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 17th Artillery Group Distinctive Unit Insignia was approved on 5 June 1969. “The Inner Ring,” the Group motto, is presumably a reference to the unit’s role as Air Defense Artillery for the 1st Region of Army Air Defense Command, or ARADCOM. ARADCOM oversaw a system or Air Defense Artillery installations, typically ringing large metropolitan areas, that provided continental air defense with NIKE and AJAX systems designed to intercept and destroy incoming ballistic missiles. (Note: this is merely speculation, and we were unable to locate public records can confirm the motto’s meaning.)
A pair of gold fleurs-de-lis and two arrows denote the unit’s service in Europe during World War II, where it took part in four campaigns (Normandy, Northern France, Rhineland, and Central Europe). Additionally, the two arrows recall the Group’s Belgian Fourragere 1940, awarded for two citations (for actions at Antwerp and Antwerp Harbor) in the Order of the Day of the Belgian Army. The defense of Antwerp is also referenced by the domed tower in the middle of the insignia; it is an image suggested by the city’s Coat of Arms.
Looming behind the tower is a red cloud with annulet that suggests the concentrated firepower of the unit, while the cross botonny below the towers is taken from the Coat of Arms of Lord Baltimore, an allusion to the aforementioned air defense of Baltimore the unit provided from 1952 onward.