The Shoulder Sleeve Insignia worn by United States Army personnel assigned to the United States European Command was originally approved on 21 March 1945 for the European Theater of Operations United States Army (ETOUSA), a single-service United States Army Command. It was redesignated as United States forces Theater on 1 July 1945 and became the European Command on 15 March 1947.
On 1 August 1952, European Command was redesignated by the Joint Chiefs of Staff as U.S. European Command, the first unified command in the European area; it was tasked with providing unified command and authority over all United States military forces in Europe, regardless of branch. On 2 April 1992, the Command was redesignated as United States Army Element, United States European Command, with this insignia also being redesignated to reflect the structure.
Stars encircling an eagle with spread wings represent the liberation of the peoples of the nations of Europe, with the eagle’s wings forming the famed “V for Victory” sign.
In 1983, the Command’s area of responsibility was altered to reflect the establishment of United States Central Command and its assigned area of the Middle East, with European Command retaining responsibility for Israel, Lebanon, and Syria and being given responsibility for the area of Africa south of the Sahara. More changes came in 1999 as a result of the changes made to the Department of Defense’s Unified Command Plan that redesignated U.S. Atlantic Command to Joint Forces Command, with the EUCOM assuming responsibility for areas in the waters off Europe and the west coast of Africa.
In 1999, changes to the command's area of responsibility were announced, after amendments to the Unified Command Plan. The United States Atlantic Command areas that had included the waters off Europe and the west coast of Africa were to be transferred to European Command.[8] U.S. European Command already had responsibility for all U.S. land and air military planning in Europe and most of Africa. And in 2002, the last major changes came to the Command’s area of responsibility when Lebanon and Syria were assigned to Central Command, but Russia, Iceland, and the Azores were added to EUCOM’s purview.