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.
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.
More 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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While yellow is generally the color of cavalry, here it stands for armor—the modern equivalent of the horse-mounted units of years gone by. In the middle of the shield is what is known as a caltrop, a triangular figure also found in the unit's Combat Service ID Badge (CSIB—link below). When the word caltrop is used in association with the military, it is an instrument with four iron points, disposed in a triangular form so that three of them are on the ground and the fourth
projects upward as a hazard, originally to the hooves of horses but in more recent times the pneumatic tires of wheeled vehicles.The caltrop displayed in III Corps' unit crest—a device technically known as a Distinctive Unit Insignia, or DUI for short—is depicted from an overhead perspective, with the white tip forming the point that harms hooves and/or tires. The blue and white of the caltrop are the colors associated with a Corps for identification purposes. Unlike many Distincitive Unit Insignias, the unit crest of III Corps does not feature the unit's nickname ("Phantom Corps") or motto.
Related Items: III Corps Unit Patch (SSI)III Corps Combat Service ID Badge (CSIB)