The 508th Military Police Battalion Distinctive Unit Insignia (DUI), also called a unit crest, was originally approved for the 308th Military Police Battalion. It was redesignated for the 508th Military Police Battalion on 15 June 1954 and was subsequently updated with an amended description on 27 July 2005. On the shield portion of the insignia, a striding bear and rising sun , both rendered in yellow and blue, allude to the State of California where the organization was first allocated. SINE PRAEJUDICIO is the Battalion motto and is Latin for “Without Prejudice.”
Distinctive Unit Insignias are 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. DUIs are not worn on the Dress variations of either uniform, however.
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First constituted in the Organized Reserves on 29 July 1921 as the 308th Military Police Battalion, the Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 508th Military Police Battalion is stationed (as of December 2020) at Fort Lewis in Washington. It was redesignated from the 308th MP Battalion to its current numerical and organizational designation on 1 June 1940, but it was not activated until 20 March 1944. It would serve in two campaigns in the European Theater during World War II.
The unit was reorganized and redesignated as the 508th Military Police Service Battalion on 20 October 1947, a process repeated in September 1951 when it became the 508th Military Police Battalion. It would be inactivated thirteen years later in German on 1 July 1964 and reactivated on 25 August 1967 at Fort Riley, Kansas. Four of the Battalion’s Companies (A, B, C, and) were inactivated while at Fort Riley on 1 November 1970, followed by the inactivation of its Headquarters and Headquarters Detachment on 20 March 1973.
More than three decades would elapse before Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 508th Military Police Battalion was activated on 16 October 2005. It would deploy in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom in January 2006 for a nine-month tour, earning a Meritorious Unit Commendation that was awarded in August 2008. The Battalion would earn a second MUC for a December 2013 to December 2014 deployment in support of Operation Enduring Freedom; it was also tapped for an Army Superior Unit Award for service between November 2012 and November 2013.
As of Autumn 2023, the 508th Military Police Battalion is assigned to the 42nd Military Police Brigade and is stationed at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington.