The 509th Infantry Regiment, 1st Battalion organizational flash and Airborne background trimming—more affectionately referred to by the shorthand designation of “oval”—were both approved for wear on 16 September 2005.
Also called a beret flash because it’s worn on the stiffener of a beret—a maroon beret in this case, denoting the unit’s Airborne designation—the flash is worn by all personnel in the Battalion regardless of their individual Airborne or Airborne-related qualifications. All Battalion Officers except Chaplains wear their nonsubdued rank insignia centered on the beret; Enlisted personnel wear the 509th Infantry Regiment Distinctive Unit Insignia (DUI) in similar fashion.
Ovals are worn only by those Battalion personnel who have earned a Parachutist or Air Assault Badge, which is centered on the oval before being placed on the AGSU or ASU coat, the Class B AGSU shirt, or blue or green Army Maternity Tunic (obviously authorized for female Soldiers only). The two items are considered a single item when determining the maximum allowable number of badges and devices approved for these different uniform types, with the outer edge of the oval (and the top of the star/wreathed star on Senior and Master Parachutist badges) used when calculating distances for positioning purposes.
Today’s 1st Battalion, 509th Infantry Regiment was originally constituted as Company A, 504th parachute Infantry on 14 March 1941 and activated in October of that year. It was reorganized and redesignated as Company D, 509th Parachute Infantry on 2 November 1942, just in time to take part in the Army’s first Airborne parachute assault of World War II during Operation Torch, earning the first of five Arrowhead devices for participation in an Assault landing.
In all, the Battalion’s forebear unit is credited with fighting in eight World War II campaigns across Africa, Italy, France, Belgium, and Germany. In the process, it earned two Presidential Unit Citations, a French Croix de Guerre with Silver Star, two citations in the Order of the Day of the Belgian Army, and the right to wear the insignia of the French 3rd Zouaves Regiment.
Over the decades following the war, the Battalion would undergo several redesignations, being given the designation of HHC, 1st Battalion, 509th Infantry in March 1963 when it was assigned to 8th Army in Germany; it was given its current designation of 1st Battalion, 509th Infantry Regiment on 1 October 2005. It also was inactive for nearly fifteen years, first from 1963 to 1973 and again from 1983 to 1987, when it was transferred to U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command until 1993.
In 1994, it was activated at Fort Polk, Louisiana, now home of the Army’s Joint Force Readiness Training Center where the Battalion serves as the Opposing Force for training exercises, role-playing as a variety of enemies ranging from a heavily armed crime family (think Pablo Escobar) to a professionally organized military force of a near-peer adversary.
In the first decade following its assumption of this mission, the Battalion has earned three Army Superior Unit Awards for its outstanding performance. Additionally, the Battalion is credited with participation in two campaigns, Transition of Iraq and Iraqi Governance, in the War on Terrorism, with its B Company being tapped for a Meritorious Unit Commendation for its service in 2004 – 2005.
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509th Infantry Regiment Unit Crest (DUI)