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.
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The 71st Maintenance Battalion was originally activated as the 35th Quartermaster Regiment. Disbanded in 1940, its 1st Battalion was redesignated as 71st Quartermaster Battalion (Light Maintenance) and in 1942 was converted to an Ordnance unit, the 71st Ordnance Medium Maintenance Battalion. The Battalion served in five campaigns of the European Theater in World War II: Normandy, Northern France, Rhineland, Ardennes-Alsace, and Central Europe.
Inactivated in November 1945, the Battalion was reactivated in 1949 as Headquarters and Headquarters Detachment, 71st Ordnance Battalion in Zirndorf, Germany. It would experience a couple of relocations before it was transferred to Fuerth 1972 and redesignated the 71st Supply and Maintenance Battalion. On 6 February 1974, it was redesignated as the 71st Maintenance Battalion and relocated to Merrell Barracks, Nuremberg. It moved back to Fuerth in 1986, and in December 1990 it was deployed to Southwest Asia, where it took part in both Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm. It was assigned to the 3rd Corps Support Command on 15 June 1991.
At some point after this, the Battalion was redesignated as the 71st Support Battalion and/or 71st Corps Support Battalion. It was stationed in Bamberg, Germany and comprised the 147th Maintenance Company, 317th Maintenance Company, and 240th Quartermaster Supply Company at the time of its inactivation in 2004.
The 71st Maintenance Battalion Distinctive Unit Insignia features the unit motto of “Mobile Repair,” emphasizing the Battalion’s primary function after being converted from an Ordnance unit.