Emblemat: U.S. Army Pathfinder

U.S. Army Pathfinder Badge

Awarded to soldiers successfully completing the three week U.S. Army Pathfinder School at Fort Benning, Georgia. Soldiers must successfully field navigate “dismounted” (on foot) and establish and operate a day/night helicopter landing zone, establish and operate a day/night CARP, GMRS, and Army VIRS parachute DZ, conduct slingload operations, and provide air traffic control and navigational assistance to airborne operations. Training includes instruction in advanced land navigation, advanced scouting, tactical field air traffic control, and parachute operations control culminating in a three day FTX field simulation operation as a member of a Pathfinder team. The badge’s wing suggests flight and airborne capabilities with the torch symbolizing leadership and guidance - implying pathfinder combat skills. The award was originally approved in 1964, but pathfinders go back to airborne operations in World War II including the Allied airborne D-Day landings at Normandy, France, on June 6, 1944.