Like a great many of the lower-numbered Battalions in the Army Corps of Engineers, the 7th Engineer Battalion can trace its origins to December 1861 and the organization of a provisional Engineer from existing Engineer units and newly created ones; it was constituted in 1866 as The Battalion of Engineers. 19th-century campaign credits include ten during the Civil War and one during the War With Spain (Santiago).
Assigned to the 5th Division during World War I, the Battalion was credited with taking part in four campaigns, a number it exceeded by one in World War II. After World War II, the Battalion underwent a sporadic series of activations and inactivations before it was activated in 2006 at Fort Drum, New York in 2006. Between 2009 and 20012, and the Battalion deployed twice to Iraq and once to Afghanistan, earning a pair of Meritorious Unit Commendations before it was reflagged as the 7th Brigade Engineer Battalion in 2014.
Approved on 27 August 1926, the 7th Engineer Battalion Distinctive Unit Insignia features the anchor and crossed oars of the Engineers and Pontoniers of the Army of the Potomac; this is flanked by a pair of crescents taken from General Winfield Scott’s coat of arms as a reference to the service in Mexico by Engineer units that formed the provisional battalion in 1861. The red cross represents the crossing of the Meuse River near the village of Dun and is taken from that town’s coat of arms.
♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦
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.