Did you know there is one organization in the army that traces individual unit history , unit awards , and campaign credit with over 8000 units in the regular army , Army reserve , and Army National Guard . This task is completed by the Organizational History division at the US Army Center of Military History . So how can units from Corps and division down to independent platoons and detachments update their own history ? How can units apply for their lineage and honors or get campaign credit ? And what is the proper procedure for units to activate or inactivate ? For answers to these questions and more Army History Insights , stay tuned . Welcome to the US Army History and Heritage podcast , the official podcast of the United States Army Center of Military History . The Center of Military History writes and publishes the Army's official history , manages the US Army Museum Enterprise , and provides historical support throughout the US Army . Hello everyone and welcome to the United States Army History and Heritage podcast . I'm Lee Reynolds , the strategic communications officer for the Center of Military History . In this episode we're discussing one of CMH's newest publications , Unit History 101 Understanding Unit Lineage and Honors . And joining me for this discussion are Army historians and contributors to the publication , Joseph Seymour and Aaron Heft . Welcome , Joe and Aaron . Thanks Lee . It's great to be here . Great to be here . Great . Well , um , welcome back , Joe , and , and Aaron's new to the podcast , so welcome . uh , so let me do a little introduction on who these gentlemen are . So , uh , born and raised in the Philadelphia area , Joe Seymour attended Lewis and Clark College , the Pennsylvania State University , the University of Edinburgh , and Temple University , earning a bachelor's and master's degree in history . He also served in Troop A , first squadron of the 104th Cavalry Regiment , Pennsylvania Army National Guard , and worked as an Army historian since 2004 . His primary professional focus is on organizational history , the history and culture of the American soldier in the 18th century , and the evolution of small arms and tactics during that era , and he's also , uh , um , authored several publications . Aaron Heft is a historian at the US Army Center of Military History and a non-commissioned officer in the Maryland National Guard . He previously served as the non-commissioned officer in charge of the National Guard Bureau's Leader Development program where he managed the combat field studies staff ride program and helped establish the Leaders Recon podcast . He is a graduate of Gettysburg College and Norwich University where he received his master's degree . And is the author of multiple articles on the US Army in World War One . In 2025 , he has forthcoming chapters in two anthologies focusing on World War One battlefield pilgrimage and defense support of civil authorities . And again , both of you uh currently work in the organizational history division for Center of Military History . So that's what this publication is is about . So , um , what I loved about this , this book , Unit History 101 , is that it's , it's very informative , but it's also instructive and and a guide that units can use . So first of all , let's talk about who should be reading this publication and why . Well , I think what what makes this publication pretty uh unique is it's it's really for all soldiers in in all components in the United States Army and , and for the public as well . Uh , you know , we really built it as a way to inform soldiers how unit history affects their everyday life in the army , uh , and kind of gives them a little bit of a guide from the , the lowest level Joe all the way up to the highest level commander , uh , for how you can use history and how you can see history in the army every day . Yeah , and , and , um , before we get into the details uh about all of this , um , can you briefly explain what unit history is and why it's important ? You mentioned it's , it's important , it's something everyone should know , but , but , but why ? Can you go into some more detail ? Well , yeah , certainly the uh the . First and uh probably most important uh element that ah , you know , that a that a soldier . Identifies with and when I mean element I'm talking about elements of the army elements of the force is uh his or her unit uh that it is uh it is in our units that that we train and in our units that we fight and uh so unit history uh has a great deal of resonance with a lot of soldiers , uh especially soldiers um in the reserve components , the Army National Guard and the Army Reserve , uh , because many of these are locally based . Community based , uh , but that is not to say that , uh , that , that within the regular army soldiers don't identify with their battalion with their company , uh , for example , uh , you know , the old guard , uh , here in the national capital region , uh , certainly generates high degree of sprit de corps , and it's that esprit de corps , uh , that , uh , that informs the soldiers' division , uh , informs the soldier's decision to enlist , but it also , uh , uh . Informs their decision to reenlist is that sense of uh that that sense of of place of belonging . Yeah , and you know one of the things that uh that I've learned from lineage and honors and and different units is , you know , as a um . When I was a private and then also as a 2nd lieutenant get to a unit and I've got , you know , maybe 1 or 2 ribbons on , but then on on the other side I have 3 or 4 ribbons and , and then a cord that I get to put on and and that all came as a surprise to me and you know I went from having almost nothing on my uniform to , you know , look looking uh almost like General Patton , uh , depending on the unit so that established immediately a lot of pride for me . Yeah , and . I know that , uh , you know , when I was a young soldier it it was the same it was it was the same thing it was , you know , identifying what that is is those who came before us , uh , and it is , it is a remembrance and it is a direct connection uh to the army stretching all the way back to 1775 and with the militia to 1636 , uh , and it is that that can be an incredible motivator and some of our , you know . Uh , one of the most challenging times , uh , we , we can , we can look back to those soldiers who came before and they inspire us and they remind us of , of , of why soldiers serve . So unit history , uh , is our primary product is the lineage and honor certificate and the lineage and honor certificate , uh , is a . Is an official , it's an official document , it's an official certificate , uh , that I . Is to be displayed in a prominent area in a unit's headquarters . Uh , it is , it is the unit that tells soldiers , as you , as you pointed out , what they should wear on their service uniform , uh , what unit awards are authorized for that unit , and also , uh , which campaigns the unit has been in . It consists of three parts and outline history , uh , which uh tells how old . The unit is when it was organized which reorganizations redesignations it's gone through in the course of its uh long service or or shorter service uh and also then there's also a uh the honors which can be divided into campaign participation credit uh and decorations and other awards are actually uh there are actually honors uh that are not uh physical manifestations . They're not actually worn . On the uniform or flown on the color or guide on , uh , so you know so that is what a lineage and honor certificate is and it is for all soldiers , which is why it's displayed prominently uh so that soldiers can be educated in their unit's history but also uh also so that they know what to display on their , on their flags and to wear on their uniforms . Yeah , and at what point did the army start tracking all this campaign credit ? When did it really . Becoming an organized program . It really , well , OK , that's a two part question . When the army started to track it in the 19th century and uh the idea of uh it was during the Civil War , when units began to display their honors uh on their colors and it was actually on the , you know , on the national colors occasionally on the regimental colors , um . And the , the army , you know , very quickly realized that uh leaving it to the units , there'd be confusion . Uh , we , we really tracked the , the , um , organized institutionalized concept back to the Hancock board of 1877 . Uh , Winfield Scott Hancock , uh , was asked to determine some very , uh , important principles that we use to this very day . uh , what constitutes a battle we used the term campaign now as war became more . Complex , uh , but it was Winfield Scott and his aides who determined , hey , what , what is a battle , what is a campaign and for for the army purposes it's something of strategic significance , uh , or it's something that a significant portion of the army fought at so , uh , an example of a strategically important battle would be uh Fort McHenry . In 1814 , the whole army didn't fight there , uh , but it was of of prominence and significance also of great symbolic psychological significance . Now an army , uh , I'm sorry , a battle in which most of the army fought would be Gettysburg in 1863 . So that's a and it is also a strategically important uh battle . So he started to determine that they also determined how a unit could , um . Could uh get campaign credit or battle credit . So , uh , again , he used a very logical rationale and that it's where a significant portion of a unit fought . We use these principles to this very day we we talked a little bit already about uh unit lineage and honors , um , but , uh . Can you go in a little bit more detail about how Eunice can get copies of the lineage and honors and uh where they should display these ? Surely . So you know , Joe mentioned kind of the pieces and and the parts of the lineage and honors when you visually look at it , but I really think the best description I've ever heard of it is it's a combination of a unit's birth certificate and its resume . So it shows you all the major force structure actions . you the unit awards and the the battle streamers . So it's something that , you know , should be found in every unit's headquarters , you know , a lot of units will frame them , put them on display . It's something to be proud of . It tells a story whether your unit's the oldest in the army or one of the newest formations that are coming out of this , this transformation initiative . So there's a lot of things , uh , to take pride in regardless of how old it is . But if you do want to copy . Of it if you need an update you gotta reach out to us so uh you can connect with us through the uh CMH website um and uh we'll get you an updated copy as soon as possible . Yeah , it's history.army.mil and uh , so let's say you know we , we , you know , 10 years ago unit comes back from Iraq or Afghanistan . And they want their campaign credit . So how does that happen ? Does the , does the army , does CMH , your , your , your , your team , your division , you , you get the orders or is it upon ? Uh , is the onus on the individual unit to submit that to you to get campaign credit ? So how does that work for a unit ? Well , CMH doesn't authorize campaign credit . The US Army Human Resources Command authorizes campaign participation credit . Uh , what we determine is whether a unit is eligible to display the honor and we work with HRC very closely , uh , to , um . Determine things like as as Winfield Scott Hancock determined back in the 1870s did enough of the unit participate in a particular campaign , uh , to , uh , merit that credit and it's , you know , it's usually , you know , it's most of the unit , um . And at that point , uh , at that point we , we will determine , OK , yes , the unit earned the honor . HRC may send us an order saying yes , here they are entitled to , uh , you know , national resolution here you go , um . And then you know HRC will then publish a permanent order so it's it's the order , you know what what we use on a lineage and honor certificate has a has documentation every line of a lineage and honor certificate has documentation . um , now that can get more complicated , uh , in the National Guard because National Guard units constantly reorganized . And what was the unit that was , you know , 10 years ago earned a campaign credit in Iraq and I was just working on this this morning right before I came over here . Uh , may have changed designations in the last 10 years . The soldiers , uh , the soldiers changed , uh , so then we will research the orders and , uh , determine , hey , hey , what was the uh proverbial 123rd infantry , uh , is now the 321st MP battalion and so now they get the . for this and and uh and that that helps soldiers learn and explain oh yeah hey we used to be infantry uh and and you know a lot of soldiers ask us that question , hey , we're a support battalion , but we've got crossed cannons over our army armory Sally port . Why , why is it ? Well , it's because you were once field artillery . So anything else to add to that ? Yeah , yeah , so I , I think you , you have a good question there , which is , you know , who updates this and and how do , how do we get there ? And I think , uh , the important thing to remember is that this can't be driven by CMH , you know , as you mentioned , there's , you know , over 8000 units in the army . This is at the commander's request , so . It's it's up to units to , to keep up with their own mobilizations to document some of that , and we'll talk a little bit about that later , but , uh , you know , really it's got to be on the unit commander to request an updated copy . Yeah , it is not automatic just because we have 8000 units and , and unit history is not . The , you know , the domain of the center of military history , it is what we do to support units , but the unit history program is the responsibility of the commanding officers as Aaron points out , yeah , and then just to manage expectations if a commander does request their lineage and honors , uh , you may have a a handful of requests and so it's gonna take a little bit of time , right ? It's not , it's not as easy as they send in a request . I get it today . And it's it we're mailing it out . Yeah . Sure , sure , it does , it does take some time , you know , we , we do extensive research to make sure they're as accurate as possible . So we wanna , you know . Cross all the T's , do all the I's , all those things in a way for sure , but uh you know , if a constraint , if they have a special event coming up or something like that , we try and work with them as much as possible um but you know we do get dozens of requests almost weekly across across the force . Yeah , a lot of context . And one of the nice things that I know that you uh . Yeah , you , you and your and your division have done , you know , we're in the Revolutionary War 250th commemoration time period , so there are how many units in the army today that have lineage that go back to the Revolutionary War ? 35 , 35 . 1 of them is in the regular army , the First Battalion , 5th field artillery regiment , um , which we love , and then the the other 34 are . In the several states in the yeah in in the National Guard , National Guard , and um you created special lineage on certificates for them . Yeah , we did , uh , service certificates to nice little thing to show the what the unit did in the Revolutionary War . Yeah , so it's nice special design on them and all signed by Secretary of the Army , I believe , yeah , so that's , that's the so when do special occasions come up , you know , you , you guys were on it . Before the revolut the the uh commemorations started , so those are nice and that's something really , really , uh really good for them to , uh , display at their unit . We talked about , um , organizational history , right ? You that commanders are responsible for their own unit history here um can you go a little bit more into detail on that ? How can units maintain their own history and , and , and , uh , describe the purpose and the creation of an organizational history file . Sure , so I , I spent a little time , uh , working , uh , as a historian , uh , in the field , you know , in uniform before I came here to CMH , and organizational history files are really important , uh , you know this is something that you control at your level , uh , and you can build it pretty easily with the material that you use on a day to day basis , uh , you know , uh , we looked at it in my old . Command as a yearly operation so we would put in , you know , our training schedule for the year , significant events , news articles that came out during the year , uh , changes to the toe or , or the equipment , uh , that we had during the year if we fielded anything new like I remember when the M17 came out that was a big thing for our unit , so we , we went through and had all the documentation on that . Uh , our most recent lineage and honors and anything else that kind of adds to the , the history of the unit , you know , we tracked , uh , Valor Award recipients in that unit . Uh , so we had a running tally of , of anybody from any conflict , uh , that we could easily reference at the command level . So , you know , something simple like that , uh , is a , is a great way to to start an organizational history file and then you just build on it year after year . Yeah , and , and that's covered in the book as well , right ? Unitory 101 , right ? And so it's really up to the commander . There's a guy there like here's , here's some basic things like you're talking about , but it could be as as big as and as in depth as as they wanted it . Yeah , really , uh , you know , we also train unit historical officers here at CMH . uh , we have an online program you can sign up for and it helps you build the fundamentals of , of what to track and how to track it , um , and you know , commanders can assign a UHO to build these organizational history files at the . Level and really it's , it's uh can be anything from a a brief you know two page on what the unit did each year , uh , to an extensive file that that dates back to some of these revolutionary War units that you talked about right , yeah , and , and that's something that each individual unit . Maintains at at company level , you know , separate platoon or detachment on up to division or core that's right , right , yeah , at every echelon yeah so and then just to be clear for the audience is that that's that's something the units maintain that's not something that we keep here at CMH . So just , just wanna make sure that people understand that that's , that's for them . To to use absolutely I mean we track uh major force structure actions deployments and things like that here but we really consider what we have more a working file uh than an expansive archive , you know , we , we keep the materials that's necessary to prepare a lineage and honors or special designation or something like that , um , but the full history of the units , the after action reports , you know , that resides with the unit while it's active and then it's turned over to the , the National Archives , uh , you know , at a . Interval every couple years you talk in the book also about uh a difference in how the Army National Guard prepares lineages . Can you go into some detail about that ? Well yeah , the National Guard , the Army National Guard , uh , because of its uh dual status as both the organized militia of the of the state and as a um . As a reserve component of the army , uh , has it . It organizes it is organized under um under slightly different uh uh legal precedents and uh the the National Guard was part of the organization organized militia of uh the colonies prior to the formation of the United States Army in 1775 and because of that , uh , it is locally based , uh , we , uh , in a very , very uh concise uh statement uh we track the continuity . Of uh of legally constituted units uh through uh through their personnel drilling in a particular geographic location , uh , so , uh , for example in uh city of Baltimore , uh , there's an infantry battalion that has been continuously drilling since 1774 . Uh , it has gone through various reorganizations and redesignations , uh . So that uh just because a unit has the same designation as a historic unit does not necessarily mean that it has that history uh in the National Guard . Actually once upon a time , uh , that's the way the regular army also traced its lineage , which is the reason why , uh , the 3rd Infantry Regiment , uh , is the oldest regular army . Infantry regiment , uh , and not the first , uh , and um we can yes we can we can track all of those changes , uh , so in the regular army and the and the army reserve , the designation perpetuates , you know , the lineage is perpetuate through the designation whereas in the in the National Guard . Uh , it's through , uh , as I said , personnel drill continuously drilling in a geographic location , which is , I think gets back to our earlier point about why unit history is so important , uh , to soldiers in the reserve component because they , you know , they are actually part of a very long line of soldiers or a distinguished line , uh , from a soldier that organized just yesterday or just a few years ago there's there's , you know . We don't , we don't , uh , make distinctions based on the age of the you mentioned , you know , the Army National Guard goes all the way back to is it 1635 or 1936 , 1636 and that is based on the way we trace , uh unit history uh and we have , you know , the army has always done it . Uh , there's actually a um a war department , uh , um . Uh memo , um . A circular , I believe that was uh Peyton March actually stated that the the designation does not in and of itself determine the units uh history and this was in 1918 when a lot of units were redesignating but not necessarily changing their their personnel composition . So the reason why we trace . The units in the National Guard back to 1636 is that is that marks the continuity of four regiments that organized in Massachusetts uh 13 December 1636 by order of the General Court of Massachusetts , uh , they organized uh the North South and East Regiment , um . And so those units are today perpetuated in the Massachusetts Army National Guard . It does not mean uh that that is when the first militia units were created . So , you know . There are soldiers in uh different states who say well you know we're we're older but no Massachusetts has been continuously drilling yeah I know that uh we don't like to uh to talk about firsts because it's it's just really difficult to do it yes but so on the lineage and honors for some of some of these army units . Um , I , and I guess more specifically for the National Guard , will their lineage and honors go back before 1775 or officially for the army , um , it can't , I mean , can you clarify that ? Oh yeah , um , because those units are maintained as part of the militia of that state , uh , and they are um . That history is tracked prior to the establishment of the United States Army . The United States Army is , uh , is an organization uh that is comprised of those three components , so you know , the militia being , you know , being a part of the army . Um , and when federalized , you know , that's they are , uh , you know , they are part of that reserve component , but , uh , it was actually , you know , the , the army flag has Lexington as a streamer , and there are units of the Massachusetts Army National Guard that carry Lexington , uh , as their , as , as one of their campaign participation credits through the Middlesex Regiment to be specific , so it's a . Uh , it , it does get into a chicken and egg question , uh , so , but yeah , the , the , the militia being a part of the army , um , through its dual status . I think that that also leads you into a great uh a great point when you're looking at guard lineages , uh , you know , from these early militia days it shows their their founding and their organization , um , but really in the modern era what we track is federal , uh , mobilizations and activations so you won't see on a , on a National Guard lineage , uh , you know , called up for Hurricane Agnes or , uh , deployed , um . You know , for a DISCO mission , uh , but you will see federal activations and you will see deployments that way and , and kind of changes to the force structure authorized by the army and a federal and a federal uh yeah it's very important because a a period of federal service , uh , may not result in a campaign streamer . So , uh , for example , um , many , many , many National Guard units , um . Were federalized for uh the Mexican Mex Mexican border in 1916 and 1917 uh and there is a uh streamer for the punitive expedition but by law in 1916 , 1917 , the National Guard could not deploy outside of the United States so the punitive expedition was all regular army . Uh , and , uh , the , so the National Guard was on the border in case Mexico invaded , but the , um , but the punitive expedition didn't was not a National Guard operation , so we get questions like that , yeah , and you talking about the streamers , so let's talk about that for a little bit . The , um , on the army flag , right , there's 100 and I , I , I can't remember like 130 something campaign streamers , um . Uh , I know for the Revolutionary War there's 17 , uh , for that , so we call them campaign streamers as you pointed out , it may have been a one day battle or it could have been , you know , something over uh 6 or 7 months , um , uh . Who determines that those streamers , is that here at at CMH or is that something that HRC determines ? So , so HRC does determine the , the campaigns themselves , uh , the start and end dates and and those aspects of it , uh , and we work with them to , to help ensure that the unit's history accurately captures where it's been and what it's done . Um , you know , a good thing to point out with streamers too is that not every , uh , battle , uh , has a streamer itself . Uh , some of these are are wider campaign actions . Um , some are named battles . Some are just theater service or , or service in a , in a time of war . So , uh , you know , I recently completed a lineage for a unit that , uh , served in Panama and Hawaii during World War II , uh , in defensive operations . So they received a campaign streamer for the , uh , Asiatic and Pacific Theater , but it doesn't have any battle name tied to it because they were serving in defensive operations . Yeah , and that's , that's interesting , uh , gets into another point too because yesterday , uh , the last couple of days I was looking at a , um . A unit from the Michigan Army National Guard and uh it's a medical unit uh that has uh it's a consolidation if you trace your history back to more than one unit as the units reorganizing and consolidate uh and you know the the the infantry companies were part of the thirty-second division before the war when it was a square division . Uh , but then when the division became a triangular division , uh , those , the , the one battalion state state side . So this unit served in some cases all the way back to the 1890s , um , but it , it's infantry elements had World War 1 credit , uh , with the 32nd uh division , but the World War II credit was stateside . Uh , but they , but then they got their World War II credit , you know , the in , uh , the Pacific Theater , uh , you know , Papua New Guinea and all that , um . From their medical service as a as part of a medical battalion uh and so , you know , a lot of , uh , you know , a lot of these , uh , that's the purpose of a lineage is to say how did you get that credit and sometimes you think you're , oh it was a combat unit . No , it was a medical unit doing doing important things . I think unit history 101 the goal here too is is to lay out how a lot of these actions work and well you may . Not understand everything from a first look at a lineage and honor certificate , um , you know , it can be a little confusing the way things consolidate , reorganize or what an annexes and all of that type of stuff , but , uh , it kind of gives you a start by reading this book , how , how to , to get into that , to delve into that , and then we're always available to help you navigate it , right ? And these are online as well . Yes , the , um , the lineage and honors , people can look them up for their own . Yes , we , we just did a major uh update of the the website here and uh we have PDF copies of the most recent up to date . Um , you know , not everything's up there for every unit in the army , as we said , there's thousands of them and we're working through them , uh , but they will be a small team too , yeah , yeah , just a handful of us squad sized . If somebody like , so like I , I commanded a uh a small unit , public affairs , a broadcast operations attachment for 40 people , and we were in Iraq twice and so we got to have a campaign streamer on our guide on . Um , but what's the process of getting that ? How ? Do they reach out to CMH or do units have to reach back to HRC to get that campaign streamer ? Um , there , there's several organizations that work closely together for , for , uh , different aspects of unit history and unit , uh , the heraldic items that go with that . Uh , so to , to order their requisition their streamers , uh , the units have to go to KO . So , but then they need . A statement of their lineage and honors from show to show that officially yes you are authorized so that's the that's the first step . So it's so often it is it's uh you know we work in tandem with uh to get uh to get their streamers , but again we need the orders from . HRC HRC authorizing pay that that unit is entitled to that and then we say , hey , is it entitled to display because , um , you know , because of a lot of the things we've discussed here and that are that are discussed in more detail in unit history 101 . Yeah , I mean , that Joe points out a really good point here which is that it's multiple organizations working together . So if you have uh something that you are trying to determine , trying to figure out , trying to get ordered , you know , we can help you uh get the documentation for it and if we're not the person . Uh , that , that does that action we can help get you in contact with the right person and maintaining that good organizational history file is , is a great first step in doing this essential because you know we , we had , uh , and , and I remember we after we came back from Iraq , we had the orders for our unit and so I can't remember if we went to HRC or we just took those orders and we reached out to CMH to get the the updated lineage and honors but we got that streamer and made a big difference for the unit . It it was we talked about earlier , you know , the , the esprit de corps , the the morale boost that you get from doing these things , and it was huge and you know I really encourage anyone out there that's listening to this to do this for your unit , you know , um , you see streamers on battalion colors all the time , but separate units , tunes , companies , you can have battle streamers on your guide ons and it's , it's a , it's a big boost for the units to display those , so . I wanna make sure people are , you know , understand that that process and can get these for their units . Yeah , absolutely . I mean , not every unit is entitled to its own unique battle streamers , uh , you know , subordinate elements of a battalion may not have their own specific honors , but , but many do , uh , and we can help determine that find that info for you and even if you're a detachment of a unit , you know , uh , that's authorized to guide on , uh , say you're , you know , we have split stationing in the , uh , in the National Guard . Even if you're a detachment , you carry your own lineage , right ? So you may very well be , uh , you may not be entitled to display it , but you carry that lineage and if at some later date you reorganize as a unit entitled to a guide on , uh , or even conceivably a uh an organizational flag . Uh , then , then those honors will be displayed . So it's again it's maintaining that organizational , uh , history file . It's very important . Another , uh , part of this , uh , this publication Unit 101 that I found fascinating was special designations , and I love the fact that you use the 25th Infantry guys . I was in the 25th for about 4 years , so we were Tropic lightning . Um , I was in Deardi , so we were Tropic Thunder . Um , but those are official . Those weren't just nicknames that we called it then . There is actually a process for units to go through to get these special designations , these special nicknames . Completely authorized and and I guess you get orders for those . Can you talk about the process for that and and maybe some other examples ? Sure , sure , yeah , so , uh , you know , special designations are one of those things like you mentioned that can help bring a quarter unit , uh , much like lineage and honors , they'll actually appear on the certificate itself , you know , if you have an official , uh , special designation , you also get your own certificate that declares why why you have this designation . We also do unit days uh for specific anniversaries in in the same manner , but . Um , for special designations really it comes down into two types . There's distinctive , uh , which really can be just selected by a unit based on their function or role or something important to them , um , you know , has to be within good taste . We have to approve it , right , absolutely . But the , uh , the other category would be traditional designations which , uh , you know , have been used by unit for 30 years or more , um . And you know , a great example of this is , you know , there's a lot of units out there that have an unofficial nickname . They've gone for a long time . Uh , recently , uh , Joe got officially authorized the Harlem Hellfighters for the sustain that that wasn't until recently . It was just a nickname that they knew it was it was it was it was . So we can certificates . Uh , officially enter it into the , the record for the army . Uh , you know , there's some really unique ones out there like you talked about , uh , Tropic lightning , we talked about the Harlem Hellfighters , you know , when we tie back to these revolutionary units for the 250th , you know , the first battalion I was in was First Battalion of the 111th Infantry . It went by the name Associators , uh , which , you know , when you saw it on , on all of our records and you heard it as a call sign , a lot of people were like , hey , what is that ? You know , what's an associator . That doesn't even look grammatically correct , but what it was is it was the , the , uh , the revolutionary War era or even before that , uh , colonial militia name for that organization . So you could see the the history carried through this traditional designation all the way down to tasks , task forces deployed by that unit to call signs in the battlefield . So , uh , you know , there's really unique ways to utilize this , but they don't have to be that old , uh , you know . Recently we did um a lineage for a unit who's uh requesting a distinctive designation of of the Seminole battalion and they were actually given permission by the the Seminole nation , the Seminole people to use that as a designation . So there's a lot of different ways you can acquire one , but they all bring that sense of pride to the , yeah , and some other examples that I can think of , um , the 82 , the All Americans , right , or the big red one , And , and so would that be as you said there were two types , right ? So , um , so all American or big red one , what type is that ? Yeah , so if , if it's been used for 30 years or more , it's traditional . If it's younger than that , it's distinctive . And if you are a lettered element , company troop battery of a battalion uh to qualify for a traditional designation . Uh , it's 50 years and so , uh , we had , we recently passed a milestone with um a company from Indiana , I think they're , they're company now , the 2nd of the 134th cavalry regiment , but they , they , they change , they change , uh , battalions from time to time . Uh , but they were , they were known as the Indiana Rangers during the Vietnam War . They were National Guard units deployed to Vietnam during the Vietnam War , and they are now authorized , officially authorized the traditional designation of Indiana Rangers . So this is happening , uh , this is going on , and the book explains how to do . But again , this is really on the unit to send a request here to CMH . Yes , absolutely , right , right to our office , just like you would a lineage and honors . There's examples of how to request it , what you can use for me examples in the book that show you . So it's a great book , uh , unit 101 , um um establishing unit lineage and honors . I think it's the subtitle . So it , yeah , it's great books got a lot of information in there on on how to how to do all this stuff and like I said , it's it's an educational book , it's it's in or informational but also instructive for units . So really want to uh make sure that that units have a copy of this . So how , how can units get a copy of this publication ? So it's uh available for free on our website , a PDF version . Uh , if you wanna request a hard copy , you can order it through , yeah , you can go on our website and then there there's a way to order that . So if , if you're in DOD , right , Department of Defense Department of the Army , any , any unit can get these for free . Um , the hard copies for free . You can also , if you're a civilian and you're and you're interested in this , it's because it is , it's got a lot of good history in the book too . So , um , you , you can purchase it from the government printing office , uh , or it's open to everybody has a free PDF download from our website history.army.mil . Just go to our publications tab and you can select the book Unit history 101 . All right , so I think um is there anything else about this that uh before we get into our , our HA trivia , is there anything else that you wanted to add that we missed ? Well , that , you know , to , uh , units out there and commanders out there , um , unit history is , it is yours , it is ultimately your responsibility , uh , we are here to record it and to , uh , to make it official , uh , but maintain those records . Yeah , I think , uh , you know , another thing to think about too is that , that unit history doesn't just reside in a book or in a lineage and honor certificate . There's plenty of ways to use it in training , uh , in morale , uh , events , you know , I see everything from dining in centered around historic events , uh , to recently the Army National Guard's National Best warrior competition incorporated a lot of unit history into the events , uh , physical events , um , you know , events at historic sites . So there's a lot of ways to integrate this into your training plan as well . Yeah , I , I love that idea that idea about using um unit history for these types of events . We've got big commemorations ongoing of course Revolutionary War , uh , ongoing right now . We've got the , um , uh , Vietnam . We just , uh , passed the 50th anniversary commemorations , but now we're in the 60th anniversary I knowareng 60th is this year . Uh , in November , so there's a , there , uh , and then Korean War , seventy-fifth , uh , um , commemorations are , are ongoing right now . So you just look at your lineage and honors , request a copy or go online and , and you can see them from our website as well and tie . Uh , history into your events absolutely and and you know , wherever there's been , uh , American military history , it's been the units of all three components , uh , that had been there and uh maybe as you're as you're hearing this uh you can think back to your unit and the , you know , the , the great acts of valor and the great acts of service that that your unit helped to provide that uh are part of the history of the United States . Now before we close , it's time for our segment called Hua Trivia . So , uh , this is a piece of significant army trivia , um , about the topic about unit history here . So is there something that you can share about unit history or lineage and honors ? So I'll , I'll tee this up for Joe , but I think probably one of the most common questions we get , we'll use as our trivia today . So when you go to your lineage and honor certificate and you go all the way down to the honors or the decorations portion of the certificate , a lot of times you'll see awards from , you know , our allied nations . Our partner nations that we work with , um , and you know , there's a lot listed everything from uh Philippine presidential unit citation to , uh , you know , mentioned in the orders of the day of the Belgian army , uh , you know , there's a lot of different ways that that our allies have recognized US Army units over time . But there is only one award that you will see on a lineage and honor certificate from a from a partner nation that is authorized uh for temporary wear in the United States Army . Uh , so Joe , do you want to tell him what that one is ? Yeah , and , and there , there , there are two types of unit awards authorized for temporary wear and permanent wear . Uh temporary wear means you wear it as long as you're in the unit . Permanent wear you wear it , uh , if you were in the unit when it earned the honor . Uh , so , uh , that's a question we get a lot . So the only foreign award that is authorized for temporary wear . Is the French forger and it is , it has to say that the French forageger is authorized on the lineage and honor certificate because the French forger is conferred by the Republic of France . Uh , so it is , uh , it is a high honor indeed to be able to wear that , uh , for temporary wear . There's several units in the army today that that earned it in World War 1 and several that earned it in World War 2 , and you can find that like we said in the decorations section of your lineage and honor certificate . OK , well , great , that's good to know and um this has been fascinating , you know , it it it really is . I enjoyed going through the publication . There's a lot that I learned there . And a lot of reflections back to when I was uh in units and commanding units and figuring out all this stuff so uh but it's very helpful it's it's it's extremely useful so um again people can get this by going to history . Army.mil and our publications tab there and uh so great thank you so much , uh , Joe and Erin for your insights today about unit history 101 . And if anyone wants to learn more about unit history , lineage and honors or learn more about Army history in general , then I encourage you to explore our website at history.army.mil . And if you want to experience army history every day then visit us on our social media sites on Facebook , X and Instagram . So thanks for joining us today on the United States Army History and Heritage podcast for the Center of Military History . I'm Lee Reynolds , and until next time . We're history . The views expressed in this podcast reflect those of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views , policies , or opinions of the US Army or Department of Defense . For more information about the Army's proud history and heritage , go to history.army.mil .