An Army Reserve unit headquartered at Fort Meade, Maryland, the 400th Military Police Battalion is a subordinate unit of the 333rd Military Police Brigade, 200th Military Police Command. It was originally constituted on 19 November 1944 in the Army of the United States as the 400th Military Police Battalion and activated the following day in France. After taking part in two European campaigns in World War II, the unit was inactivated in April 1946 and subsequently allotted to the Organized Reserves and concurrently reactivated on 1 May 1947. (The Organized Reserves became the Army Reserve in July 1952.)
Inactivated May 1959, the Headquarters and Headquarters Detachment, 400th Military Police Battalion was reactivated in September 1989. It was deployed in support of Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm, taking part in two campaigns before being released from active Federal service on 20 Ma 1991 and returning to Reserve status. It would be called into active service on three more occasions between October 2001 and November 2007, earning credit for Participation in the Iraqi Surge campaign in the Iraq Theater of the War on Terrorism.
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Commonly called a unit crest or DUI for short, the 400th Military Police Battalion Distinctive Unit Insignia employs the green and yellow colors that are the official branch colors of the Military Police Corps. A standing cock is a symbol of vigilance, watchfulness, and warning, recalling the unit motto of “Watchful Always.” The pair of cockerels in the blazon are to commemorate the unit’s participation in the Rome-Arno and Rhineland campaigns during World War II.
Also known as a unit crest or DUI, a Distinctive Unit Insignia is worn by all Soldiers (except General Officers) in units that have been authorized to be issued the device. It is worn centered on the shoulder loops of the Army Green Service Uniform (AGSU) and the blue Army Service Uniform (ASU, Enlisted only) with the base of the insignia toward the outside shoulder seam. Enlisted personnel wear the insignia centered on a shoulder loop by placing it an equal distance from the outside shoulder seam to the outside edge of the shoulder-loop button. Officers (except Generals) wearing grade insignia on the shoulder loops center the DUI by placing it an equal distance between the inside edge of the grade insignia and the outside edge of the button.
More guidance on wear of the DUI is found in DA Pamphlet 670-1, Section 21-22, "Distinctive unit insignia" and 21–3(d) and (e), "Beret" and
"Garrison Cap," respectively.