History of the Patch

	MN-010 Grand Rapids Composite Squadron "Iron Rangers" Version 2, uncut

"Over the past nine or ten years since the beginning of the Iron Ranger patch, it has taken a few different forms. It actually started off being a patch designating the completion of a summer and/or winter survival/leadership school hosted by Grand Rapids. In the lower left part of the scroll, an "S" was for the completion of the week long summer course and in the lower right there was a "W" for completion of the winter encampment."

"Then in the mid 1990's it changed to say "GR" in the lower left and "MN" in the lower right which we had written authorization from the previous wing commander to wear on our right shoulder and with this variation the white letters may have been gold on a select few cadets that were trained above and beyond the training necessary for regular ground team operations and continued their education in woodsmenship, survival, advanced navigation, search techniques, leadership and were the cadre for the survival schools. Now with the new beginning of the cadet program in Grand Rapids, we have once again changed our patch to encompass the cadets that are not only from Grand Rapids. The change that was made is we took the GR and the MN from the lower parts of the scroll and replaced them with "MN" and "010" which is our unit."

Information provided by:
1st Lt Bruce Windorski
Grand Rapids Composite Squadron
October 27, 2004