Taking the Ceremony to the Soldier

CAMP ARIFJAN, Kuwait -- Soldiers of the 8th Human Resources Sustainment Center here didn't want to see one of their own miss out on their combat patch ceremony April 25.

So they took the ceremony to him.

Sgt. 1st Class Victor Rivera, 33, a native of San Juan, P.R., was in the hospital Wednesday afternoon. His fellow 8th HRSC soldiers had their patch ceremony as scheduled, but some felt Rivera shouldn't miss out just because he's under the weather.

"We're going to get the soldiers from our directorate, go to the hospital and give him the patch there," said Sgt. Maj. Paul Blanchard, the 8th HRSC's reception, staging, and onward movement directorate sergeant major.

After the unit finished its ceremony, about 12 soldiers from the RSO directorate headed over to Camp Arifjan's troop medical clinic.

They found Rivera in bed, an IV drip in his arm to keep him hydrated.

Lt. Col. Priscella Lewis, the RSO division chief, told Rivera she had something for him.

"We heard you were feeling better," she said, "and wanted to give you this."

Lewis reached in her pocket and pulled out the patch of the 1st Theater Sustainment Command, under which the 8th HRSC is serving in Kuwait. Taking the patch, Rivera placed it on the right sleeve of his gray Army t-shirt, where it would be on his Army Combat Uniform.

"I'd rather be in the office than here," Rivera said, smiling.

The combat patch, also known as the shoulder sleeve insignia-former wartime service, is a time-honored Army tradition that signifies a soldier's time served in a combat zone. While no specific time in a combat zone is required to wear the patch, most units do their ceremony after 30 days in theater.

This is the second deployment for the 8th HRSC, which is based at Fort Shafter, Hawaii. It was the first unit of its type to deploy in support of Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom, in 2007.

Rivera said that although conditions in the clinic were nice -- TV, Internet, a comfortable bed -- he was anxious to get back to work.

"I can't wait to get out of here," he said.