86th Infantry Brigade Combat Team

From 1921 until the start of World War II the 86th Brigade continued as a subordinate command of the 43rd Division.[7]

The 43rd Infantry Division, including the 86th Brigade, was activated for World War II on 24 February 1941. The 86th Brigade underwent pre-deployment training at Camp Blanding, Florida and Camp Shelby, Mississippi. On 19 February 1942 the 86th Brigade Headquarters was disbanded, as were other infantry brigade headquarters, with regiments now reporting directly to division commanders. The 43rd Division served in the Pacific throughout World War II, with the former 86th Brigade commander Leonard F. Wing becoming the assistant division commander under Major General John H. Hester and Major General John R. Hodge and the division commander from August 1943 to the Division's inactivation in October 1945.[8]

The 43rd Division continued in service after World War II, organized mainly in Connecticut, until being deactivated in 1967. The 172nd Infantry Regiment continued in service as a Vermont organization.[9]

In 1963 the 86th Brigade Headquarters was reactivated, and in 1964 it was reorganized as a separate armored brigade. Army combat arms battalions kept regimental designations to maintain lineage and honors, but were no longer organized as regiments. 1st Battalion, 172nd Armor, a unit of the 86th Armored Brigade, was headquartered in St. Albans, and 2-172 Armor was headquartered in Rutland.[10]

In 1968 the 86th Brigade was assigned to the 50th Armored Division, receiving M48A1 and soon after, M48A3 tanks. Between 1975-76 Vermont & New Jersey armor battalions started turning in their old tanks and began receiving M48A5 tanks. During this time, many Vermont tank crews competed in gunnery exercises held in West Germany and consistently brought back awards. Training was rigorous during the Soviet threat peak years of the late 1970s to mid 1980s. Germany was the primary area of operations of the 50th Armored Division if it had been activated.

In 1984-5, Isby and Kamps listed the brigade as headquartered at Montpelier, Vermont, with the 1st and 2nd Battalions of the 172nd Armor and the 1st Battalion, 86th Field Artillery Regiment.[11]

Reorganizing the Army National Guard to meet the new 'Division 86' structure in the mid-1980s was a challenging process. It was decided to dissolve the 50th Armored Division, thus by October 1986 the brigade was reassigned to the 26th Infantry Division.[12] Shortly thereafter, the 86th Brigade received M60A3 medium tanks.

As an armor unit the 86th Brigade excelled at gunnery, becoming the only National Guard armor unit to consistently accomplish Tank Table XII, which requires a platoon of four tanks to advance and fire simultaneously on a live fire range.[13]

When the 26th Division inactivated in 1993, the 86th Brigade joined the 42nd Infantry Division and was soon to receive M1 Abrams main battle tanks. The brigade was deployed with various elements and attachments, to Iraq in 2004–2005 as Task Force Redleg, on a security mission to Kuwait in 2004 as Task Force Green Mountain, redeploying in 2005,[14] and to Ramadi, Iraq in 2005-2006 as Task Force Saber with the 2-28th Infantry Brigade Combat Team from the Pennsylvania Army National Guard.

In 2006, the brigade was re-designated as the 86th IBCT (Mountain) and began a transformation from a "heavy" brigade to a specialized light infantry formation, using 3rd Battalion 172nd Infantry Regiment (Mountain), previously a separate battalion, as the nucleus. The 86th brigade turned in its Abrams tanks and ended its armor designation, after almost 43 years of such history.

Turning armor formations into infantry and cavalry units while adding 1st Battalion 102nd Infantry from Connecticut, the brigade slowly formed from 2006 to 2008. The 86th IBCT welcomed the addition of the 1st Battalion, 101st Field Artillery Regiment from the Massachusetts Army National Guard on 14 September 2008.[15]

The 86th IBCT mobilized in December 2009 at Camp Atterbury, Indiana and completed a Joint Readiness Training Center rotation at Fort Polk prior to deployment in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. The brigade returned home in December 2010 after being replaced by 2nd IBCT, 34th Infantry Division.[16][17]