U.S. ARMY 31ST CAVALRY REGIMENT UNIT CREST (DUI)

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.
CELER ET NON VISI, unit motto of the 31st Cavalry Regiment, is Latin for “Swift And Unseen” and is embodied by the black panther in the middle of the shield portion of the 31st Cavalry Regiment Distinctive Unit Insignia. The scarlet and white of the shield are the colors used for a Cavalry troop guidon, with the black of the panther also denoting strength and solidarity. The claws and paws found on each end of the motto scrolls indicate the unit’s tenacity and readiness for combat; the green of the scroll and the shrub on the shield signify both growth and terrain, the traditional environment for Cavalry units.

The Distinctive Unit Insignia for the 31st Cavalry Regiment was approved on 30 December 2003. The DUI is the ASU equivalent of the colored Shoulder Sleeve Insignia-Former Wartime Service (SSI-FWTS) patch worn on the left sleeve of the Army Green Uniform discontinued in 2015. However, the SSI-FWTS was brought back and redesignated as the Shoulder Sleeve Insignia-Military Operations in Hostile Conditions, or SSI-MOHC, with the introduction of the Army Green Service Uniform (AGSU) in November 2018.

The lineage of the 31st Cavalry Regiment can technically be traced as far back as 1820 and the Cavalry Troop of the 1st Regiment of the Alabama State Militia. But the book Armor-Cavalry Regiments, authored by Major Jeffrey Lynn Pope and Lieutenant Colonel Leonid E. Kondratiuk and published by the National Guard Bureau's Historical Services Division, sets the date as 1 November 1973 and the constitution of the 31st Cavalry, a parent regiment in the Combat Arms Regimental System (CARS) allotted to the Alabama National Guard. It was withdrawn from CARS on 1 June 1989 and reorganized under the U.S. Army Regimental System and headquartered at Sylacauga. Its sole unit, Troop E, was inactivated in 2005. (Note: those interested in the complete lineage are referred to the highly detailed Wikipedia entry for the Regiment.)