The 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (SOAR), 4th Battalion organizational flash is worn centered on the stiffener of the maroon beret that the Army authorized in 1981 for wear by personnel serving in Airborne-designated units. Except for Chaplains, Officers in the Battalion wear their pin-on metal rank insignia centered on the flash, while NCOs and Junior Enlisted Soldiers wear the
160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment Distinctive Unit Insignia (DUI) in similar fashion.
Airborne back trimming is called an oval for an obvious reason and is placed beneath the Parachutist or Air Assault badges that are currently (2021) authorized for wear by all personnel who have earned these badges on Service Uniform coats (AGSU and ASU) and the Class B ASU shirt, while female Soldiers are also authorized to wear it on the blue or green Army Maternity Tunic.
Regulations regarding the number, type, and positioning of Skill badges such as these vary between these uniform types; detailed instructions on these topics can be found in
Chapter 22-16 (b) of the January 2021 edition of DA PAM 670-1. Wear guidance for both the beret flash and oval is found in
Chapter 21-32 (a) and (b) of the same manual.
The 4th Battalion, 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment was originally constituted as Company D, 160th Aviation Battalion, an element of the 101st Airborne Division on 1 April 1982. It would not be activated until 16 October 1986, the same date that it was relived from assignment to the 101st Airborne Division. Over the next twenty-plus years, the unit would be redesignated five times and concurrently reorganized on two of those occasions, receiving its current designation as Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 4th Battalion, 160th Aviation Regiment on 16 October 2007.
Battle honors for the Battalion include the invasion of Panama during Operation Just Cause in 1989 and at least a half-dozen campaigns in the War on Terrorism, four in Iraq and two in Afghanistan. During its numerous deployments to the Middle East since the launch of the War on Terrorism, the Battalion’s outstanding service between 2010 and 2014 has been acknowledged with two Meritorious Unit Commendations, an Air Force Meritorious Unit Award, and a Presidential Unit Citation for the Battlaion’s HQ and HQ Company.
The 4th Battalion, 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment is located at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington.