The 3rd Brigade Special Troops Battalion, 1st Infantry Division was formed concurrently with the reorganization of the Division’s 3rd Brigade Combat Team from the 2nd Brigade Headquarters on 16 April 2007. Headquarters, 2nd Brigade, 1st Infantry Division was originally constituted on 24 May 1917 as Headquarters Troop, 1st Expeditionary Division and organized the next month. As Headquarters Troop, 1st Division, it would be sent to France and take part in six campaigns that were fought during the last five months of the war.
Over the remainder of the 20th century and into the 21st, the unit remained aligned with the 1st Infantry Division, spending two decades as the Division’s Military Police force. During World War II, the 1st Division and the Brigade saw action in that spanned the breadth of European-African-Middle Eastern theater, from Operation Torch in North Africa to the beaches of Normandy in France and into the heart of Germany and beyond as the war drew to a close in May 1945. In all, the Brigade fought in eight named campaigns and was awarded three Arrowheads for taking part in Assault landings; it was also the recipient of two French Croix de Guerre with Palms, a French fourragère, and a Belgian fourragère (the brigade was twice cited in the Order of the Day of the Belgian Army.
During the Vietnam War, the Brigade served in 11 of the 17 named campaigns and was honored with unit awards from the U.S. Army (two Meritorious Unit Commendations) and the government of the Republic of Vietnam (Gallantry Cross with Palm and a Civil Action Honor Medal, First Class). And following it conversion into a Special Troops Battalion, the unit went on to earn two Army Superior Unit Awards and two Meritorious Unit Commendations, the most recent being issued in 2014—the year that, unfortunately, the “Valiant Warriors” Battalion was inactivated along with the Headquarters, 3rd Brigade Combat Team and all other subordinate units.
The organization’s makeup and history is carried on by the design of the Distinctive Unit Insignia of the Special Troops Battalion, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division. Oriental blue, cobalt blue, and green are the colors of Military Intelligence, Chemical Corps, and Military Police, respectively. Signal units are represented by a lightning flash, and Combat Engineers are evoked with the embattled chief. And a black cross in the center evokes the Battalion’s pride in having served with the “Duke” brigade.
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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" and 21–3(d) and (e),
"Beret" and
"Garrison Cap," respectively.