Distinctive Unit Insignia - Design

Design

The unit commanding officer requests approval of a distinctive unit insignia. A check is made by the Institute of Heraldry to determine the availability of a current copy of the lineage and honor statement and/or history for the unit. If such is not available, one is requested from the United States Army Center of Military History. The unit's history is reviewed to determine if the unit may inherit a previously approved distinctive unit insignia or if a new design should be made.

If a new design is to be made, careful study is made of the history and battle honors of the unit. The most important decorations, honors, combat service and missions are represented in the design of the insignia. Sometimes two centuries of history are condensed into symbolism for distinctive unit insignia.

A proposed design is created and sent to the commanding officer for review and concurrence. Upon concurrence by the unit commander an official letter of approval of the distinctive unit insignia is sent to the unit.

Manufacturing drawings and specifications are sent to a certified manufacturer which provides samples of the finished distinctive unit insignia to the Institute of Heraldry for approval. Once approved the manufacturer may produce this insignia. Each manufacturer has an identifying hallmark assigned by the Institute of Heraldry which is applied to the back of the insignia.

The shield shape design is used to identify color bearing organizations (for example, regiments and battalions). Other design patterns will be used for non-color bearing units. The design is based on war service, assignment or accomplishments. Cartoon characters or logos are not authorized as design elements. Symbols are to represent mission rather than actual equipment as equipment becomes out-of-date. Unit designations, numerals, letters, geographical outlines, reproductions of other insignia will not be included as part of the design.

Once a distinctive unit insignia is approved it is changed only when a heraldic or historical error is found. A modification of unit designation or mission does not permit a change to the DUI design. As a result, DUIs tend to further reflect the historic roots of a unit. For example, many older Military Intelligence battalions' DUIs feature teal blue rather than oriental blue, having been designed for Army Security Agency units which were designated as branch-immaterial. Likewise, those that began as Signals units typically feature orange. Color-bearing battalions and regiments continue to have insignia without the shield shape if they were formerly non-color-bearing units when the insignia was approved; this includes not only former groups and brigades that were down-sized, but as well flexible battalions (i.e., battalions composed of variable attached numbered companies, rather than fixed-TOE battalions composed of lettered companies which are organic to the battalion) which gained coats of arms and thus colors in the late 1990s, long after their DUIs were already approved.