Commonly called a unit crest or DUI for short, the former Distinctive Unit Insignia of the 156th Signal Battalion, which is now designated the 156th Expeditionary Signal Battalion, was approved on 25 July 1968. It is not clear when this insignia was rescinded, but its replacement was approved 14 October 2016. Orange and white are used throughout the insignia to denote its status as part of the Signal Corps. An image of an oriental dragon is a reference to service in the Asiatic-Pacific Theater in World War II (see below), while the chevron with wavy bars symbolizes the Rhine River and stands for the European Theater. The torch’s eight vertical black and white bars denotes the battle honors earned during both World Wars, while the flame of the torch stands for the function of the Signal Corps. AUDIATOR VERBUM, the unit motto, is Latin for “Let The Word Be Heard.”
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. 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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All of the 156th Signal Battalion’s Campaign Participation Credits are for conflicts that took place before the unit was constituted in the Michigan Army National Guard on 13 February 1959. The explanation? It was organized from existing units in southern Michigan which brought their battle honors and decorations with them as they were folded into the new organization. Consequently, none of the battle honors (campaign credits) are assigned to the Battalion as a whole, but rather to individual companies, namely Companies A, B, and C and the Headquarters Company.
Of the three, Company C has the fewest campaigns to its credit (four from World War I); it also earned a French Croix de Guerre with Palm, World War I, as did Company A. The Battalion’s HQ Company’s lineage includes a dozen Civil War campaigns, the same four World War I campaigns as Companies A and C, and three World War II campaigns in the Asiatic-Pacific Theater; it was also tapped for a Presidential Unit Citation and a Philippine Presidential Unit Citation, as was Company B. In comparison, Company A is credited with eleven Civil War campaigns and four each from World War I and World War II, and it is the only Company to have a campaign streamer complemented with an Arrowhead device signifying participation in an assault landing in campaign (New Guinea).
Although the Battalion has deployed to Iraq in support of the War on Terrorism, the U.S. Army Center of Military History does not list it as having earned credit for campaign participation, but that may be due to a lack of updates. The Battalion's most recent activity was an April 2022 deployment of some 350 of its Soldiers to the Middle East, where they were placed under the command and control of U.S. Central Command.