Also known as a unit crest or DUI, the 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 (ASU, 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.
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 719th Transportation Battalion Distinctive Unit Insignia was first approved in February 1943 when the unit was designated the 719th Railway Operating Battalion, but was redesignated for the 719th Transportation Battalion in July 1954. The brick red and golden yellow used for the insignia are the traditional colors of the Transportation Corps, and the railroad track and steam engine symbolize it Battalion’s role in moving members of the U.S. Armed Forces along the path to victory. A semaphore signal displays a green “clear” light, and the reference to a “Sunset Route” means that victory is near at hand.
Originally constituted as the Provisional Depot Battalion, Railway Operating Troops in the American Expeditionary Force in France in March 1918, both the Battalion and many of the its units underwent redesignation in the last harried months of World War I, leading the Battalion being awarded a “generic” World War I campaign streamer (i.e., left empty rather than inscribed with a campaign name).
By the time of the U.S. entry in World War II, the unit was designated the 719th Engineer Railway Operating Battalion, later redesignated as 719th Railway Operating Battalion, Transportation Corps. It earned credit for participation in the Rome-Arno and North Apennines campaigns before it was inactivated in November 1945. It was allotted to the Organized Reserve (subsequently Army Reserve) in 1947. The Battalion deployed twice to Iraq, once in 2003 and again in 2007; during its second deployment its performance was recognized with a Meritorious Unit Commendation, and it also earned credit for participation in the Iraqi Surge Campaign of the Global War on Terrorism.