Constituted 5 August 1917 in the National Army and organized three weeks later (August 25) at Camp Sherman in Ohio, the 165th Infantry Brigade has been deployed for active combat duty twice with the 83rd Infantry Division. During the First World War, the Brigade received a WWI streamer with no campaign inscriptions because the 83rd had been designated a Depot (replacement) division.
In World War II, the unit was redesignated as the 83rd Cavalry Reconnaissance Troop, an element of the 83d Infantry Division, and earned credit for participation in four campaigns in the European theater and was still assigned to the 83rd ID when it liberated a sub-camp of the Buchenwald concentration camp facility.
After World War II, the unit underwent several redesignations, but was activated just one more time (from 1963 to 1965) as the 2nd Brigade, 83rd Infantry Division; it did not see combat. It was inactivated from 1965 until 26 January 2007 when it as redesignated as the 165th Infantry Brigade and simultaneously transferred to the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command. Today, it trains Army Reserve and National Guard units and is headquartered at Fort Jackson, South Carolina.
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165th Infantry Brigade Unit Crest (DUI)The colorful 165th Infantry Brigade Shoulder Sleeve Insignia, commonly referred to a unit patch, was approved for wear on 8 January 2007. The light-blue background is the branch color of infantry, while the black triangle doubly recalls the Brigade’s history of service with the original 83rd Infantry Division: Its insignia is rendered all in black and gold, and the lightning bolt found here is an allusion to the 83rd ID’s nickname of “Thunderbolt Division.” Three phrases of Infantry training are represented by the national colors of red, white, and blue, and a black border around the whole insignia stands for unity and constancy.