56th Stryker Brigade Combat Team

56th Stryker Brigade Combat Team

56th SBCT / 28th Division shoulder sleeve insignia
Active 1747 – present
Country  United States
Branch United States Army
Type Infantry Brigade
Role Stryker Infantry
Size 4,000
Part of 28th Infantry Division
Garrison/HQ Horsham Air Guard Station
Willow Grove, Pennsylvania
Nickname "Independence Brigade"
Engagements American Civil War
World War I
World War II
Operation Iraqi Freedom
Commanders
Notable
commanders		 George C. Rickards
Insignia
Combat service identification badge

The 56th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 28th Infantry Division, also known as the Independence Brigade, is a brigade combat team of the Pennsylvania Army National Guard. The 56th SBCT is one of nine Stryker Brigade Combat Teams in the United States Army and one of five brigades of the 28th Infantry Division. It is the only reserve component Stryker unit in the Army and provides light infantry land assets for both federal and state active duty missions. The federal mission is to deploy on short notice as part of the 28th Infantry Division and destroy, capture, or repel enemy forces using maneuver and shock effect. The state mission of the brigade is to serve the Governor and the citizens of the Commonwealth as needed in times of natural disaster or civil unrest. The 56th SBCT headquarters is located at Horsham Air Guard Station in Willow Grove, Pennsylvania.

History

The 56th SBCT is composed of some of the oldest units in the United States Army. Units of the 111th Infantry trace their lineage back to 1747, when Benjamin Franklin first established his famed "Associators" in Philadelphia. The battalions, as well as the brigade, carry battle streamers from nearly every conflict throughout American history.[1]

The 56th Infantry Brigade was formed in September 1917 as part of the 28th Division. The brigade initially included the 111th and 112th Infantry Regiments).[2] During World War I it was involved in the Meuse-Argonne, Champagne-Marne, Aisne-Marne, Oise-Aisne, and Ypres-Lys (FA) operations. During the war, the 28th Infantry Division took a total of 14,139 casualties (KIA-2,165 ; WIA-11,974).

The brigade was again part of the 28th Division from 1921 to 1941.

The current brigade traces its origins (though not its heraldic antecedents, due to the arcane lineage system of the United States Army) to the Reorganization Objective Army Division reorganization of the 28th Infantry Division from regiments to brigades in 1963.[3] That year, it was formed as the 1st Brigade, 28th Infantry Division. In 1968, as part of the McNamara-inspired reorganization of the Army National Guard, it was reassigned to the 42nd Infantry Division as the 56th Brigade, 42nd Infantry Division. From 1975 it has again been assigned to the 28th Infantry Division.

The brigade was called to active duty during the Blizzard of 1996, when flood emergencies were declared by the Governors of Pennsylvania and West Virginia. During the blizzard in Philadelphia, the 56th Brigade won credit in saving over 70 lives by providing emergency medical transportation during the duration of the Governor's proclamation.[1]

In December 2000, the United States Army proposed a new reorganization. The following year, the 56th Brigade was selected as the only reserve component Stryker Brigade out of seven in the entire United States Army. The brigade was reflagged the 56th Stryker Brigade Combat Team on 24 October 2004 at Fort Indiantown Gap's Muir Field.[4]

On 1 September 2005 the entire Brigade Combat Team was mobilized to deploy to Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina, the sixth strongest hurricane ever recorded in the Atlantic Ocean, slammed into the Gulf Coast. The 56th SBCT was stationed in and around New Orleans to support the relief effort for nearly a month and a half. This included a subsequent deployment to the areas damaged by Hurricane Rita, which made land fall near the Louisiana-Texas border.[1]

Iraq deployment

56th Stryker Brigade soldiers train in Iraq.

The brigade trained at Camp Shelby, Mississippi from 19 September 2008 until November 2008 when it moved to the Joint Readiness Training Center (JRTC) in Fort Polk, Louisiana until December 2008. The brigade continued training at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst in December 2008 and moved to Camp Buehring, Kuwait, in January 2009 awaiting movement into Iraq. The 56th SBCT, based at Camp Taji, Iraq, conducted operations in the northern Baghdad Governorate, as part of Multi-National Division – Baghdad, from January to September 2009, before redeploying to Kuwait and returning home at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst.

56th Stryker Brigade – OIF composition

Composition

US Army Stryker Brigade Combat Team Organizational Chart

The brigade is composed of the following additional units:

Lineage

Honors

Unit decorations

Ribbon Award Year Notes
Meritorious Unit Commendation 2009 for service in Operation Iraqi Freedom

Campaign streamers

  1. Peninsula[5]
  2. Antietam[5]
  3. Fredericksburg[5]
  4. Chancellorsville[5]
  5. Gettysburg[5]
  6. Wilderness[5]
  7. Spotsylvania[5]
  8. Cold Harbor[5]
  9. Petersburg[5]
  10. Virginia 1863[5]
  1. Meuse-Argonne
  2. Champagne-Marne
  3. Aisne-Marne
  4. Oise-Aisne
  5. Ypres-Lys
  1. Central Pacific[5]
  2. Eastern Mandates[5]
  3. Western Pacific[5]
  1. Iraq[5]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Global Security.Org, About the 56th Stryker Brigade Combat Team
  2. ↑ McGrath, The Brigade, p.168
  3. ↑ McGrath, The Brigade, p.193
  4. ↑ Officials Activate New 56th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, National Guard News, 1 November 2004
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6 5.7 5.8 5.9 5.10 5.11 5.12 5.13 5.14 Earned only by the 56th Brigade, 28th Infantry Division Units.