Commonly referred to as a unit crest, the Distinctive Unit Insignia for the U.S. Army Regional Health Command – Atlantic was originally approved for the Northern Regional Medical Command on 17 December 2012. It was given its current designation on 1 October 2016.
The insignia’s white background stands for the purity of intention behind the support of treatment of wounded, injured, and sick Soldiers, as well as for the Medical environment that enables it. It goes without saying the red, white, and blue on the shield are national colors; here, they are arranged rainbow-style to the represent the hope held by the patients (as well as by their families) under the Command’s care.
In the center is the Rod of Aesculapius, sometimes spelled Asclepius, which is a centuries-old symbol of the medical profession. An olive branch on the left is a symbol of peace, with its thirteen leaves an allusion to the original thirteen colonies of the United States. On the right, seven arrows bound into a bunch denotes the number of Medical Treatment Facilities under the Command at the time insignia was approved. Combined, they are a reference to the Command’s duty to oversee the treatment of Service Members during both wartime and peace. Blue, undulating partitions are symbols of water and waterways, in this case the Atlantic Ocean and the Great Lakes which both border the Command’s Region.
Also known as a unit crest or DUI, the 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.
Full guidance on wear of the DUI is found in DA Pamphlet 670-1,
Section 21-22, "Distinctive unit insignia."
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In 1992, the U.S. Army Health Services command was reorganized into regions designated as Health Service Support Areas. The North Atlantic Health Service Support Area, headquartered at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, covered the northeaster United States.
The following year, the U.S. Army Medical Command (Provisional) was established and became permanently authorized in 1994; the Command combined the Army’s Dental and Veterinary Command with general medical commands, and the North Atlantic Health Service Support Area was redesignated as the North Atlantic Regional Medical Command (NARMC), one of six regional medical commands at that time.
A major effect of the Base Realignment and Closure in 2005 was the reorganization of Army Medical Command. Walter Reed Army Medical Command was integrated with the National Naval Medical Center at Bethesda to create Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. The restructuring also gave the NARMC—now designated as Northern Regional Medical Command—the chance to evaluate its health-care delivery system. As part of this evolution, the NRMC became Regional Health Command – Atlantic, the largest health command in Army Medicine—on 8 July 2015, comprising all Army medical centers, hospitals and clinics east of the Mississippi River. In addition, RCH-A is responsible for the dental and public health missions of the Regional Dental Command-Atlantic and Public Health Command Region Atlantic respectively.