Air Force ROTC cadet Kaytlin Morgan was looking for a way to contribute to Troy University’s Detachment 17 when the need for a new patch design was brought up to the cadre by her commanding officer, Lt. Col. Stephen Cox.

“I have a history in the artistic field, and I thought this was a way, as a new cadet, to help my Det,” she said. “It let me put my stamp on it.”

Morgan, a Troy native, had done a lot of t-shirt design at Charles Henderson High School, and thought designing a new detachment patch was right up her alley.

“I was big into art my whole life,” she said.

Now, the newest patch incorporates a modernized Air Force (complete with silhouettes of F-22 Raptors), TROY colors and the Trojan helmet.

“The seniors were asked to come up with a decision brief, and they had been talking about the patch design, realizing there was nothing in the old patch that had TROY – no school colors and you couldn’t see the ‘Hector Head’ logo,” Cox said. “Cadet Morgan took the initial step and the only one out of the cadet corps to take the initiative to design a new patch.”

From Morgan’s design, Cox said it was a matter of coordinating the approval process both through TROY’s marketing office and the Air Force. The new patches arrived in June.

“It really embodies the heraldry of the detachment,” said Capt. Noah Warren, the detachment’s recruiting officer and an assistant professor of aerospace studies. “Going back to the ’70s, the patch had a Trojan helmet, it added aircraft in the ’80s and it has reflected the modernization of the Air Force, and the color scheme of using Trojan colors goes back to the late ’80s or early ’90s.” 

Det. 17’s former patches have also featured the profiles of the F-15 and F-16.

“We were excited to see the original concept when Cadet Morgan presented it,” Warren said. “It was a huge step for the detachment.”