The 157th Maneuver Enhancement Brigade was first organized as the 57th Field Artillery Brigade on 18 September 1917 at Camp Macarthur, Texas, drawing on personnel from the Wisconsin and Michigan National Guard and assigned to the 32nd Division. In 1942, it was redesignated as 32nd Division Artillery; in 1959 its name was changed to the 32d Infantry Division Artillery.
Its affiliation with the 32nd Infantry Division ended in 1967, when it was redesignated the 257th Artillery Group. Five years later it was redesignated as a Field Artillery Brigade, retaining the same numerical designation. In 1978 it became the 57th Field Artillery Brigade, a designation it held for thirty years before it was retooled and reconfigured as the 15th Maneuver Enhancement Brigade.
The unit’s close ties to both its home state of Wisconsin (its Headquarters are in Milwaukee) and the 32nd Infantry Division can be seen in the 157th Maneuver Enhancement Brigade unit patch, or Shoulder Sleeve Insignia. At the bottom are three waves that symbolize the numerous waterways found in the state (Wisconsin is actually an Indian word that means “gathering of the waters”), while the red arrowhead above it is inspired by the insignia of the 32nd, nicknamed the “Arrowhead Division.” “Iron Brigade,” the nickname for the 157th Maneuver Enhancement Brigade, is inscribed on its unit crest (Distinctive Unit Insignia—see link below).
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