The 158th Field Artillery Regiment Distinctive Unit Insignia—frequently called a “unit crest” or a DUI—was approved on 14 January 1952 while the organization was still designated as the 158th Field Artillery Battalion. It was redesignated for the 158th Artillery on 2 November 1960 after the Battalion was reorganized as a Regiment in the Combat Arms Regimental System (CARS) and was subsequently redesignated for the 158th Field Artillery Regiment on 19 July 1972.
Its dominant colors, scarlet and yellow, have long been associated with Artillery units. The broad, inward-pointing Arrowheads stand for participating in assault landings in the Sicily, Naples-Foggia, and Southern France campaigns of the European-African-Middle Eastern Theater. A green wedge at the bottom suggests the mountainous terrain of Italy, while the fleur-de-lis is an allusion to service in France and Central Europe during World War II. The unit motto, “Unusual Efforts Expended,” is at once eminently understandable, yet is also singular in achieving the goal of leaving the reader wondering who originally uttered the phase and under what circumstances.
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The 158th Field Artillery Regiment was originally constituted in the Oklahoma National Guard on 26 February 1920 as the 158th Field Artillery. After induction into Federal service in 1940, the Regiment was broken up with its HQ and HQ Battery disbanded and the 1st Battalion being redesignated as the 158th Field Artillery Battalion (the 2nd Battalion began a separate lineage at this point). The Battalion would go on to take part in eight World War II campaigns credited to the Regiment, three involving assault landings (see above); the units that eventually became Battery B, 1st Battalion in the post-1989 iteration of the Regiment also earned credit for the Northern France campaign. The Battalion also earned a French Croix de Guerre with Palm credited to the Regiment as a whole, with the units eventually forming Battery C, 1st Battalion also being individually awarded a Presidential Unit Citation.
Between World War II and the Korean War, the Headquarters, 158th Field Artillery was reconstructed and consolidated with the unit, which retained the designation of 158th Field Artillery Battalion; it would fight in four Korean War campaigns and be awarded a Republic of Korea Presidential Unit Citation. The Battalion returned to Regimental status in CARS in 1959 and was organized to consist of two Battalions, a number that was reduced to one in 1977 and never increased. After withdrawing from CARS in 1989, the Regiment was deployed for the Gulf War in 1990-1991 and fought in two of its campaigns, and in the War on Terrorism it has been deployed on several occasions and earned credit for two Iraqi campaigns (Iraqi Surge and Iraqi Sovereignty). A September 2008 reorganization made 1st Battalion, 158th Field Artillery an element of the 45th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, but it has subsequently been reorganized so that it is part of the 45th Field Artillery Brigade, Oklahoma Army National Guard.
As of Summer 2023, the 1st Battalion, 158th Field Artillery Regiment is stationed at Fort Sill in Lawton, Oklahoma.