The 524th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion’s stint as a Transportation Corps unit is reflected in the brick red and golden yellow colors used in its Distinctive Unit Insignia, also called a unit crest or DUI. A red annulet simulates both a wheel (an allusion to movement) and an enclosure (symbolizing a terminal facility).The castle wall is used to symbolize obstacles in the path of a mission, and the arrow, often employed on road signs as indication of direction, implies movement control activities of the former unit. The arrow also represents warfare armaments, with the annulet and castle denoting a strong, flexible system of support as well as signifying the overcoming of obstacles and hazards.” Make A Way” is the unit motto.
This insignia distinctive unit insignia was approved for the 124th Transportation Battalion on 15 June 1967, but it was subsequently redesignated for the 524th Support Battalion, effective 15 October 1993, with description and symbolism revised. Today, it serves as the unit crest for the 524th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion.
Distinctive Unit Insignias are worn by all Soldiers (except General Officers) in units that have been authorized to be issued the device. 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.
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The 524th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion (CSSB) was originally constituted as Headquarters and Headquarters Detachment (HHD), 3rd Battalion, 48th Quartermaster Regiment ON 10 February 1936 in the Regular Army and was activated on 10 February 1941 in support for the U.S. Army Infantry School at Fort Benning, Georgia (Benning was renamed Fort Moore in October 2023). It was redesignated HHD, 3rd Battalion, 8th Quartermaster Truck Regiment on 1 April 1942 and deployed to Australia. It was reorganized and redesignated as HHD, 124th Quartermaster Detachment Mobile in December 1943 just prior to departing Australia to take part in the East Indies, Papua, New Guinea, and Luzon campaigns.
Converted, reorganized, and redesignated as HHD, 124th Transportation Corps Truck Battalion in August 1946, the Battalion would serve in Japan from October 1946 through May 1947, being redesignated as HHD, 124th Transportation Battalion in November 1946. It would then be inactivated in November 1947 and remain inactive until it was activated on 1 February 1967 at Fort Devens in Massachusetts and then deployed to Vietnam. After arriving on 24 July 1967, the went on to serve in ten campaigns before returning to Fort Lewis, Washington on 17 May 1971 for inactivation.
The 124th Transportation Battalion was activated once again, on 16 April 1986, at Schofield Barracks in Hawaii. It would finally be designated a Support Unit in October 1993 when it became the 524th Corps Support Battalion. From March 2004 to March 2005, the Battalion was deployed to Afghanistan as Logistics Task Force 524 to support Operation Enduring Freedom, and in 2006 it was reorganized and redesignated as the 524th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion; it would deploy under this designation in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom between August 2006 and September 2007. Two more tours in Afghanistan would follow, the first in 2009 – 2010 and the most recent from June 2013 to March 2014.
As of Autumn 2023, the 524th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion is a subordinate unit in the 25th Infantry Division Sustainment Brigade and is stationed at Schofield Barracks on the island of Oahu, Hawaii.