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.
For Enlisted personnel, the insignia is 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.
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 history of the U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Life Cycle Management Command, or AMCOM, dates back to 1948 and the Army’s designation of Redstone Arsenal in Alabama as the center for the development of rockets and missiles and other types of ordnance research. It was designated the U.S. Army Missile Command (MICOM) in 1962, and over the next thirty-five years underwent a series of redesignations and mergers with other U.S. Army commands until it was finally given its current title in October 1997, when MICOM was merged with U.S. Army Aviation and Troop Command.
The red, white, and blue colors of the quatrefoil in the AMCOM unit crest (officially called a Distinctive Unit Insignia, or DUI for short) are inspired by the Shoulder Sleeve Insignia of U.S. Army Materiel Command, of which AMCOM is a part. Wings encircling the insignia are emblematic of aviation and are in turn taken from the unit crest of the U.S. Army Aviation and Troop Support Command. Inside the quatrefoil is a missile bookended by a pair of lightning bolts; this imagery was taken from the old MICOM insignia, and symbolizes that command’s missile responsibilities as well as its contributions to space exploration, which truly resulted in a "Tradition of Excellence."