Also known as a unit crest or DUI, a 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. Current regulations do not permit the DUI to be worn on the Dress variations of either uniform, however.
Enlisted personnel wear the insignia centered on a shoulder loop by placing it an equal distance from the outside shoulder seam to the outside edge of the shoulder-loop button. Officers (except Generals) wearing grade insignia on the shoulder loops center the DUI by placing it an equal distance between the inside edge of the grade insignia and the outside edge of the button.
More 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 Distinctive Unit Insignia of the Special Troops Battalion, 79th Infantry Brigade Combat Team was originally approved for the Special Troops Battalion, 40th Infantry Brigade Combat Team (IBCT) on 21 August 2008. The insignia was give its current designation, with the symbolism revised, effective as of 1 September 2008. Black and red, the two colors that predominate in the design of the insignia, signify the colors of the 79th IBCT, the unit to which the Battalion was assigned. Black is the color of constancy and reliability in heraldry and here denotes the Battalion’s consistency in completing each mission; the red signifies sacrifice and courage.
The series of triangles in the center of the insignia stand for the four Companies of the Battalion and the interwoven support they provide to the Brigade, while also suggesting the interlocking fields of fire that are formed in a Base Defense Cluster. In the chief (upper third) is a counterchanged (alternating) fess (horizontal bar) of black and gold saltires (letter “X” shape); these simulate the appearance of barbed wire to indicate the Battalion’s physical security mission, while simultaneously referring to the Roman numeral 40 as an allusion to the organization’s original numerical designation.
“Hold The Line," the Battalion motto, reinforces the notion of the Battalion’s defensive support of the Brigade.
Brigade Engineer Battalions were created as part of the Army’s 2020 Force Structure Realignment plan that called for a third Maneuver Battalion and added Engineer and Fires capability to IBCTs and Armored Brigade Combat Teams (ABCTs), which led to the announcement that all active Brigade Special Troops Battalions in IBCTS and ABCTs would reflagged as BEBs beginning in Fiscal Year 2014 and continuing thorough Fiscal Year 2018. A review of the history of 79th Infantry IBCT’s organizational structure seems to indicate that the unit’s Special Troops Battalion (STB) was either inactivated, redesignated, reassigned, reflagged, or disbanded in June 2014 at the time that the 578th Brigade Engineer Battalion (BEB) was activated and assigned to the 79th IBCT.