Unofficially nicknamed “Gunslingers,” the 553rd Combat Sustainment Support Battalion was originally constituted on 23 February as the 553rd Quartermaster Service Battalion and was activated at Camp Ellis, Illinois on 25 June 1943. After three months, the Battalion was broken up and its elements reorganized and redesignated as Headquarters (HQ) and Headquarters Detachment (HD), 553rd Quartermaster Battalion (Companies A through D were reorganized and redesignated and began separate lineages at this point). HD, 553rd Quartermaster Battalion was inactivated on 11 November 1945.
A little over twenty-one years later, it was redesignated as HQ and HQ Company (HC), 553rd Supply and Service Battalion and allotted to the Regular Army on 19 January 1967; it was activated at Fort Hood (now Fort Cavazos) on 1 March 1967. On 16 September 1982, it was reorganized and redesignated as HHD, 553rd Supply and Service Battalion; it was under this designation that the unit deployed as part of 101st Corps Support Group, 1st Corps Support Command in support of Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm, taking part in two three campaigns in Southwest Asia. The unit was redesignated as HHD, 553rd Support Battalion on 16 October 1993 and in the 1990s took part in operations at Guantanamo Bay and in Somali.
The Battalion has been deployed in support of Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom twice, earning Meritorious Unit Commendations for its 2003 – 2004 and 2008 – 2009 tours. Between those deployment, the unit was reorganized and redesignated HHC, 553rd Combat Sustainment Support Battalion (CSSB) and was moved from 64th Corps Support Group to the 4th Sustainment Brigade at For Hood, Texas on 1 October 2006. In June 2015, the 553rd CSSB was realigned under the 1st Cavalry Division Sustainment Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division, an assignment it retains as of Summer 2023. It is stationed at Fort Cavazos (formerly Fort Hood), Texas.
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Often called a unit crest or a DUI, the 553rd Support Battalion Distinctive Unit Insignia features a black hub and segments radiating from it to denote the Support mission of the unit and the ability to provide a nucleus of personnel to operate centralized supply and stock-control activity. Blue billets suggest requisitions received (incoming) and reports pertaining to supply data (outgoing). Three black wavy lines are an allusion to oversight of petroleum supplies, while the wheel (hub) also denotes movement of all supplies by Transportation companies that fall under the Battalion’s purview. Gold and Blue are Quartermaster colors recalling the Battalion’s origins, while the two groups of five blue billets and the three wavy lines signify the Battalion’s numerical designation. "Ask We Do" is the unit motto.
This insignia was first approved for the 553rd Supply and Service Battalion on 28 June 1967. It was redesignated for the 553rd Support Battalion with the description and symbolism revised on 30 July 1993.