The Distinctive Unit Insignia (AKA "unit crest" or DUI) for U.S. Army Dental Activity, Fort Irwin was approved on 25 September 1981. Its cross is a traditional symbol for medical aid and assistance and is rendered in maroon, color of the Army Medical Department and Dental Corps. A textured multi-toned background simulates the Mojave Desert with an Indian sun symbol rising behind stylized mountains, recalling the terrain and climate of the area around Fort Irwin. “Dauntless Dental Service” is the unit motto.
Distinctive Unit Insignias are 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.
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A major training area for the U.S. Military located in the northern San Bernardino County in California, the Fort Irwin National Training Center (NTC) was originally the site of Camp Bitter Springs, a stone fort constructed by the U.S. Army (the Army had earlier erected small camps in the area. The location first became an area for training and testing when President Franklin Roosevelt established the Mojave Anti-Aircraft Range in the area where today’s Fort Irwin NTC is located. The range was renamed Camp Irwin in 1942 to honor Major General George LeRoy Irwin, who commanded the 57th Field Artillery Brigade during World War I, but was deactivated in 1944.
Reopened as the Armored Combat Training Area in 1951, the site prepared armored units for combat in the Korean War. In August 1961, the site was redesignated as Fort Irwin and throughout the 1960s trained Artillery and Engineer units that would be deployed in Vietnam. The Fort was deactivated in 1971 and its caretaking handed over to the California National Guard between 1972 and 1980. In 1979, the Army announced that the fort had been chosen to be the site of a National Training Center that was officially activated on 16 October 1980, with the California Army National Guard handing the facility back over to the Army on 1 July 1981.