The 37th Infantry Combat Brigade Team’s Ohio roots are reflected in its official special designation as the “Buckeye Brigade.” According to the U.S. Army Center of Military History, it was constituted in the Ohio National Guard as Headquarters, 37th Division on 18 July 1917 and organized the next month at Camp Sheridan in Alabama. (Note that some sources say it was originally constituted as the 16th Division in 1913, but without reference to documentation.)
As the 37th Division, it earned credit for participation in three World War I campaigns—Ypres-Lys, Meuse-Argonne, and Lorraine 1918—and suffered over 5,000 total casualties. The 37th Division was also inducted into Federal service in 1940 and was redesignated as the 37th Infantry Division in 1942; it received credit for the Northern Solomons and Luzon campaigns, the latter with an Arrowhead indicating it took part in the initial landings on the Philippine island.
In the decades following World War II, the unit underwent several redesignations and reorganizations. It did not receive its current designation as an Infantry Brigade Combat Team until September 2007.
The 37th Infantry Brigade Combat Team CSIB, or Combat Service Identification Badge, is based upon its Shoulder Sleeve Insignia (SSI), which in turn was inspired by the Ohio state flag’s red circle on a circular white background in a field of seventeen stars (Ohio was the seventeenth state admitted to the Union).
Related Items
37th Infantry Brigade Combat Team Patch (SSI)
37th Infantry Brigade Combat Team Unit Crest (DUI)