The 386th Engineer Battalion Distinctive Unit Insignia, also called a “unit crest” or DUI, was approved on 16 December 1982. “Reinforce And Destroy,” the Battalion motto, is perhaps the most concise encapsulation of an Engineer unit’s mission ever crafted. Red and white are used almost exclusively for the insignia and are the branch colors of the Corps of Engineers. A vertical band in the center of the insignia, known as a “pale,” in heraldry, is embattled (much like the top of a fortified castle wall) and symbolizes the defensive construction duties of an Engineer unit (“Reinforce”). A disc with wavy blue and white bands, known in heraldry as a fountain, is an allusion to the unit’s home area of Houston, and the bayonet atop the fountain is an allusion the unit’s numerous battle honors and decorations.
Distinctive Unit Insignias are 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. 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 precise genesis of the 386th Engineer Battalion is not clear but it is intertwined with the 111th Engineers, apparently being reactivated and reorganized from elements of that Regiment’s 2nd Battalion; the 386th and other units formed from the 2-111th were assigned to the 49th Armored Division. On 15 March 1955, the 176th and 386th Engineer Battalions were consolidated and redesignated as HHC and Companies A-E, 386th Combat Engineer Battalion. It was mobilized in September 1961 in response to the Berlin Wall crisis and deployed to Fort Polk, Louisiana for exercises before returning to state control and assignment to the 49th Armored Division.
With the deactivation of the 49th Armored Division, the 386th Engineer Battalion was inactivated in 1968, with some of its and the 111th Engineers’ element being redesignated as Engineer Companies (236th, 271st, 272nd). But in 1973, the 111th Engineer Battalion was reconstituted as an element of the reactivated 49th Armored Division, followed by the reactivation of the 386th Engineer Combat Battalion in 1980. In 1995, it was assigned to the 49th Engineer Brigade. As if Autumn 2023, the 386th Engineer Battalion remains an active unit in the Texas Army National Guard and is headquartered at Corpus Christi, Texas.