Maj. Gen. Todd Wasmund, commanding general of U.S Army Southern European Task Force - Africa, wears the unit patch with the "Africa" bar on a visit to Bizerte, Tunisia, training sites on May 9, 2024, during the African Lion exercise. (Katherine Bustos Chaves/U.S. Army)
VICENZA, Italy — The U.S. Army Southern European Task Force – Africa has a new look for shoulder sleeves that makes a point of where its mission lies.
The word “Africa” is now displayed on a bar underneath the task force’s symbolic lion patch.
“It seems like a small thing, but it means a lot to us and our African partners,” SETAF-AF spokesman Col. Michael Weisman said about the patch change, which took effect Friday across the command.
Col. Matthew E. Kopp, security cooperation director for U.S. Army Southern European Task Force - Africa, speaks with Brig. Gen. Jethrow Chipili of Zambia during the African Land Forces Summit in Livingstone, Zambia, April 22, 2024. Kopp is wearing SETAF-AF's new patch with the added "Africa" bar. (Elijah Dority/U.S. Air Force)
The patch has gone through many iterations since the command’s founding in 1955, but this one is particularly meaningful, said Maj. Gen. Todd Wasmund, who leads the task force.
“We say that we are the Army command that wakes up every day thinking about Africa,” Wasmund said. “Changing our shoulder sleeve reflects that focus and continues the legacy.”
The command received Army authorization for the new bar on April 1 and members have been wearing it while in Africa, where it’s made a distinct impression.
Members of the Southern European Task Force - Africa, based in Vicenza, Italy, added an “Africa” bar to their shoulder sleeve insignia on June 21, 2024. (U.S. Army)
“On a trip to Ghana last year, the then-army commander, Maj. Gen. Thomas Opong-Peprah, stopped mid-sentence during a briefing to say how much it meant to see us change our symbols to emphasize Africa and our partnership,” Wasmund said in an email.
The SETAF-AF patch features the Lion of St. Mark against a red-white-and-blue shield, resting a paw on a book that says “pax,” Latin for “peace,” and holding a dagger that represents peace through strength.
The lion is the symbol of the Italian region of Veneto, where SETAF-AF is based.
The SETAF bar above the lion has reappeared over the years, most recently in 2008, when SETAF became U.S. Army Africa. In 2020, U.S. Army Europe and Africa consolidated, which led to the task force’s current name.
