Also known as a unit crest or DUI, the 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.
Full guidance on wear of the DUI is found in DA Pamphlet 670-1,
Section 21-22, "Distinctive unit insignia."♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦
According to The Institute of Heraldry, the 425th Infantry Regiment Distinctive Unit Insignia (DUI), or unit crest, was approved on 31 March 1995, nearly fifty years after the 1st Battalion, 125th Infantry was reorganized and Federally recognized as the 425th Infantry, Michigan National Guard on 26 November 1946 and assigned to the 46th Infantry Division.
What makes this noteworthy is not the long gap between the unit’s founding and the approval of its Distinct Unit Insignia, but the fact that, according to the U.S. Army Center of Military History, the 425th Infantry was subsequently reorganized and redesignated as the 225th Infantry on 15 March 1959, a lineage that continues today in the 1225th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion. (In case you’re wondering, the 1225th CSSB has its own Distinctive Unit Insignia that includes the Battalion motto “Let The Drum Beat.”)
The mystery is explained when you learn that at some point in the 1960s, not mentioned by the Center of Military History or The Institute of Heraldry, that the 1st Battalion, 225th Infantry was reflagged as Companies E and F, 425th Infantry and organized as Ranger Companies to perform Long Range Reconnaissance Patrols.
Though still Michigan National Guard units, they were attached to other organizations, such as during the start of Operation Iraqi Freedom when Company F was designated as part of the 250th Military Intelligence Battalion, a practice that makes tracing their history very difficult—but which explains why a Distinctive Unit Insignia for the 425th Infantry was approved in 1995. It also explains more clearly the unit motto, “Around The World Unseen.”
A blue scroll reflects the fact that the organization was founded as an Infantry unit. The three sections of the shield reflect the fact that the 425th Infantry had participated in three wars at the time the insignia was approved, with the lion symbolizing the units service in both World Wars and the torii gate recalling its service during the Korean War.
The 425th Infantry was finally inactivated in 2011.