Like the 1st Battalion, the 508th Infantry Regiment’s 2nd Battalion beret flash and oval, or Airborne background trimming, was originally approved for wear on 23 November 2005 but was amended on 5 January 2006 to change the description and design. In the case of the 2nd Battalion, 508th Infantry Regiment, its flash is more accurately called an organizational flash rather than simply a beret flash since it is worn by personnel in a specific unit or organization, unlike the standard blue Army beret flash worn by personnel across multiple units and units on the black beret.
It is worn centered on the maroon beret authorized for personnel in Airborne-designated units since 1981, with Officers (except Chaplains) centering their insignia of rank on the flash and Enlisted Soldiers wearing the 508th Infantry Regiment Distinctive Unit Insignia in the same manner.
While the flash is worn by all Battalion personnel regardless of their individual Airborne or Airborne-related qualifications, the oval is authorized only for those who have earned a Parachutist or Air Assault badge. The badge is centered atop the oval (without taking the star or wreathed star on the Senior and Master Parachutist badges into consideration) and the combination worn on AGSU and ASU coats, the shirt of the Class B ASU, and green or blue Army Maternity Tunics.
Guidance for the wear of flash and ovals is found in the January 2021 edition of DA PAM 670-1,
Chapters 21-32 (a) and (b), while the wear and positioning of the oval-badge combination is detailed in
Chapter 22-16 (b).
The 2nd Battalion, 508th Infantry Regiment was originally constituted on the same day as the 1st Battalion, 6 October 1942, as Company B, 508th Parachute Infantry. It fought alongside the 1st in the four campaigns (Normandy, Rhineland, Ardennes-Alsace, Central Europe), likewise garnering two Arrowhead devices for participation in Assault landings. Its military decorations from World War II include a Presidential Unit Citation, a French Fourragere, World War II and two French Croix de Guerre with Palm awards, Netherlands Orange Lanyard, and a Belgian Fourragere 1940 for its three citations in the Order of the Day of the Belgian Army.
It was redesignated as Company B, 508th Airborne Infantry in April 1951 before undergoing a seven-year hiatus of inactivation beginning in 1957. It was redesignated as HHC, 2nd Battalion, 508th Infantry in July 1962, assigned to the 82nd Airborne Division in March 1964, and finally reactivated on 25 May 1964 at Fort Bragg (now known as Fort Liberty) in North Carolina. Unlike the 1st Battalion, it was not deployed to Vietnam, instead seeing its first post-WWII combat in 1965 during Operation Power Pack in the Dominican Republic, followed by 1983’s Operation Urgent Fury in Grenada.
The Battalion was relieved from its assignment to the 82nd Airborne Division when it was inactivated on 30 April 1986. Though redesignated as 2nd Battalion, 508th Infantry Regiment on 1 October, reactivation would not come for another eight months on 16 June 2006 with its assignment to the 82nd Airborne Division’s 4th Brigade Combat Team. Before the inactivation of the 4th Brigade Combat Team in 2014, it would be deployed four times to Afghanistan, with the 2nd Battalion’s courage and superior service recognized with two Valorous Unit Awards and a Meritorious Unit Commendation, the last for service during the 4th BCT’s final deployment before its 2014 inactivation.
Since then, the 2nd Battalion, 508th Infantry Regiment has been assigned to the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division and remains in that assignment as of Summer 2023.
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508th Infantry Regiment Unit Crest (DUI)