The 82nd Airborne Division, 2nd Brigade Combat Team (BCT), Special Troops Battalion (STB) flash and oval were both approved for wear on 23 February 2006 but were amended less than a month later to correct the insignia’s unit designation.
The shield-shaped insignia with a semi-circular bottom is frequently called a beret flash because it is worn centered on the stiffener of a beret, but the 2nd BCT’s STB equivalent insignia is technically referred to as an organizational flash because it represents a single discrete unit or organization. In addition, an organizational flash such as this one is worn on one of four colored berets—maroon, tan, green, or brown—that represent a particular unit type or classification: maroon for Airborne, tan for Ranger, green for Special Forces, and brown for Security Force Assistance Command. In contrast, all personnel serving in any unit that doesn’t fall into this classification wear a light-blue flash with thirteen stars on a black beret.
All Officers/Warrant Officers except Chaplains wear their nonsubdued rank insignia centered on the flash, while Enlisted Soldiers wear their Distinctive Unit Insignia (see link below), which was originally designed for the 325th STB, 2nd BCT, 82nd Airborne Division. Note that all personnel in the a Battalion authorized an organizational flash wear it regardless of their individual Airborne qualifications.
That is not the case with the oval, officially known as Airborne Background trimming. Only those Soldiers who have earned a Parachutist or Air Assault badge are authorized the oval, which is placed beneath those badges when worn on the AGSU or ASU coat, Class B ASU shirt, or the green or blue Army Maternity Tunic. Regulations regarding the placement of these Skill badges varies by uniform type; complete instructions on the wear and positioning of the badges is found
DA PAM 670-1, Chapter 22-16 subsection (b), “Wear of nonsubdued combat and special skill badges and special skill tab metal replicas.”
The Special Troops Battalion, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division is no longer an active unit, and while its exact date of inactivation/redesignation isn’t clear it appears to have occurred sometime before the end of 2013. In the seven years it was part of the 2nd BCT, the Battalion was honored with two Meritorious Unit Commendations, one for service between 3 January 2007 to 25 March 2008 that was issued in February 2009 and another announced in January 2012 for the six-and-a-half-month period it was deployed in Iraq’s Anbar province to strength Iraqi Security Forces and part of the transition of U.S. facilities and missions to the government of Iraq.
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Special Troops Battalion, 2nd BCT, 82nd Airborne Division Unit Crest (DUI)