U.S. ARMY 81ST INFANTRY BRIGADE COMBAT TEAM UNIT CREST (DUI)

us army 81st armored brigade combat team unit crest

Constituted on 18 July 1917 in the National Guard as HQ, 41st Division and organized with troops from eight Western states and the District of Colombia, the 81st Infantry Brigade Combat Team’s lineage and history includes a World War I campaign streamer (without inscription) for the entire brigade, plus seven campaign streamers for the Headquarters Company. Its World War II honors as the 41st Infantry Division include a streamer with three campaigns—New Guinea, Luzon, and Southern Philippines (with an Arrowhead indicating taking part in an Assault landing)—and a Philippine Presidential Unit Citation.

The 41st Infantry Division was finally transformed into the 81st Infantry Brigade in 1968. While the 81st has not earned campaign credits as an entire brigade, many of its components were broken off from the organization and served in the War on Terror in Operations Iraqi and Enduring Freedom. It was in the early 2000s that the Brigade was redesignated first as an Armor Brigade, then as Brigade Combat Team (BCT), a BCT (Heavy), an Armored BCT, and finally in 2015 a Stryker Brigade Combat Team (though for now it still is listed as 81st Brigade Combat Team).

Nicknamed the Washington Rifles, the 81st Infantry Brigade Combat Team has a Distinctive Unit Insignia, or unit crest, that was first authorized for the 81st Infantry Brigade; it was subsequently redesignated for wear by the 81st Armor Brigade (September 2003) and then the 81st Armored Brigade Combat Team (2007) and lastly the 81st Infantry Brigade Combat Team (2016).

Guidance on wear of the DUI is found in DA Pamphlet 670-1, Section 21-22, "Distinctive unit insignia" and 21–3(d) and (e), "Beret" and "Garrison Cap," respectively.

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With the decision to transform the unit into the 81st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, it was selected for the Associated Unit Program as part of the 2nd Infantry Division, and its members were "repatched" in December 2016 with the Division's famous Indian Head Shoulder Sleeve Insignia. This ended in October 2020 when the unit's affiliation was reassigned to the 7th Infantry Division, which exercises administrative control over all Regular Army brigades at the unit's home at Joint Base Lewis-McChord. This process was repeated in 2022 when the 81st Stryker Brigade Combat Team was moved under the control of the 36th Infantry Division in Texas as part of the Army's new Divisional alignment system.

Related items:
81st Infantry Brigade Combat Team Unit Patch
81st Infantry Brigade Combat Team CSIB

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U.S. ARMY 81ST INFANTRY BRIGADE COMBAT TEAM UNIT CREST (DUI)