COAT OF ARMS

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.

Symbolism:Teal blue and yellow are the colors 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 received the Presidential Unit Citation (Air Force) and five Meritorious Unit Commendations (Army), are represented in the crest. The mak, or hook-bladed machete used to clear fields in Vietnam, signifies the battalion™s keen reconnaissance performance, and, together with the clouds alluding to the Air Force, refers to the Presidential Unit Citation (Air Force); blue is the color of the award streamer. The five arrows, with points down signifying penetration from the air, represent five Meritorious Unit Commendations (Army), with arrowheads and feathers in scarlet, the color 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 achievements in collecting aerial reconnaissance information.

DISTINCTIVE UNIT INSIGNIA

LINEAGE RA (active)

• Constituted 14 December 1956 in the Regular Army as Headquarters and Headquarters Detachment, 1st Air Reconnaissance Support Battalion . Activated 1 February 1957 at Fort Polk, Louisiana. (205th Signal Company [see ANNEX 1]
• Reorganized and redesignated 1 May 1959 as Company A; 196th Aerial Photo Interpretation Detachment [see ANNEX 2]
• Redesignated 15 April 1959 as Company B and allotted to the Regular Army; activated 1 May 1959 at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.)
• Converted and redesignated 20 March 1962 as the 1st Military Intelligence Battalion . Inactivated 15 July 1982 at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.
• Activated 16 January 1984 in Germany.

• Constituted 24 January 1945 in the Army of the United States as the 205th Signal Repair Company Activated 1 February 1945 at Fort Jackson, South Carolina.
• Allotted 16 May 1949 to the Regular Army.
• Reorganized and redesignated 15 April 1954 as the 205th Signal Company. Inactivated 28 May 1955 in Korea.
• Activated 1 February 1956 at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.

• Constituted 16 June 1945 in the Army of the United States as the 196th Photo Interpreter Team . Activated 10 July 1945 at Fort Jackson, South Carolina.
• Reorganized and redesignated 18 May 1950 as the 196th Aerial Photo Interpretation Detachment . Inactivated 15 November 1953 at Governors Island, New York.

CAMPAIGN PARTICIPATION CREDIT

• Defense
• Counteroffensive
• Counteroffensive, Phase II
• Counteroffensive, Phase III
• Tet Counteroffensive
• Counteroffensive, Phase IV
• Counteroffensive, Phase V
• Counteroffensive, Phase VI
• Tet 69/Counteroffensive
• Summer-Fall 1969
• Winter-Spring 1970
• Sanctuary Counteroffensive
• Counteroffensive, Phase VII
• Consolidation I
• Consolidation II
• Cease-Fire

• UN Defensive
• UN Offensive
• CCF Intervention
• First UN Counteroffensive
• CCF Spring Offensive
• UN Summer-Fall Offensive
• Second Korean Winter
• Korea, Summer-Fall 1952
• Third Korean Winter
• Korea, Summer 1953

• Southwest Asia Liberation and Defense of Kuwait

DECORATIONS

• Presidential Unit Citation (Air Force), Streamer em- broidered SOUTHEAST ASIA 1966-1967 (1st Mili- tary Intelligence Battalion cited; DA GO 42, 1969)
• Meritorious Unit Commendation (Army), Streamer embroidered VIETNAM 1965-1966 (1st Military Intelligence Battalion cited; DA GO 17, 1968)
• Meritorious Unit Commendation (Army), Streamer embroidered VIETNAM 1966-1967 (1st Military Intelligence Battalion cited; DA GO 17, 1968)
• Meritorious Unit Commendation (Army), Streamer embroidered VIETNAM 1967-1968 (1st Military Intelligence Battalion cited; DA GO 42, 1969)
• Meritorious Unit Commendation (Army), Streamer embroidered VIETNAM 1969-1970 (1st Military Intelligence Battalion cited; DA GO 43, 1988)
• Meritorious Unit Commendation (Army), Streamer embroidered VIETNAM 1970-1972 (1st Military Intelligence Battalion cited; DA GO 5, 1973)
• Republic of Vietnam Cross of Gallantry with Gold Star, Streamer embroidered VIETNAM 1965-1971 (1st Military Intelligence Battalion cited; DA GO 32, 1973)

• Meritorious Unit Commendation (Army), Streamer embroidered KOREA 1950-1952 (205th Signal Repair Company cited; DA GO 94, 1952)
• Meritorious Unit Commendation (Army), Streamer embroidered KOREA 1953 (205th Signal Repair Company cited; DA GO 1, 1954)
• Republic of Korea Presidential Unit Citation, Streamer embroidered KOREA (205th Signal Repair Company cited; DA GO 33, 1953, as amended by DA GO 41, 1955)