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.
Approved on 17 April 1923, the 12th Field Artillery Regiment Distinctive Unit Insignia feaures a single, silver fleur-de-lis taken from the arms of the French city of Soissons, the location where the Regiment’s exceptional service earned it a citation in the French Army’s Orders of the Day and World War I Croix de Guerre with Palm. A gold crown comes from the coat of arms of Verdun, the city near which the Regiment received its baptism by fire. A canton in the upper left is taken from the crest of the 3rd Field Artillery Regiment, the unit from which personnel were transferred to form the 12th Field Artillery Regiment in 1916.
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.
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The 12th Field Artillery Regiment was constituted in Regular Army on 1 July 1916 as the 12th Field Artillery and organized and assigned to the 2nd Division (later 2nd Infantry Division) a year later on 7 June 1917. After being designated as the 12th Artillery, a parent regiment in the Combat Arms Regimental System, it would eventually have eight battalions serving under its insignia at one time or another; today, the Regiment’s only active battalion is the 2nd Battalion. Nicknamed “Angry Vikings,” the 2nd Battalion is currently assigned to the 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division.
The Regiment and its Battalions have deployed for every major conflict in the 20th and 21st centuries, with the 2nd Battalion most recently taking part in Transition II campaign in Afghanistan (began January 2015). As of Summer 2023, the Regiment has only active Battalion: 2nd Battalion, 12th Field Artillery Regiment is assigned to the 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division and is stationed at Fort Carson, Colorado.