to this page.........???? Fingers crossed, as theres no doubt a few holes in the collection.

Definitely ROC / ChiNat. I don't know about the blue / white flash, but the rest is the classic insignia of the Ministry of National Defense. I have one just like it except it has a wreath around and five-petaled plum(?) blosson on top.

Can you post a scan / picture of it for reference?

Drew

Thanks Owain.

Do you have much reference material on Saudi Army badges, unit patches etc?

Reason being, I was was wondering if such a unit exist in Saudi Arabia? I'd really like to identify such MORALE & GUIDANCE units. I know such units exist for Jordan, Oman and Kuwait......Am I on the right track with the follwoing picture?

Kind regards, and any help is always much appreciated -Drew

Hi, Drew, looking forward to seeing the medal. I used to travel quite regularly to Taiwan, and was able to amass quite a few TW medals. About the only down side to retirement seems to be that I don't make those trips any more (and that's not all bad, either).

However, I do have a card for a shop in Shi Men Ding, Taipei, which could probably meet you needs IF you can communicate with them in Chinese. Frankly, I doubt that they'll be much interested in the hassle of shipping to Australia, but if you can surmount the language barrier, it may be worth a try. Phone would probably be better than a letter to start with; it's too easy to ignore a letter. Of curse, the best would be to find a friend who would walk in their door.

I also saw your post on Korea. The ROK is extremely careful to safeguard their medals, and most of the shops wouldn't even talk to me. Don't know if they would be the same about insignia, but I suspect they would. I have no current info on PRC.

Please pass on.........I have a good mate in Taiwan who could pop a note or a phonecall their way. Much appreciated. Drew

Taz,

No they didn't mention that in their post. It is a very good question however. There was a post to a thread on Sondereinheiten.de Forum by PD47 that basically said the same thing as you did, on The Soviet Military Awards Page Forum, about graduates of the Wilhelm Pieck" Milit?rpolitische Hochschule der NVA. They went on to senior positions in higher formations at Regiment and Brigade level. There are references on the web to men in the rank of Oberst or Fregattenkapit?n attending MPHS so perhaps Political Officers started their careers in Officers School and before moving on to senior political appointments in the NVA had to attend MPHS. I'll ask that question of those who posted to the WAF DDR Forum.

Regards,

Gordon

G'day Guys....this topic is now fast becoming a crusade ........ My thanks for the renewed impetus and enthusiasm! Luckily it's still early days at work and the slow trickle of staff coming back from leave has resulted in me having a 'google deutschland' day....so a bit of info coming through, albeit in German. I'm trying desperately to translate....but it appears you are right. It looks like Officers pursue a normal career via the Land Forces, Air Force or Naval Officers Hochschule. Within the 2nd year of this officer schooling the cadets learn all about POLITICAL WORK etc...It is not clear if Political Officers are chosen, earmarked etc or steered in to the career of the Political Officer at this stage by higher authorities etc. It is clear though that after completion of Officers School the new young officer undertakes his / her first officers service position within a normal unit. After this service attendance at the Militarpolitische Hochschule Wilhelm Pieck is possible.........although not sure if this requires some sort of recommendation by a superior officer etc. I think the text then indicates that the young officer still undertakes their normal role whilst studying at Pieck......once all the subjects are under their belt and the course passed, the officer then becomes a strellvretreter to the battalion chief. Here the real role of political, social, cultural and morale enforcer comes to play, along party lines/ It appears once this occurs the career path as Political Officer is further nurtured by enhanced study at the Pieck Academy and possibly at the Higher Military Academy Friedrich Engels - and even further study in the USSR.

Drew

G'day....herewith an insignia I think is pre world war 2, pre-communsit Chinese. Any views?

Designation?

Circa?

Any help greatly appreciated. Drew

Greetings one and all. HELP........ Can anyone secure South Korean branch of service collar devices / insignia?

I seek to aquire the South Korean Army Troop Information and Education - TI&E Branch 'bell' collar devices. It would be so good to aquire such. Anyone able to help?

Drew

I seek the following insignia:

Hi, Drew, looking forward to seeing the medal. I used to travel quite regularly to Taiwan, and was able to amass quite a few TW medals. About the only down side to retirement seems to be that I don't make those trips any more (and that's not all bad, either).

However, I do have a card for a shop in Shi Men Ding, Taipei, which could probably meet you needs IF you can communicate with them in Chinese. Frankly, I doubt that they'll be much interested in the hassle of shipping to Australia, but if you can surmount the language barrier, it may be worth a try. Phone would probably be better than a letter to start with; it's too easy to ignore a letter. Of curse, the best would be to find a friend who would walk in their door.

I also saw your post on Korea. The ROK is extremely careful to safeguard their medals, and most of the shops wouldn't even talk to me. Don't know if they would be the same about insignia, but I suspect they would. I have no current info on PRC.

As discussed, herewith a picture of my Taiwan POLWAR Dept medal and other related ribbons. The 3 on left are definitly POLWAR whilst I think the one on the right of the medal is perhaps qualification, commendation ????

Drew

Hello there... I seek to inquire if anyone can help me with Royal Thai Army PSYOPS and Civil Affairs unit insignia?

Can you help?

Drew

Hello there. I am interested in learning if the current PLA General Political Department and it's Political Officers wear any distinguishing insignia or patches?

The PLA has recently issued smart new uniforms - both working order and digital camo combat. They have also introduced patches, insignia and various items of regalia. Does this insignia, patch and badge flurry extend to the GPD?

Any help here greatly appreciated. Take care

Drew Chaney,Sydney

G'day one and all. I seek to further my knowledge and collection of Taiwan Political Warfare insignia, regalia, medals, patches and badges. Can you help?

I seek POLWAR items from Taiwan Special Forces, Army, Navy, Marines and Air Force.

Drew

Greetings one and all. HELP........ Can anyone secure South Korean branch of service collar devices / insignia?

I seek to aquire the South Korean Army Troop Information and Education - TI&E Branch 'bell' collar devices. It would be so good to aquire such. Anyone able to help?

Drew

Thanks, I've got a fairly large colection of ROC medals, but have never seen this one before.

Hello Guys.....Interesting medal. I have a TAIWAN POLITICAL ACADEMY medal similar to the medal ribbon. I'll take photos of such and post accordingly. My items are recent. I am interested in learning if you chaps have a access to TAIWAN POLITICAL WARFARE BUREAU / DEPARTMENT military insignia, regalia and medals? Take care, Drew Chaney

Hello Drew and welcome,

I think it would be safe to say that a Cuban Political Officer would probably be trained at the Ministry of Interior (MININT)

Instituto Superior del MININT "Hermanos Mart?nez Tamayo"

(Hermanos Mart?nez Tamayo Higher Institute: Ministry of the Interior) which was founded in 1978-1979.

Not 100% certain of course.

He would then during his service, qualify for the Ministry of the Interior specific awards.

Medalla "Por la Seguridad del Orden Interior" (I) & (II) the three classes of the Distinci?n "Por el Servicio en el Ministerio del Interior" and the Distinci?n "Por el Servicio Distinguido en el Ministerio del Interior

come to mind.

I would think an acadamy badge too.

As Rick states all very new ground we are researching here, his boards in the Lieutenant General's insignia thread, a rank insignia chart and various qualification badges are all we have right now.

Regards Eddie

Thanks Guys........it is indeed a interesting one. My assumptions naturally make me think that with ALL the concerted effort applied by the USA in terms of PSYOPS - both tactical and strategic, the general Political Department within the armed forces would be pretty well entrenched, and Political Cadres located everywhere ensuring that Yankee propaganda was quickly discredited and the virtues of Uncle Fidel and the revolucion quickly entrenched / re-emphasised. My belief is, however, that this socialist state has a different structure to say the likes of North Korea where the military controls the state, and the communsit party is the state etc etc.....it appears possibly that in Cuba, the military knows it's place...perhaps a naive view!

Drew,

Here in Saudi the local bearded mystics who are employed by the Morality Commission or "Department for the Propagation of Virtue and the Suppression of Vice" (mutawin) wear everyday clothes and are usually accompanied when prowling the shopping centres by uniformed civil police who perform the dual role of validating the authority of the individual Mutawa in question, but also at times protecting him from any outraged victims. In 18+ years I have yet to see a uniform for such personnel and indeed wearing a uniform which would smack of nasty pervasive western dress, i.e. trousers, would not be in keeping with their world viewpoint. In visiting over the years the rest of the GCC (Gulf Co-operation Council - Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and UAE), Egypt, Jordan, Sudan and Syria I have seen no evidence of any such uniformed civil personnel. Iran of course may be different.

Regards from Riyadh,

Owain.

Hello Owain.....and thank you for you kind reply. Is their a morale guidance department inthe military? I attach a picture of a patch for your review and clarrification.......I seem to think that perhaps a difference between moral guidance and morale guidance is where I am going wrong in my research. Have a look at this....

Is that Saudi? Is is MORALE GUIDANCE ?

Kind regards....Drew