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.
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.
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 47th Brigade Support Battalion was originally constituted in the Regular Army as the 4th Medical Squadron and assigned to the 7th Cavalry Brigade on 7 January 1939. Activated on 1 February 1939, its Headquarters were reorganized and redesignated on 1 April 1940 as the 4th Medical Troop (its organic elements were inactivated), then the process was repeated three months later as it was reorganized/redesignated as Headquarters and Headquarters Detachment, 47th Medical Battalion.
Before it would take part in the Tunisia campaign, the first of six in which it would participate, it was redesignated again as the 47th Armored Medical Battalion—and it would be reorganized/redesignated two more times before the war’s end: as the 47th Medical Battalion, Armored (20 July 1944), and yet again as the 47th Armored Medical Battalion (19 March 1945). Besides six campaign streamers, the Battalion was awarded a Meritorious Unit Commendation for service in Italy.
Inactivated in April 1946, the Battalion was redesignated as the 47th Medical Battalion in December 1957; it would retain this title for thirty years until its conversion, redesignation, and activation as the 47th Support Battalion, an element of the 1st Armored Division, on 1 May 1987. It would remain assigned to the 1st Armored Division for the next thirteen-plus years, and during that time would take part in all three campaigns of the First Gulf War, earning a Valorous Unit Commendation in the process. During 1995-1996, its non-wartime service was recognized with Army Superior Unit Award.
Nicknamed “Modern Pioneers,” the Battalion was assigned as an organic component to the 2nd Brigade Combat Team (BCT), 1st Armored Division in September 2010; it had previously supported the Brigade while reporting to 1st Division Support Command. As of Summer 2023, it remains designated as the 47th Brigade Support Battalion, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division is stationed at Fort Bliss, Texas.