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 Distinctive Unit Insignia of the 113th Aviation Regiment first approved on 10 May 1989 features a unique “shield within a shield” design that almost achieves a 3D appearance because of the contrast between the ultramarine blue used as the background for the inner shield (it is also the branch color for Army Aviation) and the radiating black and white rays behind it. Blue is traditionally associate with faithfulness, devotion, fidelity, loyalty, and ultimately the truth, thus reinforcing the unit motto of “Fidelity Fraternity Veracity.” But it simultaneously recalls the sky—the theater of operations for any Army Aviation unit.
A downward-pointing winged pheon in the inner shield denotes the unit’s attack capabilities and signifies swift and safe flight. Its wings are reaching upward to signify the mobility of an attack helicopter, while the black and white rays symbolize night and day operations and also bring to mind the whirling blades of a fixed-wing aircraft.
The 113th Aviation Regiment has no active units as of 2019, and unfortunately an Internet search for information on the Nevada Army National Guard unit most often brings back very painful memories: the loss of five Soldiers from the “Mustangs” of Company D, 113th Aviation whose CH-47 Chinook helicopter, “Mustang 22,” crashed southwest of Deh Chopan, Afghanistan, on 25 September 25 2005 after taking enemy fire. Ominously, Company D had narrowly avoided a shootdown three months earlier on 21 June 2005 when its fuel lines were hit by enemy bullets and started a fire inside the chopper.
That unit was eventually redesignated as Company B, 1st Battalion, 189th Aviation Regiment.