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 (Enlisted only) with the base of the insignia toward the outside shoulder seam. DUIs are not 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.
Full 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.
The Institute of Heraldry, the official source of information regarding the history and symbolism of Army insignia and other heraldic items, does not have an entry for the 342nd Quartermaster Battalion Distinctive Unit Insignia (unit crest). Similarly, the United States Army’s Center of Military History, which archives and updates the history of Army units (including Army Reserve and Army National Guard organizations), also has no information on the 342nd Quartermaster Battalion.
About the only source of reputable information on the unit can be found in the 81st Regional Readiness Command Regulation 10-6. Published 16 April 2004, the Regulation indicates that the 342nd Quartermaster Battalion was a subordinate unit of the 81st Regional Readiness Command and was headquartered at Jackson, Tennessee.
The unit motto of “Miracles Are Our Business” would seem to indicate the organization had a history of serving as another type of unit, perhaps in the Medical or Adjutant General Branch, but searches based on this premise were bootless.
Please
email us here at The Salute Uniforms if you have any information regarding the 342nd Quartermaster Battalion Distinctive Unit Insignia or on the history and/or lineage of the unit.