Although the 188th Infantry Brigade was originally constituted with that same designation on 24 June 1921, it received its first (and to date only) taste of combat while it was designated as the 94th Reconnaissance Troop, Mechanized and serving as an element of the 94th Division during World War II. Landing in Normandy with the rest of the 94th Division roughly 3 months after D-Day, the Troop was credited with participation in for European campaigns and also conducted occupation duty following the German surrender, returning to the U.S. at the end of 1945.
As the 94th Mechanized Cavalry Reconnaissance Troop, the unit was activated from 1947 to 1949, when it was redesignated the 94th Reconnaissance Company. This unit was inactivated in 1959, and on 5 November 1962, its 3d Platoon was converted and redesignated as Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 188th Infantry Brigade (the rest of the company became the HHC, 187th Infantry Brigade.) It would not be activated until 1997 when it was withdrawn from the Army Reserve and allocated to the Regular Army to provide training support at Fort Stewart, Georgia. It was inactivated in 1999, only to be reactivated in 2006 (through the 1999 reflagging of 4th Brigade, 87th Division) as part of First Army.
Because the Brigade is a subordinate unit of First Army, its personnel wear the First Army Shoulder Sleeve Insignia rather than this insignia approved in 2008. However, this insignia may be authorized for wear should the Brigade be redesignated or reassigned as a separate Brigade in the future; the insignia design would also serve as the design of a future Combat Service ID Badge.
The 188th Infantry Brigade Shoulder Sleeve Insignia, or unit patch, pays tribute the unit’s historical association with the 94th Infantry Division by mimicking the Division’s unit patch with horizontally divided gray and black sections of an oval. Flag blue in the background recalls old Infantry colors, and the bayonet is a reminder of combat preparedness and the unit motto, “Battle Ready.” (This motto is found in Latin—PROCINCTUS—on the Brigade's Distinctive Unit Insignia (DUI)
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188th Infantry Brigade Distinctive Unit Crest (DUI)