Headquartered at Vega Baja in Puerto Rico, the 130th Engineer Battalion is a part of the Puerto Rico Army National Guard and has been called into Federal service on several occasion. Its Distinctive Unit Insignia (DUI), or unit crest, was originally approved 23 May 1968, and pays tribute to its Puerto Rican heritage with two towers that represent the El Morro Castle fortress that overlooks and guards the harbor of San Juan, which is also the territory’s capitol. Between the towers is gamecock, emblematic of the Battalion’s combat capabilities when needed.
The Battalion was first constituted on 6 February 1959 in the Puerto Rico Army National Guard as the 126th Engineer Battalion, and later that month was organized from existing units; it was given its current designation on 1 May 1959. On 11 February 2003, it was ordered into active Federal service and was reverted to territorial control that May. Three years later it again answered the call for Federal service, and between July 2006 and January 2008 it compiled a record of over 1,500 combat patrol missions, 7,300 hours of in search of IEDS (discovering and neutralizing more than 280 in the process), and carried out 16,500 interrogations, living up to its motto of “SKILL AND STRENGTH.”
Over the course of the two tours, the Battalion earned two Presidential Unit Citations (one each from the Army and Navy) and a Meritorious Unit Commendation. It also received official credit for participation in the Afghanistan and Iraqi Campaigns (streamers uninscribed).
♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦
Also known as a unit crest or DUI, the 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.
Full guidance on wear of the DUI is found in DA Pamphlet 670-1,
Section 21-22, "Distinctive unit insignia."