This is the Det patch from the HSL-42 squadron created for their participation in the exercise “UNITAS” in 2005, which is held every year. The annual UNITAS deployment is a primary means of supporting regional stability in the Western Hemisphere. Five months each year, regular and reserve surface combatants and P-3C aircraft, a submarine and Marines embarked on an amphibious ship, circumnavigate South America. The largest annual field exercise south of the U.S. border, UNITAS has been conducted for nearly half a century. In the early years of UNITAS, a single U.S. Task Group would circumnavigate South America and conduct bilateral exercises as it steamed from country to country. Some called it a “cocktail cruise” because it was highlighted by Navy band concerts and never-ending social events. But today’s new UNITAS is not your father’s UNITAS – it is about building multinational coalitions and defending the Americas. The social events have not gone entirely away, but the training is more intense, challenging and relevant than ever before. This patch does not come with velcro attached.
