World War I The 172nd Infantry Brigade (Separate), officially titled the "172d Infantry Brigade", The brigade, commanded by Brigadier General
Lincoln Clark Andrews, was assigned to the 86th Division and deployed to Europe for duty during
World War I. It arrived in
Bordeaux, France, in September 1918 Thus, the brigade received a World War I
campaign streamer without an inscription, as it was not known to have fought in any engagements. The Army set up an experimental Airborne unit with the designation of Company F (Airborne), 4th Battle Group, 23d Infantry in 1962 at Fort Richardson. The company commander was Captain Lawrence. When Army combat forces were reorganized from the Pentomic division battle groups to brigades with subordinate battalions, the group became the 4th Battalion, 23d Infantry and its Airborne component was Company C. The unit was used to determine how best to use Airborne soldiers in Arctic conditions throughout the vast area of Alaska. The new structure included one
Light Infantry Battalion; one
Mechanized Infantry Battalion; and one
Tank Company. Its
shoulder sleeve insignia was authorized for use on 28 August 1963 and its
distinctive unit insignia was authorized on 8 June 1966. The Brigade was reorganized from Mechanized Infantry to Light Infantry on 30 June 1969, with a reduction to two mechanized infantry
battalions. In 1974 the 172nd Infantry Brigade was reorganized again to include three light infantry battalions.
Colonel Norman Schwarzkopf Jr. volunteered for an assignment in
Alaska, and in late 1974 became deputy commander of the 172nd Infantry Brigade at
Fort Richardson, Alaska. In October 1976 Schwarzkopf departed for another assignment at
Fort Lewis, Washington. US Army Alaska was known as USARAL through the 60s and 70s, whereas after the activation of the 6th Infantry Division it was known as USARAK. The two Arctic brigades, the 171st (4-9th Infantry, 1-47th Infantry [which was subsequently deactivated], and other components at Fort Wainwright) and the 172d (4-23d Infantry, 1-60th Infantry, 1-37th Artillery, 561st Combat Engineer Company, and other components at Fort Richardson) were consolidated in 1973 with the drawdown after Viet Nam. There was an administrative split between the "LIB" (Light Infantry Brigade) and the "Brigade Alaska", with the 1-43d Air Defense, 222d Aviation, 56th MP Company, 23d Construction Engineer Company, Northern Warfare Training Center- then at Fort Greely,' being assigned. The brigade was again inactivated on 15 April 1986 at Fort Richardson, Alaska, These inactivations, along with the subsequent reorganization of US Army divisions, saw several divisional brigades stationed in bases that were far from the division's headquarters and support units. These brigades had difficulty operating without support from higher headquarters. Light infantry is a designation applied to certain types of foot soldiers (infantry) throughout history, typically having air assault and airborne qualified members with lighter equipment or armament or a more mobile or fluid function than other types of infantry, such as heavy infantry or line infantry. Historically, light infantry often fought as skirmishers, reconnaissance, hidden shock and awe attacks, basically guerilla warfare—soldiers who fight in a loose formation ahead of the main army to harass, delay and generally "soften up" an enemy before the main battle. Today, the term "light infantry" generally refers to units (including commandos and airborne units) that specifically emphasize speed and mobility over armor and firepower, to units that historically held a skirmishing role. Such units could be stationed in bases far from major commands, not requiring division-level unit support, an advantage in places like Alaska and Europe, where stationing entire divisions was unnecessary or impractical. The first of the separate brigades was to be the 172d Infantry Brigade. On 17 April 1998, the U.S. Army reactivated the 172d Infantry Brigade (Separate) by reflagging the 1st Brigade,
6th Infantry Division (The other two battalions were part of the
173d Airborne Brigade based in Italy.) In July 2001 the
US Army announced that the 172d Infantry Brigade was to become one of the Army's new Interim Brigade Combat Teams, later to be known as
Stryker Brigade Combat Teams (SBCTs). Changes to the brigade included the addition of some 300
Stryker vehicles, and several
Unmanned Aerial Vehicles. The transformation was intended to increase the brigade's mobility in operations as well as reduce its logistical footprint. The project entailed around $1.2 billion in construction costs for training facilities, motor pools, and other buildings. This transformation was completed when the unit was formally redesignated on 16 October 2003. After the transformation was complete, the 172d became the third Stryker brigade in the US Army, with a force of 3,500 soldiers.
Operation Iraqi Freedom In August 2005, the 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team deployed to
Iraq in support of
Operation Iraqi Freedom. The unit deployed to
Mosul, Iraq. 4-14 CAV and a Stryker infantry company (A/4-23 IN and later, B/2-1 IN) were attached to 2nd Marine Expeditionary Force, and stationed at COP Rawah; away from the rest of the BDE. Duties of the unit during deployment included numerous patrol operations, searches for weapons caches, and counterinsurgency operations. Its tour was to have ended on 27 July 2006, but the U.S. Army unexpectedly extended the deployment until the end of November 2006. During the extension, the unit was sent to
Baghdad to quell growing sectarian violence concerns. During this action, 26 soldiers of the brigade were
killed in action, and another 350 were wounded. Ten additional soldiers in units attached to the brigade were killed.
Inactivation 2006 Having returned from its extended tour in Baghdad, Iraq, the 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team was officially deactivated and the
1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division was activated in its place on 14 December 2006. The brigade's six battalions and four separate companies were likewise reflagged as part of the change. The reflagged units were: • 1st Battalion,
17th Infantry Regiment to 1st Battalion,
5th Infantry Regiment. Colonel
Jeffrey Sinclair was commanding the brigade at the time. The 172nd Infantry Brigade relocated to Grafenwöhr, Germany. The 172nd Infantry Brigade was activated with the following unit redesignations: • Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 172nd Infantry Brigade (formed from HHC, 2-1 ID) • 2nd Battalion, 28th Infantry (reflagged from
1–26 Infantry) • 1st Battalion, 2nd Infantry (reflagged from
1–18 Infantry) • 3rd Battalion,
66th Armor (reflagged from
1–77 Armor) • Troop E, 5th Cavalry (reflagged from Troop E,
4th Cavalry) • 1st Battalion, 77th Field Artillery (reflagged from
1–7 Field Artillery) • 172nd Support Battalion (reflagged from 299th Forward Support Battalion) • 57th Signal Company,
9th Engineer Battalion and 504th Military Intelligence Company remain attached to 172nd but were not reflagged. When the brigade converted to a modular design, the Brigade Special Troops Battalion was given organic, unnumbered signal, engineer and military intelligence companies along with a chemical and military police platoons. After its activation, the brigade began moving its components from Schweinfurt to Grafenwöhr, Germany, as part of the
Grow the Army plan. Simultaneously, the brigade converted to a modular structure to become a
Brigade Combat Team upon completion. In May 2008, the brigade was alerted that it would be returning to Iraq in the fall of that year. The deployment was set to last 12 months, This would be the brigade's third tour to Iraq, as it completed a tour of duty in Iraq shortly before being redesignated from the 2nd Brigade, 1st Infantry Division. The brigade began training for its deployment to the country as soon as it received orders for deployment. German military officers trained with the brigade during this preparation. The soldiers of the brigade were part of a 40,000-soldier troop rotation into Iraq and Afghanistan, intended to maintain previous troop levels in both countries until late 2009. In fall of 2008, the brigade completed its transition to a brigade combat team, and was redesignated as the 172nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team. , 18 December 2008 In late October 2008 the brigade began moving equipment and vehicles by train from Germany in preparation for their tour in Iraq. 385 containers full of gear, as well as 75
M1A1 Abrams Tanks,
M2 Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicles, and
HMMWVs were sent by train on 28 October. the brigade picked up additional
MRAP and uparmored HMMWVs in Kuwait. The brigade deployed into theater by December 2008, replacing the
4th Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division. A proposal was made to relocate the unit to White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico in 2012 as the 7th Brigade Combat Team,
1st Armored Division, pending discussions to leave two heavy brigades in Europe. During this deployment the Brigade was responsible for Paktika province along the Pakistani border. One of the more controversial aspects of the deployment was the formation of the first US/Afghan Joint firing base with Afghan National Army Artillery firing in support of U.S. forces in the Urgun district. Following a number of budget cuts and force structure reductions, the brigade deactivated in Germany on 31 May 2013. ==Honors==