Uniform Insignia - Skill Badges/Tabs

Uniform Insignia - Skill Badges/Tabs

**Note: When talking about positioning of patches on the uniform, the cited positions are better thought of as general guidelines rather then hard and fast rules. If you see a patch that you think should be in one position and it's in another, more then likely the individual soldier just sewed it on wrong.***

Ranger Tab
Skill tab issued to soldiers who complete ranger training and is not restricted to any specific unit. Details about what makes up ranger training is unknown. The shoulder tab is placed on the upper right sleeve. In lieu of the tab, a patch with an upward-pointing dagger and unintelligible writing can be found on the upper left or right sleeve.

(Mehr News, Fars News, IRNA)

Commando Tab

(Danilo Matz)

Skill tab issued to soldiers who complete commando (Takavar) training and is not restricted to any specific unit. Details about what makes up commando training is unknown. The red and black shoulder tab is most often found on the upper left sleeve above the emblem of the Artesh or rank insignia.






Airborne
Not much is known. Probably the same as other tabs, i.e. issued to graduates of airborne (Havabord) school. The red and blue shoulder tab is most often found on the upper right sleeve about unit insignia. In open-source documentation, it is most commonly seen on soldiers from the 55th Airborne Brigade.

(Jamejam, MEcollectibles)

Desert Warfare

(Danilo Matz)

No information about qualification at this time. Typically worn above the right breast pocket.










Mountain Warfare

(Danilo Matz)

No information about qualification at this time. Nicknamed "Rambo patch" by some in army. Typically worn above, or on the left breast pocket. Relatively common.






Parachutist

(Fars News, MEcollectibles)

Issued to soldiers who complete parachute training. Come in three variants, one, two and three star, indicating basic, senior and master. No details available on what the requirements are for each level. Typically worn above the right breast pocket. Relatively common.


Parachute Instructor

Similar to basic parachutist patch, also comes in three variants, one, two and three stars. No details available on what the requirements are for each level. Worn in the same position as the parachutist badge.

(MECollectibles)

Parachute Rigger
Rarely seen, this red badge features a pair of wings flanking illegible writing and a parachute canopy below a stylized "Allah".











Free-Fall

While Iran is not traditionally thought of as a nation that has HALO capabilities. but the existence of this patch would indicate otherwise. Interestingly enough, three rings on the bottom are similar to those on the mountain warfare patch. Typically worn on or above the left breast pocket.







Judo

(Danilo Matz)

One of the more common patches seen across the armed forces. The hand to hand combat patch features an upward pointing dagger and "Judo" written across the top. It is typically worn on the upper right or left sleeve below shoulder tabs.










Unidentified

(Various Iran News agencies)

Close-up of #2 above (Eric Larson)

Unknown, possibly gendarmie related. and thus, obsolete (Eric Larson)

The author would like to express a special "thank-you" to the individual collectors who allowed the use of material from their personal collections to be used in this article which vastly increased the quality of the end product.