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302nd Maintenance Battalion (DS/GS)

The primary mission of the 302nd Maintenance Battalion is to provide Direct Support and General Support level maintenance, repair parts supply support, technical assistance, and evacuation assistance to non-divisional units in its area of operation and to provide back-up DS maintenance as required. The Battalion Headquarters is designed to provide command and control and manage/direct the maintenance activities of three to five maintenance companies. At times, the Battalion may be augmented with non-maintenance units to improve the quality of support or to provide C2 to units within its geographical area.

The primary mission of the HHD, 302nd Maintenance Battalion is to secure and defend the Battalion Headquarters area and to provide administrative, unit supply, and organizational maintenance support to the Battalion Headquarters. The primary mission of the 212th Quartermaster Company (GS) is to set-up and operate a general supply (GS) storage facility to receive, store, and issue general supplies. The primary mission of the 322nd Maintenance Company is to provide direct support (DS) level maintenance, repair parts supply support, and technical assistance commensurate with stated capabilities for non-divisional units assigned to, or passing through, the corps and theater areas. The unit performs the following DS maintenance tasks: Inspection, diagnosis, and troubleshooting. Rapid repair and return of equipment to customers by adjusting and replacing line replaceable units (LRUs), assemblies, and components. Repair of selected high usage components in support of RX operations. The primary mission of the 417th Maintenance Company is to provide general support (GS) level maintenance for conventional heavy and light equipment end items and components for return to the theater army supply commensurate with stated capabilities. The mission of the 704th Chemical Company (Recon) is to provide Nuclear Biological and Chemical (NBC) reconnaissance support through an area of operations to locate, identify mark, report NBC contamination, and identify bypass routes around contaminated areas. The mission of the 806th Chemical Detachment is to provide NBC Staff support to augment separate brigades, corps, theater defense brigades, theater armies, and unified commands.

302nd Maintenance Battalion Headquarters and Headquarters Detachment was constituted April 3rd, 1944 in the Army of the United States as Headquarters and Headquarters Detachment, 302nd Ordnance Battalion. Activated May 15th, 1944 at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Inactivated January 30th, 1946 on Okinawa. Allotted November 1st, 1946 to the Organized Reserves and assigned to Fifth Army. Activated November 14th, 1946 at Minneapolis, Minnesota. (The Organized Reserves were redesignated March 25th, 1948 as Organized Reserve Corps; then redesignated in 1952 as the Army Reserve.) Inactivated December 4th 1950 at Minneapolis, Minnesota. Redesignated November 24th, 1967 as Headquarters and Headquarters Detachment, 302nd Maintenance Battalion. Activated January 31st, 1968 at Saint Paul, Minnesota.

The distinctive unit insignia was approved on 22 April 1969, consisting of a gold inverted triangle with its lower portion on a light blue enamel demi-segment of a disc and its base point enarched, bearing a light blue enamel winged wheel, wings displayed and the wheel surmounted by a gold hexagon, angle up, all above a red enamel scroll lined gold, convoluting to the sides of the triangle, inscribed "OPTIMUM SERVICE" in gold letters. Crimson and light blue are the colors used for Maintenance. The triangle and winged wheel are from the arms of the City of St. Paul, the unit's home site and the blue of the demi-segment relates to water and alludes to "the land of 10,000 lakes," one of the designations of Minnesota. The scroll and its convolutions represent a support, and the wheel denotes mobile maintenance; the wings, aircraft maintenance, and the hexagon relate to both the tool and the chemical decontamination aspects of the organization's mission.