United States Army Pacific is the Army Service Component of United States Indo-Pacific Command with an unofficial history that stretches back to 1898 and the establishment of Fort Shafter in Hawaii as the headquarters (HQ) of the United States Hawaiian Department. According to the U.S. Army Center of Military History, the unit was given its first official Army designation when it was organized in July 1945 as Headquarters (HQ), United States Army Forces, Middle Pacific.
The unit was redesignated as HQ, Army Ground Forces, Pacific beginning in February 1947 and ending nine months later on 15 November when it was redesignated as HQ, U.S. Army, Pacific. A decade later, it was consolidated on 15 July 1957 with HQ, United States Army Forces in the Far East, retaining its previous designation.
At the end of 1974, the unit was discontinued and its personnel assigned to HQ, United States Army Commander-in-Chief Pacific Support Group, which was redesignated as HQ, United States Army Western Command on 23 March 1979. On 30 August 1990, it was redesignated as HQ, United States Army, Pacific, a designation it held until it was discontinued for a second time on 15 October 2000 and its personnel reassigned to HQ and HQ Company (HHC), United States Army, Pacific.
On 16 June 2008, the HHC, U.S. Army, Pacific was reorganized and redesignated as Main Command Post, HQ, United States Army Pacific. Precisely two years later—on 16 June 2010—the organization was given its current designation of HQ and HQ Battalion, United States Army Pacific.
The history of the insignia reflects some of these changes. It was originally approved for United States Army Forces, Pacifica Ocean Areas on 18 October 1944 and subsequently experienced several redesignations: for the United States Army Forces Middle Pacific (September 1945), United States Army Forces, Pacific Ocean Areas (November 1945), United States Army Pacific on December 1947), United States Army Western Command (March 1979), and finally for United States Army, Pacific with an effective date of 22 Aug 1990.
The red arrow in the insignia stands for the strength and courage of the Armed Forces of the United States, while the organization’s location in the Pacific Ocean is referenced by the star Polaris in the center, the seven-star pattern called the Big Dipper in the constellation Ursa Major above the arrow, and the Southern Cross—visible only in the Southern Hemisphere—below the arrow.
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United States Army Pacific Unit Crest (DUI)