When Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 82nd Sustainment Brigade, was established on 16 February 2006, it marked the end of more than forty years of its predecessors serving under one designation or another as a Division Support Command, an organic unit of the 82nd Airborne that wore the Divisional unit patch.
Designated as an independent Brigade, the 82nd Sustainment was eligible for its own Shoulder Sleeve Insignia, or unit patch, as well as a Distinctive Unit Insignia; the patch was approved a little over two years later on 19 March 2008, a little over four months after the Distinctive Unit Insignia (unit crest) had been approved on 8 November 2007.
The Brigade had been affiliated with the 82nd Airborne for more than 50 years when it unit patch was approved, and its insignia proudly celebrates that close association. Red, white, and blue are the national colors and the colors of the 82nd Airborne. A compass rose is a symbol of the Brigade’s direction as it seeks to maintain and protect our country’s security. The lightning flash is not only a mark of distinction if viewed as a proxy for a bend sinister, but also represents the Brigade’s ability to deploy swiftly and unleash powerful attacks. And a deployed parachute is a visual reminder of the Brigade’s primary area of operations.
On 15 May 2015, the Brigade was redesignated as the 82nd Airborne Division Sustainment Brigade, an organic unit of the Division and, as such, authorized to again wear the famous double-A insignia of the Divisional patch. In all, they Brigade had been authorized to wear its own distinct unit patch for a period that was one week shy of seven years, two months.
Related Items
82nd Sustainment Brigade Unit Crest (DUI)
82nd Sustainment Brigade Combat Service ID Badge (CSIB)