The Massachusetts Army National Guard’s 181st Infantry Regiment consists of a single Battalion, but it is a very special one: It traces its lineage to 1636 and the establishment of the North Regiment in the Massachusetts Militia, making it the oldest combat regiment in the Army.
During the Revolutionary War, it participated in a dozen campaigns, including the earliest actions (Lexington and Concord, Bunker Hill, and the Battle of Quebec). Its participation in The War of 1812, though occurring late in the conflict, makes it one of less than thirty current Army National Guard units to have earned official campaign participation credit for that war.
The 181st has always stood ready to answer its country’s call, a readiness reflected in the unit motto “Keep Your Powder Dry” (symbolized by the powder horn on the 181st Infantry Regiment’s Regimental Distinctive Insignia, or RDI or unit crest). It has been called into Federal Service on numerous occasions, including during the Civil War, Spanish-American War, World War I and World War II, and the ongoing Global War on Terrorism, with deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan. Most recently, the Battalion was mobilized to serve as the U.S. Battalion in the Multinational Force and Observers in the Sinai Peninsula in 2017.
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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.