The 52nd Air Defense Artillery Brigade Distinctive Unit Insignia, commonly referred to as a “unit crest” or a DUI, was approved on 9 December 1966, just over a half-dozen years after it had activated and manned the New York Area Missile Master facility at the Highlands Air Force Station, also site of the U.S. Air Force 646th Radar Squadron. Stations such as this were the nation’s primary line of defense against the threat of nuclear missile attack.
It features four upright arrows superimposed on a field of blue that serve as a symbol of air-defense preparedness while also representing four campaign credits the organization was awarded in World War II (Normandy, Northern France, Rhineland, Ardennes-Alsace). To the right and left of the arrows are fleurs-de-lis that symbolize France and the Rhineland, the two major areas in which the unit operated during World War II. "Vigilant And Ready," the Brigade motto, reinforces the importance of being alert for any possibility of enemy incursion into U.S. airspace in an era where the nuclear threat was greater than it had ever been before.
It is unclear when the 52nd Air Defense Artillery (ADA) Brigade was inactivated, with a best guesstimate being sometime in 1974 or 1975—but there is no mystery as to the date of its reactivation. On 6 October 2022, the 52nd Air Defense Artillery Brigade was roused from decades of inactivation during a ceremony held on 6 October 2022 and Sembach Kaserne, Germany, making it the newest (or perhaps "youngest" would be more accurate) of the Army's active Air Defense Artillery Brigades. Assigned to the newly activated Brigade were the 5th Battalion, 4th ADA Regiment; 5th Battalion, 7th ADA Regiment; the 11th Missile Defense Battery; the 13th Missile Defense Battery; and the future 1st Battalion, 57th ADA Regiment.
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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.