The 150th Engineer Battalion Distinctive Unit Insignia, also called a unit crest or a DUI, was originally approved for the Special Troops Battalion, 155th Armored Brigade Combat Team on 18 April 2008 and was redesignated with an effective date of 5 October 2016 for the 150th Engineer Battalion. It was designed by then-Staff Sergeant Paul Lampton, 150th Engineer Battalion, which was the immediate predecessor unit to the Special Troops Battalion, 155th ABCT. The Battalion is now known as the 150th Brigade Engineer Battalion.
Lampton’s design includes red, white, and blue as both the nation’s colors and the colors of the Mississippi flag, celebrating the Battalion’s status as a Mississippi Army National Guard unit. The pale (vertical bar) suggests railroad tracks, signifying the city of Meridian which was founded at the junction of several railroad lines. The gauntleted hand symbolizes strength and recalls the call sign “Knight” used by the Battalion’s HQ. Two stars denotes the unit’s combat deployment in World War II and Operation Iraqi Freedom.
In the chief (top third of the shield), the embattlements suggests the Special Troops Battalion’s lineage to the 150th Engineer Battalion; four merlons (red sections of embattlement) commemorate the four Soldiers of that Battalion who lost their lives in Operation Iraqi Freedom. Finally, the Bowie knife denotes the Battalion’s association with the 155th Armored Brigade Combat Team. The motto, “Honor Is Our Strength,” emphasizes the goal of the insignia design in honoring the unit’s past achievements.
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The 150th Engineer Battalion, Mississippi Army National Guard was first organized and Federally recognized as HQ and HQ Company, 150th Transportation Battalion on 1 October 1954; it was redesignated as HQ and HQ Detachment, 150th Transportation Battalion on 1 May 1959. In December 1980, it was converted and redesignated as HQ and HQ Detachment, 150th Quartermaster Battalion, a designation it held for fourteen years. It was expanded, converted, and redesignated as the 150th Engineer Battalion on 2 September 1994, with organic elements organize from new and existing units in the Mississippi Army National Guard. September 1995 saw the Battalion assigned to the 155th Armored Brigade Combat Team, and in 2004 it was called into Federal service for deployment in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Converted and redesignated on 1 September 2006 as Special Troops Battalion, 155th Armored Brigade combat Team, it was organized from existing and new units before being ordered into Federal service a second time in May 2009. In October 2016, its designation became the 150th Engineer Battalion once again, and was authorized to display the campaign participation credit of the former 150th Engineer Combat Battalion as “a challenge and a trust.” These include five World War II campaigns and the Iraqi Sovereignty campaign from the Iraqi Theater in the War on Terrorism. It also inherits the former unit’s military decorations, which include a Presidential Unit Citation from World War II and a Navy Unit Citation from Iraq; Company C is additionally entitled to a Valorous Unit Award (Al Anbar Province, 2003).
As of Summer 2023, the 150th Brigade Engineer Battalion remains assigned to the 155th Armored Brigade Combat Team and is headquartered in Meridian, Mississippi.