The U.S. Army John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School is based in Fort Liberty (formerly Fort Bragg) and trains and educates NonCommissioned Officers, Warrant Officers, and Commissioned Officers in Special Forces, Civil Affairs, and Psychological Operations, as well as in Special Ops Advanced Skills, SERE (Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape), and Foreign Area Officers. In June 1990, the Special Warfare Center and School was transferred from the control of Training And Doctrine Command to the U.S. Army Special Operations Command, giving USASOC total control of all Special Operations Forces except forward-deployed units.
The John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center & School Distinctive Unit Insignia—commonly called a DUI or a unit crest—was originally approved when the institution was designated as the Psychological Warfare School on 28 November 1952. It was subsequently redesignated for the U.S. Army Special Warfare School (18 September 1957) and the U.S. Army Institute for Military Assistance (23 March 1970) before being assigned its current designation on 21 February 1984.
Black, white, and gray are used in the shield portion of the insignia to denote the three types of propaganda employed in Psychological Warfare: White is for completely true information, gray is partially true, and black is complete disinformation (or misattributed information). Additionally, black is reference covert operation subversive operations. A torch is the classic symbol for light and learning, liberty and truth, and highlights the Center and School’s educational function. The crest of the insignia is the Trojan Horse, the classic example of a subversive tactic; it also reminds us of the Knight in chess and its unique ability to move and attack indirectly.
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Distinctive Unit Insignias (DUI) are worn by all Soldiers (except General Officers) in units that have been
authorized to be issued the device. 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.
Related Items
John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School Patch (SSI)John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center Beret Flash and/or Oval