The Airborne background trimming, or oval, worn by personnel of the U.S. Army Garrison, Fort Bragg (now Fort Liberty) who have earned a Parachutist or Air Assault badge, was approved for wear on 24 March 2003. Then as now, the oval was approved for wear beneath these Skill badges when they were worn on the coats of Service Uniforms, the Service Uniform shirt (the AG 415 worn with the green Army shirt in 2003, the Class B ASU shirt today), and Army Maternity Tunics (female Soldiers only).
General wear guidance for ovals is found in
Chapter 21-32 (b) of the January 2021 edition of DA PAM 670-1. Detailed instructions regarding the wear and placement of skill badges with ovals is found in
Chapter 22-16 (b) of the same manual.
Fort Bragg was originally constituted as an Artillery training ground called Camp Bragg; its namesake, Confederate States Army General Braxton Bragg, was a West Point graduate whose timely placement of artillery fire during the Battle of Buena Vista in the Mexican War helped repulse a Mexican assault and seemed to portend a successful military career. But Bragg’s performance as General was at best inconsistent, with any of his good attributes (logistics and training) being far outweighed by a unhealthy constitution, disagreeable personality, and a tendency to shift blame when he met with failures (although in some instances his accusations of incompetence and disobedience by his subordinate commanders were true).
His record was so disappointing that many wondered why Army officials even thought of naming an installation after him in the first place, but that question became rhetorical with the renaming of Fort Bragg to Fort Liberty in June 2023.