A Blue and white beret flash and similarly toned background trimming have been worn by personnel in the 2nd Battalion, 325th Infantry Regiment since July 1992, almost fifteen years before they were given their current assignment as one of three Airborne Infantry Battalions in the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division. Blue and white are the two colors used for Infantry (white was the original branch color), while the two notches on the left and right sides of the flash and oval denote the unit’s numerical status as the Regiment’s 2nd Battalion.
All Battalion personnel wear the beret flash, also called an organizational flash, centered on the stiffener of the maroon beret, the headgear color reserved for Airborne units. All Enlisted personnel wear either their Distinctive Unit Insignia or Regimental Distinctive Insignia (in this case the
325th Infantry Regiment Distinctive Unit Insignia) centered on the flash; exceptions include the Sergeant Major of the Army, personnel serving in the SMA staff, and a Command Sergent Major serving as an advisor to the Chaiman, Joint Chiefs of Staff, who all wear their collar insignia instead. Officers wear their non-subdued insignia of grade on the flash.
Ovals are called background trimming because they literally serve as the background for Parachutist and Air Assault Badges, with the badges centered on the oval (the star and star-wreath “crests” on two Parachutists badges unavoidably project above the oval). Ovals are worn with the badges on Service Uniform coats (including the ASU Dress Uniform variation), Service Uniform shirts, and by female Soldiers on the blue or green Army Maternity Tunic.
Like the Regiment’s 1st Battalion, the history of the 2nd Battalion, 235th Infantry Regiment goes back to World War I, and over the years the two units have served in the same major conflicts. Since the launch of the War on Terrorism, the 2nd Battalion is credited with participation in just one campaign, though it may have more credits assigned later. But both the Battalion and parent regiment have left no doubt about their commitment to serve with zeal, professionalism, and courage. In the opening salvos of Operation Iraqi Freedom, the Regiment’s Battalions seized four critical bridgeheads across the Euphrates River, earning them their first military decoration of the millennium: a Presidential Unit Citation. Over the course of the next eight years, the 2nd Battalion would complement its PUC with four Valorous Unit, a Meritorious Unit Citation, and an Army Superior Unit Award.
The 2nd Battalion, 325th Infantry Regiment is stationed and headquartered at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.
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