The 81st Infantry Brigade Combat Team Combat Service ID Badge (CSIB) is taken from the colored unit insignia that was originally approved for the 81st Infantry Brigade in 1970 and subsequently redesignated for the 81st Armor Brigade in 2003, the 81st Armored Brigade Combat Team in 2007, and the 81st Infantry Brigade Combat Team in 2016. Ironically, the redesignated patch would no longer be worn due to the transformation of the Brigade into the 81st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, an organic component of the 2nd Infantry Division; members of the brigade were repatched with the iconic “Indian Head” insignia of the 2nd Infantry Division in a ceremony held in December 2016.
According to The Institute of Heraldry, the raven on the 81st Stryker Brigade Combat unit patch is a graphic representation of the fact that all the units of the Brigade derive their history and background as Washington State units. The raven’s design on the 81st Stryker Brigade Combat Team CSIB draws on imagery employed by three different Native American tribes—Haida, Kwakiutl, and Nootka—that all consider the raven to be a good and powerful bird that “stole” light from the supernatural world and brought it into our realm in the form of stars, the moon, and of course the sun.
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81st Infantry Brigade Combat Team Patch (SSI)
81st Infantry Brigade Combat Team Unit Crest (DUI)