Collar devices for Staff Specialist Corps officers use the branch insignia design of a sword laid horizontally across the top of an open book, with two laurel branches encompassing it on the left and right. According to The Institute of Heraldry, the book symbolizes regulations, while the sword placed on top of it represents the military aspect of those regulations. Laurel branches in heraldry are always a symbol of honor.
After the establishment of the Staff and Administrative Reserve in 1947, the Office of the Quartermaster General assigned the job of designing its insignia to Elizabeth Will, one of the most accomplished and respected designers in the Heraldic Section. In 1926 she had crafted the design of the Distinguished Flying Cross, and in 1932 had designed what is arguably the most recognizable medal awarded by the U.S. Military: the Purple Heart. The book-sword-laurel branches design that Will crated was approved for the Staff and Administrative Reserve branch on February 5, 1948, and was retained when the branch was renamed the Staff Specialist Reserve in September, 1949.
Will went on to design numerous federal emblems and seals, including the Seals for the Secretary of Defense and the Department of the Air Force and the Vice-Presidential Coat of Arms. For her services, she was honored with one of the highest awards the Federal government can issue to employees in the civilian sector, the Meritorious Civilian Service Award, which was established by the Secretary of the Army in 1959. In 2014, that award was redesigned and renamed the Superior Civilian Service Medal.
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