The 168th Quartermaster Battalion Distinctive Unit Insignia, commonly called a “unit crest” or referred to as a DUI, was originally approved on 17 September 1969 while the organization was still designated as the 168th Field Artillery Battalion. It was redesignated in 1997 to reflect the organization’s new role as the 168th Quartermaster Battalion, Nebraska Army National Guard.
A pair of fleur-de-lis on the blue portion of the shield symbolize the two Presidential Unit Citations awarded to its forebear, Company E, 134th Infantry, for the extraordinary heroism it displayed during action at St. Lo and Bastogne during World War II. In the red section of the shield, the vertical pallets simulate gun barrels, an image that maintained its relevancy when the unit was redesignated from Infantry to Field Artillery in 1959. “Enforcers Of Democracy” was the official unit motto from the time the insignia was approved in 1969 until the Battalion’s deactivation in 2012.
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 168th Quartermaster Battalion was originally organized and Federally recognized as an Infantry unit, the 1st Separate Company of Infantry, in the Nebraska National Guard on 29 July 1920. It would be reorganized and redesignated on 25 October 1921 as Company E, 134th Infantry, the designation it would fight under during World War II. Serving with the Regiment in five campaigns in the European-African-Middle Eastern Theater (Normandy, Northern France, Rhineland, Ardennes-Alsace, Central Europe), the Company was awarded a pair of Presidential Unit Citations for its heroic actions in battles at Saint-Lô and Bastogne.
After World War II, the unit was reorganized and redesignated multiple times, the most significant coming in May 1959 when it was converted, reorganized, and redesignated as the 1st Howitzer Battalion, 168th Field Artillery, a parent regiment in the Combat Arms Regimental System (CARS). The unit would remain an Artillery organization for nearly three full decades when it was redesignated as Headquarters and Headquarters Detachment, 168th Quartermaster Battalion in September 1997.
On 15 April 2012, the 168th Quartermaster Battalion, Nebraska Army National Guard was deactivated during a ceremony held at the Scottsbluff Readiness Center in Scottsbluff, Nebraska.