The 18th Field Hospital Distinctive Unit Insignia, or unit crest, was approved on 16 February 1969. At the center of the insignia is a maroon cross, longtime symbol of aid and assistance, surmounted by a five-pointed star—an image associated with health and wisdom, but also a reference to the unit’s home state of Texas—and a pair of serpents (more commonly entwined around a staff or rod in military heraldry) set over the horizontal arm of the cross.
A wavy blue area running along the horizontal arm of the cross is heraldic imagery referring to a body of water; here, it alludes to the Pacific Ocean and the Hospital’s World War II service in the Pacific Theater. “To Serve And Conserve” is the unit motto.
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.
Full guidance on wear of the DUI is found in DA Pamphlet 670-1,
Section 21-22, "Distinctive unit insignia."
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The 18th Field Hospital was constituted and activated in June 1942 at Camp Bowie, Texas, after which it would serve in both Iraq and Iraq between January 1943 and August 1944 and in India from August 1944 until October 1945, at which point it returned to the U.S. and was inactivated at Camp Kilmer, New Jersey. It would later be honored with an Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Streamer for the time spent in those nations.
Allotted to the Army Reserve in November 1962, the Hospital was reactivated in Mach 1963 at Pittsfield, Massachusetts, only to be inactivated again five years later. Reactivated on 1 April 1978 in Norfolk, the 18th Field Hospital was still activated when it made it final relocation to Fort Story, Virginia in 1995. There, it wound up with the ability to host over 500 beds when it deployed by sea or air and deliver Level III hospitalization care and outpatient services. It supported the Coalition Joint Forces Land Component Command, providing over 300 Soldiers in support of both Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom.
With the inactivation of the 18th Field Hospital, its personnel were slated to serve as Alpha Company, 48th Combat Support Hospital at Fort Meade in Maryland, while its Soldiers that had been to Medical detachments based in West Virginia were assigned to the 339th Combat Support Hospital located at Coraopolis, Pennsylvania.