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 (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.
Enlisted personnel wear the insignia centered on a shoulder loop by placing it an equal distance from the outside shoulder seam to the outside edge of the shoulder-loop button. Officers (except Generals) wearing grade insignia on the shoulder loops center the DUI by placing it an equal distance between the inside edge of the grade insignia and the outside edge of the button.
Full 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.
♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦
Inactivated since 2013, the 27th Brigade Support Battalion can trace its history back to September 1921 and the activation of the 27th Ordnance Company at Fort Bliss, Texas, when it was first assigned to the 1st Cavalry Division—an association that would last for nearly a century. Redesignated as the 27th Ordnance Medium Maintenance Company on 2 March 1943, the unit would serve with the 1st Cavalry Division in the Pacific Theater and take part in the New Guinea, Bismarck, Leyte, and Luzon campaigns.
In 1949, it was redesignated as the 27th Ordnance Maintenance Company, and in 1950 it landed with the 1st Cavalry Division north of Pusan and supported the Division as it first staunched the North Korean offensive, then drove the enemy back across the 38th Parallel until the massive Chinese intervention in late 1950. Transferred with the division to the island of Hokkaido for defensive duties in November 1951, the unit was redesignated Headquarters and Headquarters Detachment, 27th Ordnance Battalion in January 1953. In 1965 it would be redesignated as 27th Maintenance Battalion, 1st Cavalry Division Support Command before deploying to Vietnam.
Inactivated in 1985, the Battalion was reactivated in 1987 as the 27th Support Battalion (Main). It would deploy to Kuwait and take part in all three Gulf War campaigns, and upon its return launched a series of exercises throughout the 1990s to prepare for support of the Division for any possible mission. The unit was again inactivated in July 2005, then reactivated in October as the 7th Brigade Support Battalion, 4th Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division. Fom June 2008 to June 2009, the battalion deployed to southern Iraq as part of the 4th Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division’s support to Operation Iraqi Freedom 08-10.
The 27th Brigade Support Battalion was inactivated at Fort Hood, Texas on 17 October 2013. Fort Hood would go on to be renamed Fort Cavazos in May 2023.