1st Military Intelligence Battalion, US Army

1ST MILITARY INTELLIGENCE BATTALION, US ARMY

(Coat of Arms)

(Distinctive Unit Insignia)

Official blazon

Shield: Azure, issuant from base a lightning flash bendwise terminating in a dexter hand fesswise supporting an annulet winged to chief all or, within the annulet a human eye proper.
Crest: On a wreath of the colors, or and azure, a bundle of five arrows crossed with a hook-bladed machete in bend sinister, the arrows point down with shafts of the first barbed and flighted gules, the machete with handle to base azure all banded in center with a ribbon gold bearing three narrow stripes fesswise scarlet, all in front of a bank of clouds proper.
Motto: Informare laboramus = We labor to inform

Origin/meaning

Teal blue and yellow are the colours formerly used for air reconnaissance support battalions. The annulet, symbolic of a camera lens, refers to the aerial photo interpretation mission in the unit's history. The Wings allude to flight; the eye represents observation. The lightning flash alludes to the former signal element in the unit's composition and the hand commemorates the unit's mission of support. The battalion's awards for Vietnam service, for which it recived the Presidential Unit Citation (Air Force) and five Meritorious Unit Commendations (Army), are represented in the crest. The mak, or hook-blanded machete used to clear fields in Vietnam, signifies the battalion's keen reconnaissance perfomance, and, together with the clouds alluding to the Air Force, refers to the Presidential Unit Citation (Air Force); blue is the colour of the award streamer. The five arrows, with points down signifying penetration from the air, represent five Meritorious Unit Commandations (Army), with arrowheads and feathers in scarlet, the colour of the award streamers. The yellow band with scarlet stripes, suggested by the national flag of the Republic of Vietnam, also alludes to the unit's achievments in collecting aerial reconnaissance informations.

Literature:Finnegan: Army Lineage Series Military Intelligence. Images from Wikimedia Commons.