Typically, the designs of an organization’s flash and its oval (background trimming) are highly similar, featuring both the same colors and the same general layout and orientation. But that’s far from the case for these two insignias for the 20th Special Forces Group (Airborne). Approved on 27 June 1967, the 20th Special Forces Group flash features a teal background, a red diagonal stripe, and a white border, while the Group’s oval—approved almost twenty years later on 18 May 1987—uses the national colors of red, white, and blue and has a gold border. (
Nota bene: According to the reference book
U.S. Army Patches, Flashes and Ovals by Barry Jason Stein, a flash and oval combination that both featured horizontal red, white, and blue stripes was approved for the Group in May 1987.)
Guidance on the wear of these patches is found in paragraph 21–32 of
Department of the Army Pamphlet 670-1.
Activated on 1 May 1961, the 20th Special Forces Group is one of two Special Forces units (the other being the 19th SFG) allotted to the Army National Guard. It comprises three Battalions, the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd, belonging respectively to the Alabama, Mississippi, and Florida Army National Guard. It also has Detachments based in North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Maryland, and Massachusetts, as well as a Company located in Kentucky.