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. Current regulations do not permit the DUI to be 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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The 518th Sustainment Brigade Distinctive Unit Insignia features a charging black bull above the unit motto “Sustain The Attack,” a reference to the propensity of bulls to never cease attacking until the opponent is no longer a threat. In heraldry, black stands for solidarity and strength, and here it is also a reference to the need for night-and-day operations for sustainment to be successful. The motto is written in buff script on a scarlet scroll, employing the two colors associated with Support units. Four stars above the bull represent Experience, Knowledge, Strength, and Support.
One of the Army’s newer Sustainment units, the 518th Sustainment Brigade helped create a nondoctrinal sustainment delivery platform called the Sustainment Quick Reaction Force, or SQRF, intended to provide responsive sustainment operations. In this case, necessity was the mother of invention, as the Brigade found itself with only one Combat Sustainment Support Battalion HQ while deployed to Afghanistan in support of Operation Resolute Support. Its solution was to improvise, creating a brigade-centric, modular force of 17 Sustainment subject-matter experts, giving the Brigade flexible capability to quickly provide sustainment for emerging requirements.
You can read about the details of SQRF and the Brigade’s role in develop it in the September-October 2017 issue of Army Sustainment magazine.
Related Items
518th Sustainment Brigade Patch (SSI)
518th Sustainment Brigade Combat Service ID Badge (CSIB)