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 (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.
Enlisted personnel wear the insignia 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.
More 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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Approved on 14 December 1967, the 23rd Infantry Distinctive Unit Insignia is unique in that the word written on a scroll on its base—AMERICAL—is neither its motto, official Special Designation, nor even an unofficial nickname. Instead, it is the 23rd Infantry’s original, official designation that was used when the Division was constituted from several regiments that had been rushed to New Caledonia following the attacks at Pearl Harbor. Although the title was officially changed to 23rd Infantry following the end of World War II, the unit continued to be referred to as Americal up until its final inactivation in 1971.
In addition to the unique name, the 23rd Infantry Division Distinctive Unit Insignia (AKA "unit crest") has the four stars of the Southern Cross arrayed on the four points of a blue saltire; blue is the color of infantry, and four is the number of campaigns for which the Division was awarded credit for participating in. A horizontal anchor symbolizes the Presidential Unit Citation the Division received from the Navy for its actions on Guadalcanal, and a red arrowhead surmounted by a setting sun are an allusion to the Division’s assault landings in the Southern Philippines and the Philippine Presidential Unit Citation it was awarded.