Military Specialty Patches

The original branch of service patches were introduced on 26 July 1969 by Ministry of Defense Order 190 at the directive of Minister of Defense A.A. Grechko.  The designer of the patches was the artist of the Technical Committee of the Clothing Supply Directorate of the Ministry of Defense, a man named A.B. Zhuk.  Originally the patches were to be embroidered, but this was considered to expensive.  Instead the patches were to be made of thermally molded plastic on a cloth background.
  

All conscripts, extended servicemen, warrant officers, and officer cadets were to wear the patches.  Order number 191 defined that the patch was to be worn on the left sleeve of parade tunics and overcoats 12 centimeters from the top point of the sleeve.  Initially 14 branch of service patches were introduced for the army.

The Ministry of Defense ordered changes to some of the existing patches and even established new patches prior to 1988.  These are discussed in more detail in the earlier sections about military specialty patches.  The patches used between 1988 and 1991 are displayed here for you to see.

Motor Rifles

Airborne

Band

Artillery

Construction Troops

Armor

Signals

Pipeline Troops

Motor Transport

Topographical Service

Railroad Troops

Engineering Troops

(Coming soon!!)

Commandant Service

The last patch of this series was established on 4 March 1988 by Ministry of Defense Order #250.  It created a patch for the Road Service troops (seen at right).

On 9 October 1989 the Ministry of Defense issued Directive D-49 which mandated that arm patches would be worn of the left sleeve pocket of the summer camouflage jacket for the airborne troops.  This was the last major directive concerning this series of patches.  In the late 1980's the Soviets attempted to replace these patches with a single unified patch, but the project never progressed past the design stage.

Back to Patches, Badges, and
Insignia of the late Soviet Union