Wikipedia:WikiProject Military history/Military unit infobox

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[edit] Military unit infobox

502nd Parachute Infantry Regiment
502d PIR Coat Of Arms
Active	1942–present
Country	United States
Branch	Army
Type	Parachute infantry
Part of	101st Airborne Division
Garrison/HQ	Fort Campbell
Nickname	"Five-Oh-Deuce" or "The Deuce"
Motto	Strike
Battles/wars	Battle of Normandy, Operation Market Garden, Battle of the Bulge, Operation Iraqi Freedom
Decorations	Presidential Unit Citation (5), Valorous Unit Award (5), Croix de Guerre
Commanders
Notable commanders	George V. H. Moseley, Jr., John H. Michaelis

A military unit infobox may be used to summarize information about an individual military unit or formation, such as a regiment or division..

The infobox should be added using the {{Infobox Military Unit}} template, as shown below:

{{Infobox Military Unit
|unit_name= 
|image=
|caption=
|dates= 
|country= 
|allegiance=
|branch= 
|type= 
|role= 
|size= 
|command_structure=
|garrison=
|garrison_label=
|equipment=
|equipment_label=
|nickname=
|patron=
|motto=
|colors=
|colors_label=
|march=
|mascot=
|battles=
|anniversaries=
|decorations=
|battle_honours=
<!-- Commanders -->
|current_commander=
|current_commander_label=
|ceremonial_chief=
|ceremonial_chief_label=
|colonel_of_the_regiment=
|colonel_of_the_regiment_label=
|notable_commanders=
<!-- Insignia -->
|identification_symbol=
|identification_symbol_label=
|identification_symbol_2=
|identification_symbol_2_label=
}}

• unit_name – the formal name of the unit.
• image – optional – an image of the unit insignia (cap badges, tartan or colours), if available; other images may be used if this cannot be obtained. The image must be given in the form [[Image:Example.jpg|300px]]; in particular, the thumb attribute must not be selected.
• caption – optional – the text to be placed below the image.
• dates – the period (usually in years) when the unit was active.
• country – optional – if the unit is part of the armed forces of a sovereign state, the name of that state.
• allegiance – optional – used to indicate the allegiance of units which are not part of the regular armed forces of a sovereign state; can usually be omitted otherwise. In the case of National Guard or Naval Militia units, the State of origin should be indicated.
• branch – optional – the service branch, in militaries that have them; typically army, navy, air force, Army National Guard, etc.
• type – optional – the general type of unit, e.g., cavalry, infantry, artillery, etc. More specific types (airborne infantry, light cavalry, etc.) may be given as appropriate.
• role – optional – typical strategic or tactical use of unit, e.g., shock troop, special operations, mechanized infantry, ceremonial guard, etc.
• size – optional – the size of the unit; this may include both average and lifetime figures, and should indicate equipment (planes, tanks, cannon, etc.) where applicable. For U.S. units, this should only include Organic elements, not Assigned or Attached elements.
• command_structure – optional – the larger unit(s) of which the unit is a part. This should not be used to provide an exhaustive history of the unit, which is more appropriate in the article itself, for units existing over a long period.
• garrison – optional – location of the unit's home base; this is generally applicable only to units in existence.
• garrison_label – optional – the label to use for the garrison field (above).
• equipment – optional – for units strongly associated with specific equipment or vehicles, such as tanks, artillery, or aircraft, a brief list of the notable types used by the unit; if the number of entries is large, it is recommended that this field not be used, and that the full list be given in the article text instead.
• equipment_label – optional – the label to use for the equipment field (above).
• nickname – optional – any commonly-used nicknames for the unit.
• patron – optional – the patron the unit was named after; this is only applicable in armed forces where units are named after individuals.
• motto – optional – the official unit motto (with translation, if necessary).
• colors – optional – the unit colors; this may refer to either the actual colors used on the uniform, or to the colours of the unit.
• colors_label – optional – the label to use for the colors field (above).
• march – optional – the tune(s) commonly or officially played when the unit ceremonially marches; there may be several.
• mascot – optional – any official or unofficial animal or character maintained by the unit.
• battles – optional – any notable battles or wars in which the unit participated. The decision of what constitutes a notable battle is left to the editors of the specific article.
• anniversaries – optional – any anniversaries that a unit celebrates.
• decorations – optional – any decorations (such as the Presidential Unit Citation) that the unit as a whole has received.
• battle_honours – optional – for units in countries that award some type of formal battle honours, the battle honours that the unit has received; while this may have some overlap with the battles field above, the two are not necessarily equivalent.
• current_commander – optional – the acting commander of the unit.
• current_commander_label – optional – the label to use for the current commander field (above).
• ceremonial_chief – optional – the ceremonial chief of a unit, known in most armies of the Commonwealth of Nations as "Colonel-in-Chief".
• ceremonial_chief_label – optional – the label to use for the ceremonial chief field (above).
• colonel_of_the_regiment – optional – in British regiments, the honorary colonel; this should be omitted for units of other armies, or for non-regiment units.
• colonel_of_the_regiment_label – optional – the label to use for the colonel of the regiment field (above).
• notable_commanders – optional – any notable former commanders of the unit. As above, judgement of notability is left to individual article editors.
• identification_symbol – optional – the unit's identification symbol (such as a patch, tartan, or tactical identification flash).
• identification_symbol_label – optional – the label to use for the identification symbol field (above).
• identification_symbol_2 – optional – another identification symbol.
• identification_symbol_2_label – optional – the label to use for the second identification symbol field (above).

Note that the various xyz_label fields above are intended for overriding the default labels on these fields as needed for particular countries or services; in most cases, however, the default value is sufficient, and the fields need not be included.