Say hello to the newest logo for Special Operations Command Forward West Africa

I am impressed with the 25M skills SSG Williams. You didn't show much originality by superimposing a map of Africa behind a symbol from the '60s, but it will do. As far as the symbolism of the logo is concerned, I think everyone's concern is misplaced. Symbols are very important in most societies, especially in tribal societies with low literacy rates. Symbols are how they communicate without verbal interaction. If this were a product being disseminated out to a specific target audience for the purpose of influencing a change in behavior, then I would be concerned. We could not assume that anyone either within the intended target audience or tangential to it had never read the story of the Trojan horse and wouldn't associate it with the treachery of the Greeks. I would probably kill the product in a murder board. This particular logo, however, is not intended for use in a product or for dissemination to a target audience. It is for INTERNAL USE ONLY. In that case, I would look at the value that the logo had to identify the command, increase the morale of the unit, and symbolize the mission, values, and scope of the command. This logo seems to do just that. It tells you what the unit does and where it does it, and by using the old 10th SFG logo, ties the unit in to the historical SOF units responsible for the AO. This is good work, if not terribly original, that accomplishes the purpose for which it is intended. I suggest that people should leave the analysis of symbols and audiences to those who are trained and do it for a living.

Wow... Wow...
The design is great. Beats the hell out of the Vagina patch for Africom...
The heraldric devices might need some explanation to prevent certain imperial overtones. The Trojan Horse representing the overreach of Greek Forces in the Trojan Wars... which if I remember right lasted 9 years... not as long as some of the sieges the US has been involved in recently, but long for the era. It was also the symbol of the ultimate deception that undid one of the world's greatest city states.
The Thunderbolt of Zeus, supreme god on Olympus... representative of divine mandate? or manifest destiny?
Not saying this is what you wanted to represent when you created it... unfortunately it's what I see when I look at it.

Congrats! A history question for you though. Why the Trojan Horse? That has some "underhanded" tones to it. Sneak in, fool someone with a gift and then shove a spear down their throat.