When not deployed to a combat area, the 743rd Military Intelligence Battalion carries out global cryptologic operations at NSA Colorado and the Joint Defense Facility Pine Gap with a goal of providing commanders at all echelon levels a decisive advantage in a multi-domain battle. The recent deployments of Battalion elements have all been in support of Operation Enduring Freedom, and their outstanding service between May 2011 and October 2013 has been recognized with three Meritorious Unit Commendations. The most recent of these was issued to the Battalion’s HQ Operations Company in February 2014 for service between 24 May 2011 to 16 February 2012.
The 743rd Military Intelligence Battalion is headquartered at Fort George G. Meade, Maryland.
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The 743rd Military Intelligence Battalion Distinctive Unit Insignia, also called a DUI or a unit crest, was approved on 5 January 1998. Oriental blue and silver gray, official branch colors of the Military Intelligence Corps, are used here for the gridlined globe and the delta flight symbol directly superimposed over it, surmounted by a crossed gold lightning flash and black dagger.
Black and white (silver) are used to suggest the continual round-the-clock, day-and-night operations carried out by elements of the Battalion; the colors are also a reference to covert and overt ops. The black dagger, representing the unit’s military preparedness to deploy anywhere in the world with and for warfighters, is a silhouette of a Fairbairn–Sykes fighting knife used by Special Forces and is associated with stealth. Lightning flashes denote speed and accuracy, but are also an allusion to communications, Signal intelligence, and intelligence support. The delta flight symbol extends beyond the globe’s boundaries as a symbol of the unit’s association with space and its use of space-based assets; it also visually reinforces the Battalion motto “Beyond All Boundaries.”
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. DUIs are not worn on the Dress variations of either uniform, however.