More commonly referred to as a unit crest, the Distinctive Unit Insignia (DUI) of the 387th Quartermaster Battalion was approved on 26 March 1990. Buff, the color traditionally associated with Quartermaster units, is used for the inner disc of the insignia. Droplets of gold, combined with the black annulet, refer to the Battalion’s mission, Petroleum and Terminal Operations, at the time the insignia was approved; it also recalls the phase “black gold” as a nickname for petroleum. “Fuel For The Fight” hammers home the importance of petroleum in modern warfare.
Regarding the motto, The Institute of Heraldry has a footnote that says the motto has been inactive per the Office of the Chief of Military History since 26 April 1995. The few records available regarding the 387th Quartermaster Battalion before 1995 indicate it was a part of the 86th United States Army Reserve Command, which was inactivated around the time that the motto was inactivated, and that the Battalion’s headquarters were based in Danville Illinois. Several sources also note that the Battalion was deployed in support of Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm.
Full guidance on wear of the DUI is found in DA Pamphlet 670-1,
Section 21-22, "Distinctive unit insignia."♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦
Interestingly, the only other readily available public reference to a 387th Quartermaster Battalion comes in a press release written by a Major in the 311th Sustainment Command in October 2015. It details how the Los Angeles-based 387th Quartermaster (Mortuary Affairs) Battalion deployed eight mortuary affairs specialists and two mechanics to operate a pair of Mobile Integrated Remains Collection Systems (MIRCS) to assist the Kern County Coroner in processing remains between September 7th and September 18th, 2015.
It is unclear if this unit’s lineage is linked to the pre-1995 387th Quartermaster Battalion—but it might very well be linked to a unit that's currently active in the Spring of 2022.
Costa Mesa, California is the home of the 387th Quartermaster
Company specializing in Mortuary Affairs. Further, the Company is assigned to the 304th Sustainment Brigade, a subordinate unit of the 311th Sustainment Command (Expeditionary)—the same Command that the 387th Quartermaster (Mortuary Affairs) Battalion was apparently a part of back in 2015.
If you have information regarding the history or lineage of the 387th Quartermaster Battalion or can confirm that the current 387th Quartermaster Company is one of its descendants,
please send us an email so we can share that information with our customers and visitors.