The Airborne background trimming, or oval, worn by members of the Headquarters and Headquarters Company (HHC), 3rd Brigade Combat Team (BCT), 101st Airborne Division was approved in June 2002. This embroidered insignia is worn by members of the BCT who have earned a Parachutist and/or Air Assault badge, which is centered on the oval before the combination is attached to an authorized uniform component. In the January 2021 edition of DA PAM 670-1, these include Service Uniform coats and shirts (except the Class B AGSU shirt) and the green or blue Army Maternity Tunic (female Soldiers only).
Detailed information and wear guidance for Airborne background trimming is found in
Chapters 21-32 (b) and
22-16 (b) of the aforementioned edition of DA PAM 670-1.
Today’s 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division was originally constituted in August 1917 in the National Army as HQ, 160th Infantry Brigade and assigned to the 80th Division. It fought in three campaigns in France before returning to the U.S. and demobilization in June 1919. Reconstituted just a couple of years later, the unit would undergo several redesignations before finally being reorganized as the 80th Reconnaissance Troop, Mechanized in August 1943. It would fight in four campaigns in Europe under that designation while assigned to the 80th Infantry Division.
The unit was not deployed during the Korean War, instead being reorganized and redesignated on several occasions throughout the 1950s and the start of the 1960s, with the unit receiving what would end up being more or less its current designation—HQ and HQ Company, 3rd Brigade, 101st Airborne Division—on 21 January 1964.
Over the next few years, the Brigade would see action in a dozen named campaigns of the Vietnam conflict, and its outstanding service was subsequently recognized with the award of a Presidential Unit Citation, a Valorous Unit Award, a Meritorious Unit Commendation, two Republic Of Vietnam (ROV) Cross of Gallantry with Palm awards, and the ROV Civil Action Honor Medal, First Class.
In 1990, the Brigade was deployed to Saudi Arabia in support of Operations Desert Storm/Shield, earning another Meritorious Unit Commendation (MUC) for its participation in two Persian Gulf War campaigns. In the War on Terrorism, the Brigade—which became a Brigade Combat Team on 16 September 2004—has been tapped for three more MUCs and also earned an Assault Landing Credit for a helicopter assault in Afghanistan’s Shah-i-Kot Valley on 2 March 2002.
Nicknamed “Rakkasans,” the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division is garrisoned at Fort Campbell, Kentucky as of October 2021.