Though it was originally activated as the HQ, HQ and Service Company, 101st Airborne Division Support Group in 1956, today’s 101st Division Sustainment Brigade held the designation of 101st Airborne Division Support Command for forty years, from 1964 until 2004, the year it was reorganized and redesignated as the 101st Support Brigade and relieved from assignment to the Division.
It was redesignated as the 101st Sustainment Brigade in 2005, still independent of the 101st Airborne Division’s organizational structure, but on 30 July 2015 it was redesignated as the 101st Airborne Division Sustainment Brigade and was once again a component of the Division. Nicknamed “Lifeliners,” the Brigade currently consists of its HQ and HQ Company, the 101st Special Troops Battalion, the 129th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion, and the 716th Military Police Battalion.
The 101st Airborne Division Sustainment Brigade oval, or Airborne background trimming, is worn only by Brigade personnel who have qualified for a Parachutist and or Air Assault skill badge, which is centered atop the oval before the combination is placed on an authorized uniform or uniform component: the AGSU or ASU coat (including the ASU Dress variant), the Class B ASU Shirt, and the blue or green Army Maternity Tunic.