The 89th Cavalry Regiment Distinctive Unit Insignia—often referred to as a “unit crest,” or a DUI—was originally approved for the 899th Tank Destroyer Battalion on 6 August 1942. It was redesignated on 25 April 1956 for the 899th Tank Battalion. On 23 December 2004, it was redesignated for the 89th Cavalry Regiment, and the coat of arms was amended to add a crest on 9 February 2005.
Dotted throughout the shield portion of the insignia are caltrops (also called “cheval traps”), devices with a tri-point base and a spike on top that were once used to wound charging cavalry horses. Here they symbolize the primary duty of a Tank Destroyer Battalion: Stop the advance of enemy tanks and launch sharp attacks on them. The silver portion of the bend represents the path to be traveled when advancing forward, as well as Highway 99—birthplace of the unit and the site of its first difficult convoy mission. The blue portion is an inverted pile that represents the advance and the ability of the battalion to penetrate the obstacles it encountered.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 89th Cavalry Regiment was originally constituted as the 19th Antitank Battalion on 1 June 1940. Before it would see combat in World War II, it would undergo four redesignations in the span of a year-and-a-half, becoming the 899th Tan Destroyer Battalion in December 1941. It would fight in seven campaigns in the European-African-Middle Eastern Theater, earning a Presidential Unit Citation as well as an Arrowhead device indicating it was part of the assault landing at Normandy on D-Dayt.
Inactivated in December 1945, it would be reactivated in 1955 for nearly three-and-a-half years until it was inactivated in May 1958. Activated in 2004, the Regiment’s 1st and 3rd Squadrons were deployed several times in support of the War on Terrorism, with 1st Squadron earning a Valorous Unit Award and a Meritorious Unit Commendations and the 3rd receiving two Valorous Unit Awards and a Meritorious Unit Commendation.
As of 2023, the 89th Cavalry’s 1st Squadron is assigned to the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division. Its 3rd Squadron is part of the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division.