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.
♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦
The 7th Aviation Battalion Distinctive Unit Insignia was approved on 1 August 1963. At the time, teal blue (rather than ultramarine blue) was used for Aviation battalions. The diagonal split is meant to represent the division between night and day and thus the battalion’s ability to operate under either condition.
A winged device in the middle of the insignia represents flight, while the telescope within it stands for reconnaissance and observation duties. A lightning flash in the lower half alludes to radio relay of information; a mullet (star) in the upper half connotes providing illumination. “Lucky Seven” is a reference to the unit’s numerical designation.
Constituted on 1 July 1957 as the 7th Aviation Company and assigned to the 7th Infantry Division, the Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 7th Aviation Battalion was created on 1 July 1963. It was inactivated in April 1971 at Fort Lewis, Washington, the activated again on 21 January 1976 at Fort Ord, California. Its inactivation date is not known with certainty but likely dates to around 1994, when the 7th Infantry Division was inactivated and Fort Ord was shuttered.