The 19th Special Forces Group beret flash has undergone several design and manufacturing changes since it was first approved on 6 April 1982, but versions of it were worn before that approval date.
In its original form, the flash had silver trim and a silver-white horizontal band near the top and a merrowed border. A second version eliminated the silver and white in favor of all teal and removed the merrowing, and some versions were also manufactured in dark teal Naugahyde between 1966 and the early 1970s. The current version is in a darker teal than its predecessor and has a merrowed border.
Nearly three decades elapsed between the official approval of the flash and the approval of the 19th Special Forces Group oval, or background trimming, on 13 March 2009.
The 19th Special Forces Group was originally constituted in the Army of the United States on 5 July 1942 as the 1st Company, 1st Battalion, 3rd Regiment, 1st Special Force. Activated on 9 July 1942, the Company would take part in six campaigns in the European-African-Middle Eastern Theater, earning an Arrowhead device for taking part in an assault landing in Southern France during Operation Dragoon.
Disbanded after the war, the unit was reconstituted in April 1960 as Headquarters, 19th Special Forces Group, 1st Special Forces and then allotted to the Army National Guard in 1961, making it one of a mere handful of units in that organization units with a lineage that includes Revolutionary War and Civil War campaign credits.
While elements of the Group have been deployed in support of the War on Terrorism, its campaign participation has yet to be determined.
As of 2021, the 19th Special Forces Group, 1st Special Fores Regiment is headquartered at Camp Williams, Utah and consists of three Battalions whose elements are located in Utah, Colorado, California, Washington, Texas, Ohio, West Virginia, and Rhode Island, as well as Support Battalion based in Utah.