Although the 49th Armored Division, nicknamed “Lone Star” for its home state of Texas, never saw combat in its 57 years of existence (five of which were spent inactivated), part of the Division was deployed abroad in 2000 to perform peacekeeping duties in the troubled region of Bosnia-Herzegovina. Beginning in mid-February 2000, the first of several flights of personnel from the 49th Armored Division, over 700 in all, began arriving in Bosnia.
Over the next eight months, the Division’s Soldiers would oversee one of the safest periods in the region since U.S. military forces had begun arriving some five years earlier. By the time they returned home in October, active-duty and reserve forces under the Division’s command had accumulated 14,000 of flight time and had patrolled some 1.25 million miles. On 5 October 2000, the Division turned over command of the American NATO sector to the 3rd Infantry Division, a ceremony that was accompanied by a Russian military band performing “The Yellow Rose of the Texas.”
The 49th Armored Division Combat Service ID Badge (CSIB) is a metal facsimile of the colored version of the unit’s Shoulder Sleeve Insignia, and is also identical in design to its Distinctive Unit Insignia. The “Lone Star” tab was approved as an addition to the insignia in 1965.
Related Items
49th Armored Division Patch (SSI)
49th Armored Division Unit Crest (DUI)