The 125th Military Police Battalion is a unit in the Puerto Rico Army National Guard that was originally organized and Federally recognized in the Puerto Rico National Guard at Poncé as the Headquarters Company, 2nd Battalion, 1st Regiment of Infantry on 15 January 1922. Over the next fifty years, it would be redesignated as various types of Infantry units and as a Tank battalion for a five-year period from 1959 to 1964, not becoming a Military Police unit until 1 March 1972. Headquartered at Poncé, the site of its organization, it consists of its HQ and HQ Detachment and four Military Police Companies: the 240th, 544th, 755th, and 770th.
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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 (ASU, 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.
Originally approved for the 124th Military Police Battalion on 4 June 1952, this Distinctive Unit Insignia (also known as a unit crest or a DUI) was redesignated for the 125th Military Police Battalion on 26 September 1991. Its green and yellow colors signify the organization’s status as Military Police Corps unit. According to The Institute of Heraldry, the black area in the insignia is a black cloud that “represents a tornado or waterspout, thus symbolizing the disaster from which the organization would assume its powers,” but does not name the year or location of this meteorological event for those unfamiliar with Puerto Rican weather anomalies.
The sword and scales, on the other hand, are commonly used as symbols of law and justice, with the English broadsword an allusion to the Magna Carta and the origins of English civil law. A wavy green base symbolize the water surrounding the island. SEMPER LEX, the unit motto, is Latin for “Always The Law.”
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.