Originally approved on 25 August 1954 for the 945th Antiaircraft Artillery Automatic Weapons Battalion, the Distinctive Unit Insignia of today’s 193rd Regiment was subsequently cancelled just under two years later on 26 July 1956. It was reinstated and redesignated for the 193d Antiaircraft Artillery Battalion on 19 July 1957, only to be cancelled a second time on 15 August 1961. It became the 193rd Regiment Distinctive Unit Insignia (also known as a unit crest) on 19 June 1997.
This DUI, or unit crest, features a shield within a shield, with the interior shield colored white to denote the Infantry branch from which the organization descended. Eleven mullets (stars) stand for the number of battles and campaigns in which the unit’s predecessor fought in during the Civil War, while the scarlet fleur-de-lis signifies World War I service in France. The unit motto, “Blue Hen’s Chickens,” is a reference to the combative capabilities of the offspring of a certain hen owned by John Caldwell, Captain of the 2nd Company, 1st Delaware Regiment during the Revolutionary War; the Blue Hen was named the state bird of Delaware in 1939.
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.
♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦
The 193rd Regiment was originally constituted on 4 May 1921 as the 2nd Battalion, 198th Artillery (Antiaircraft) Coast Artillery Corps and organized from former element of the 1st Delaware Infantry. Inducted into Federal service as the 2nd Battalion, 198th Coast Artillery (Antiaircraft), the unit was deployed in the Asiatic-Pacific Theater and took part in several campaigns including Guadalcanal, New Guinea, and the Southern Philippines before inativatoin in February 1946.
In October 1949, it was reorganized as the 193rd Antiaircraft Artillery Gun Battery, a process repeated in July 1951 to create the 193rd Antiaircraft Artillery Automatic Weapons Battalion. Consolidated in 1959 with the 198th Artillery, it was reconstituted in December 1996 as Headquarters, 193rd Regiment, Regional Training Institute. Since then, the Regiment has operated and managed the Institute, which offers classes in Military Occupational Specialties related to the Signals branch (specifically interoperability between various agencies in response to disasters and domestic emergencies) and Combative Medicine, Leadership and Instructor courses, and an Officer Candidate School. Courses and programs are open to Soldiers from all three branches of the Army (active, Reserve, National Guard) regardless of their location.