The Distinctive Unit Insignia of the 180th Field Artillery Regiment celebrates the organization's home state of Arizona with a radiant yellow (gold) star on a scarlet background, incorporating the branch colors of the Artillery Corps while borrowing imagery from the Arizona state flag. Below the star are three arrows that are taken from the badge of the former 158th Field Artillery Regiment, an organization in which this unit was once a component; they also represent the three World War II campaigns credited to the Regiment. VENCER, the unit motto, is Latin for “To Conquer.”
This insignia was originally approved on 2 December 1954 for the 480th Field Artillery Battalion. It has been redesignated twice, first for the 180th Artillery Regiment on 7 June 1960 and again for the 180th Field Artillery Regiment on 19 July 1972.
Also known as a unit crest or DUI, a Distinctive Unit Insignia is 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.
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 180th Field Artillery Regiment was originally constituted in the Arizona National Guard as Battery B, 1st Field Artillery on 16 July 1919. Organized and Federally recognized on 24 March 1921, the unit was redesignated as Battery E, 158th Field Artillery, an element of the 45th Division. After induction into Federal service in September 1940, it was reorganized and redesignated on 23 February 1942 as Battery B, 207th Field Artillery Battalion and relieved from assignment to the 45th Division (later known as the 4th Infantry Division). It was under this designation that the organization would earn campaign streamers for three World War II campaigns from the European Theater (Northern France, Rhineland, Central Europe). Although the Regiment as a whole is not credited with military decorations from World War II, the service of four individual batteries—HQ Battery and Batteries A-C, 1st Battalion—were honored with a Philippine Presidential Unit Citation.
From July 1947 until March 1959, the unit was designated as the 480th Field Artillery Battalion. On 1 March 1959, it was reorganized and redesignated as the 180th Artillery, a parent regiment in the Combat Arms Regimental System consisting of a single battalion, the 1st Howitzer. It was redesignated in 1972 as the 180th Field Artillery and subsequently reorganized to consist of the 1st and 2nd Battalions; it would be reorganized back to a single battalion in 1992 after having been withdrawn from CARS and placed under the U.S. Army Regimental System.
In 2007, the 180th Field Artillery Regiment’s two active battalions, the 1st and 2nd Battalions, were redesignated and deactivated respectively, leaving the 180th with no active units representing it. The Regiment’s service in Iraq during 2005-2006 was recognized two years later following the Regiment’s inactivation when the HQ and HQ Battery, 1st Battalion was awarded a Meritorious Unit Commendation in Department of the Army General Orders 2009-16 published 16 December 2009.