Commonly referred to as a unit crest, the Distinctive Unit Insignia (DUI) of the 181st Field Artillery Regiment was originally approved for the 109th Cavalry Regiment, Tennessee National Guard (TNG) on 31 May 1939. Since then, it has been redesignated several times to reflect the unit’s changing status. These include for the 181st Field Artillery Regiment, TNG (December 1940 and October 2005), the 181st Field Artillery Battalion, TNG (May 1943), 181st Armored Field Artillery Battalion, TNG (October 1955), the 181st Artillery, TNG (October 1960), and the 181st Field Artillery (July 1972).
Commonly called a unit crest or DUI for short, the 181st Field Artillery Regiment Distinctive Unit Insignia has a yellow shield to denote the organization’s origins as a Cavalry Regiment. (“Hit ‘Em First,” the Regimental motto, is just as applicable to a Cavalry unit as it is for Field Artillery.) A giant cactus in the center of the shield portion of the insignia recalls Mexican Border duty in 1916, while the three lions rampant represent three World War I campaigns: Flanders, Somme, and Ypres.
The 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.
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Organized in the U.S. Army Regimental System, the 181st Field Artillery Regiment consists of a single battalion, the 1st, which is a unit in the 230th Sustainment Brigade, Tennessee Army National Guard. The Regiment’s origins go back to July 1916 and the constitution of a squadron of cavalry in the Tennessee National Guard. Following reorganization and induction into Federal service in 1917, the unit had evolved into the 114th Machine Gun Battalion and the 105th Trench Mortar Battery. Assigned to the 30th Division, the two units would earn battle honors from three World War I campaigns (see above) for the Regiment.
Demobilized in 1919, the two units would be reorganized in the Alabama, North Carolina, and Tennessee National Guard as the 109th Cavalry and assigned to the 23rd Cavalry Division. By 1938, the 109th consisted solely of Tennessee National Guard units, and in October 1940 it was converted and redesignated as the 181st Field Artillery and relieved from assignment to the 23rd Cavalry Division. The Regiment would be broken up and its 1st Battalion redesignated as the 181st Field Artillery Battalion in March 1943; it would take part in three Asiatic-Pacific Theater campaigns during World War II and be awarded a Philippine Presidential Unit Citation.
Following the war, the Battalion was reorganized once again as a Regiment, the 181st Artillery, consisting solely of the 1st Howitzer Battalion, an element of the 30th Infantry Division. It was redesignated as the 181st Field Artillery in May 1972 and reorganized under the U.S. Army Regimental System in 1989. Its participation in two Gulf War campaigns in 1990-1991 as part of the 196th Field Artillery Brigade—one of only two Army National Guard units to see actual combat—was the Regiment’s first combat deployment since World War II, and it would not be repeated until the launch of the War on Terrorism. In 2006, it was redesignated as the 181st Field Artillery Regiment, the same year the 196th Field Artillery Brigade became the 230th Sustainment Brigade.
As of Autumn 2023, the 1st Battalion, 181st Field Artillery Regiment is assigned to the 30th Troop Command, Tennessee Army National Guard. It is headquartered in Chattanooga, Tennessee.