Although the 164th Air Defense Artillery Brigade was not activated until 2004, the insignia found on its unit patch was first approved for wear on 1 October 1988. It was originally worn by Detachment 1 of the 32nd Army Air and Missile Defense Command, a unit that was inactivated in 1994 because of the drawdown following the collapse of the Soviet Union. The insignia was reassigned about a decade later to the 164th Air Defense Artillery Brigade in the Florida Army National Guard.
The 164th Air Defense Artillery Brigade unit patch, or Should Sleeve Insignia, is an arced rectangle with a yellow border and a red field charged with a glowing sun, blue arrowhead, and a lightning flash. Red and yellow have long been associated with Air Defense Artillery, mimicking the barrel flash of guns or cannons. The blue arrow recalls that the Brigade now uses missiles systems to achieve its objectives; blue is the color of the sky (battlefield), and the lightning flash indicates speedy delivery. Multitudinous rays of the sun represent Florida, the unit’s home state.