U.S. ARMY 105TH MILITARY INTELLIGENCE BATTALION LRS DETACHMENT BERET FLASH AND/OR OVAL

The 105th Military Intelligence Battalion was inactivated in December 1992, and there are no readily available public records to indicate that it was later reactivated. But thanks to a 2017 by a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for the INSCOM Annual History for FY 2006, we now know that a 105th Military Intelligence Battalion (Provisional) was assigned to the 66th Military Intelligence Group at that time; that it was headquartered at Building 4363, Dagger Complex in Darmstadt, Germany; and that even as it was serving the Army considered the Battalion inactivated. To quote the document: “Although the 66th MI Group and INSCOM recognize this unit as the 105th, the records of the Department of the Army currently indicate that this battalion is inactive.”
 

The date of approval for the beret flash and background trimming (oval) by personnel in the 105th Military Intelligence Battalion, Long-Range Surveillance Detachment is not known (might it be available through an FOIA?). Silver gray and oriental blue—branch colors of the Military Intelligence Corps—are used for the merrowed borders and interior field of both insignias.

Background trimming, commonly called an oval, is worn beneath Parachutist and Air Assault badges on Service Uniform coats (AGSU and ASU, including the ASU dress variation) and shirts, as well as on blue or green Army Maternity Tunics (female Soldiers only). But earning one of the badges does not automatically authorize its wear on those garments: the owner of those qualifications must also be assigned to a unit that has been authorized a background trimming.

Because all Soldiers are required to wear a flash on their berets, perhaps “organizational flash” is a better term for the insignia worn by the men of the Long-Range Surveillance (LRS) Detachment, 105th Military Intelligence Battalion. Organizational flashes are reserved for units serving in one of four types of unit—Airborne, Ranger, Special Forces, and Security Assistance Command/Brigade—denoted by maroon, tan, green, or brown berets, respectively. This flash is worn on the maroon beret, reflecting the unit’s Airborne status.

As an almost universal rule, Officers wear their non-subdued insignia of grade centered on the flash, while NCOs and Junior Enlisted Soldiers wear either their Distinctive Unit Insignia or, in the case of units lacking a DUI, their Regimental Distinctive Insignia. The Soldiers of LRS Detachment, 105th MI Bn would have worn the Battalion’s DUI, or unit crest.

Complete guidance on the wear of both flashes and ovals, including flash exceptions for Chaplains and a handful of Enlisted personnel, can be found in paragraph 21-32 of DA 670-1.