Reverse image search didn’t come up with much, maybe something to do with the 33rd Infantry Regiment of the Illinois National Guard? Couldn’t find much to corroborate that, though.
Link to image :
I looked up 33rd Infantry medals. Found this image…
Similar medal. More info.
It’s not a medal. It’s a Distinctive Unit Insignia. It is a heraldic crest that every unit is assigned and is worn on the dress uniform or beret. That one is for the 33rd BCT Brigade Special Troop Battalion which is part of the Illinois National Guard.
I should mention that the BSTB organization is a relatively new type of unit. That crest looks old so the unit was probably called something else then.
Also a newly old type of organization.
The BSTBs in maneuver Brigade Combat Teams have been going away to be replaced by Brigade Engineer Battalions. That started before I retired in 2015. That is in the period where we were revamping the BCT organization back towards needing to be able to operate in large scale conventional operations.
It looks like the current BEB for the 33rd BCT is the 766th Engineer Battalion. It looks like the transformation of the 766th Engineer Battalion to the 766th Brigade Engineer Battalion that is part of the 33rd BCT happened in October of 2014. I would assume the deactivation of the BSTB happened in a similar time frame.
It seems the 766 BEB does not use that DUI. I would assume they had an associated historical DUI from their existence outside the 33rd BCT. I am guessing that is what they used on the webpagefor their upcoming Brigade Ball. I am not digging deeper for them.
It looks like that DUI is still in use by the 33rd IBCT itself. It is at least for sale as their crest. In current use, I would assume I was seeing a soldier of the brigade headquarters and headquarters company.