Johnny Cash Comes to Iraq

A Patch for an Army National Guard Unit Immortalizes his lyrics

Jun 29, 2007

Artwork of the Pale Horse Patch, LTC Maner, USANG

A picture of a patch from an Army National Guard Unit in Iraq brought about a search for its background.

While reading of a visit to Iraq by Senator Jeff Sessions (R-Ala) I noticed an interesting patch on his protective body armor. I am working on a book on US Army unit patches issued in the field and this one struck my eye. Using Photoshop I enlarged it and noticed the patch features a horse's head and a quote from the book of Revelations ("And I looked and behold, a pale horse and his name that sat on him was Death and Hell followed with him") with OIF and 1-131 next to it. Research pointed out that the “1-131” in question was most likely the 1st Battalion of the 131st Aviation Regiment, an Army Aviation Brigade in the Alabama Army National Guard (with a company from Arkansas). When contacted for further assistance Lt. Col. Robert Horton, Public Affairs Officer with the Alabama National Guard forwarded my email to Lt Col Zachary Maner, commander of 1-131 Avn (call sign "PaleHorse 06"). In luck I had found the correct unit to match the mystery patch and LTC Maner emailed me back.

From his email:

"I am the commander of the 1-131st Aviation "Pale Horse" Battalion. This patch was designed for our battalion specifically for our OIF {Operation Iraqi Freedom} rotation. There were several of us that came up with the idea as we were driving back from a training exercise at Fort Sill, OK back to Fort Hood, TX during our mobilization train up for OIF 06-08. Our Brigade HQ is known as TF Mustang so we thought it appropriate to have a "horse" theme. As we discussed this for several hours and over dinner, we ended up on the Pale Horse from a Johnny Cash song "The Man Comes Around". Further investigation as to the source in the Bible revealed it was Revelations verse 6:8...OIF rotation 6:8? Could it be? A cold chill swept over us and the Pale Horse Battalion was born!"

LTC Maner attached artwork of the patch in question that had been included below. The patch is a deployment patch, otherwise known as an unofficial patch. These are not entered into the regular heraldry of the unit by the Army's Heraldry Branch nor adopted as the official Distinctive Unit Insignia (DUI) but are more collectible and many times as interesting both in meaning to members of the unit and to military historians.

The 1-131st is currently assigned to Task Force Mustang, a composite army aviation unit of five battalions formed from National Guardsmen from 44 states as well as active duty men. The battalion principally flies Blackhawk helicopters from Camp Anaconda (Balad Air Base) in support of combat mission all over the theater. They have been in Iraq since the summer of 2006 and are set to come home in August 2007. Tragically they recently lost a ship, Easy Four Zero, with her four man crew in action.

Godspeed Pale Horse.

Sources

Email from LTC Maner May 16, 2007, copy in my possession.

Global Security.com URL http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/agency/army/1-131avn.htm, last verified 29 June 2007.

“Blackhawk crews mourn deaths of soldiers” Mike Marshall the Montgomery Advertiser, June 17, 2007

The copyright of the article Johnny Cash Comes to Iraq in Modern War is owned by Christopher Eger. Permission to republish Johnny Cash Comes to Iraq in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.