U.S. 256th Infantry Brigade

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The 256th Infantry Brigade is an enhanced brigade of the Louisiana Army National Guard. It is headquartered at Lafayette, Louisiana. Until 2006 it was a "Heavy" brigade that consisted of 2 mechanized infantry battalions, 1 armor battalion (1st Battalion, 156th Armored Regiment), and a self-propelled artillery battalion. As of 01 September, 2006 it is due to transfer to a light configuration of two infantry battalions and one light cavalry squadron plus a battalion of towed artillery. This new organization is known as an IBCT (Infantry Brigade Combat Team.

Three elements of the 256th Infantry Brigade, the 156th Infantry Regiment; the 108th Cavalry Regiment; and the 44th Artillery Battary, trace their history all the way back to the American Civil War.

During trainup for operations, summer and fall of 2004, in Iraq the 256th Infantry Brigade was stationed in Fort Hood, Texas and the did an NTC rotation at Fort Irwin, California. Fort Hood and Fort Irwin are both some of the largest army bases within the contenetial U.S. the latter located in the Mojave Desert is larger than the state of Rhode Island. From there the unit flew from England Air Park in Alexandria, Louisiana to Bangor, Maine then to Ramstien Air Force Base in Germany and finally to Kuwait City, Kuwait. The brigade spent another month training in the Syrian Desert of Kuwait prior to moving into Iraq.

In 2004-5 the 256th Brigade was sent to Iraq as part of OIF III (Operation Iraqi Freedom III, the third U.S. military rotation of forces into the area of operations). It served under the 1st Cavalry Division for its first five months and its last several months under the 3rd Infantry Division. During the first half of its combat tour in Iraq some of the brigades subordinate units also served under the 10th Mountain Division. During operations in theater the brigade operated under the configuration of one-third heavy and two-thirds light. Each battalion in the brigade had one company of heavy forces with M1A1 Abrams Main Battle Tank, M2A2 Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicle, or a mixture of the two.

The 1st battalion, 156th Armor, headquarters Shreveport, Louisiana. has been decommissioned and replaced by the 2nd squadron, 108th Cavalry as of September, 2006. Three out of four of the cavalry squadron's troops are located in Shreveport with the remaining troop (nicknamed the "Wildbunch") in Coushatta, Louisiana.

The 2nd battalion, 156th Infantry headquarters is located at Abbeville, Louisiana. Company A 2nd Battalion is located at DeQuincy, Louisiana and DeRidder, Louisiana. Company B is located at Pineville, Louisiana and Oakdale, Louisiana. Company C is located at Crowley, Louisiana, Jennings, Louisiana, and Eunice, Louisiana

The 3rd battalion, 156th Infantry headquarters is located at Lake Charles, Louisiana.

199th Support Battalion which provides the 256th Brigade with most of its logistical support, is headquartered at Alexandria, Louisiana.

The 141st Artillery Battalion "Washingon Artillery", provides most of the 256th Brigade's fire support and has its headquarters at New Orleans, Louisiana.

The 1088th Troops Battalion headquarters is located at Plaquemine, Louisiana.

The old task organization of the 256th brigade was 3 armor companies of 14 tanks each, 6 mechanized infantry companies of 14 IFV(s) each and 3 batteries of 155mm self propelled artillery cannons. The new task organization will be 6 light infantry companies, 2 anti-tank companies armed with TOW missiles, 2 mounted recon troops, 1 dismounted recon troop, and 2 batteries of towed artillery with 105mm cannons. The brigade will also have a support battalion and a special troops battalion for CS/CSS (Combat Support/ Combat Service Support). These 2 battalions will possess support units such as signal, intelligence, military police, combat engineers, transportation, quartermaster (supply), maintenance, and medical.

The new organization of the 256th infantry will be easier to transport via fixed and rotary winged aircraft as there is no piece of equipment that approaches the 68 ton weight of an Abrams tank or the 26.5 ton weight of a Bradley fighting vehicle. This will also make the unit cheaper to equip and maintain as the Abrams at 6 million dollars a piece is one of the most expensive land vehicles in the US Army.

Weapons of the 256th Infantry Brigade:

Vehicles of the 256th Infantry Brigade:

Links

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