39th Infantry Brigade Combat Team

39th Infantry Brigade Combat Team
(The Arkansas Brigade)
39th IBCT Shoulder Sleeve Insignia
Active
  • 1917–1919
  • 1947–present
Country United States
Allegiance Arkansas
Branch Army
TypeInfantry
RoleHeadquarters
SizeBrigade combat team
Part of Arkansas Army National Guard
HeadquartersCamp Robinson Maneuver Training Center, Arkansas
Nickname(s)"The Arkansas Brigade"
Motto(s)Courage
AnniversariesOrganization Day (August 25)
Campaigns
DecorationsMeritorious Unit Commendation
Commanders
Current
commander
Col. Matt Bially
Insignia
Distinctive insignia

The 39th Infantry Brigade Combat Team (39th IBCT), also officially known as The Arkansas Brigade,[1] is an infantry brigade combat team of the Army National Guard composed of personnel from the U.S. states of Arkansas, Missouri, and Nebraska. The unit is the largest Army National Guard command in Arkansas and is headquartered at the Camp Robinson Maneuver Training Center. It was ordered into federal service in 2003 in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom II. The 39th was attached to the 1st Cavalry Division and served in and around Baghdad for a year, returning to the United States in March 2005.

In late August 2005, after Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast of the United States, elements of the 39th Infantry Brigade Combat Team were among the first military units to provide recovery and relief efforts to citizens of New Orleans, Louisiana. The brigade combat team led the effort to evacuate an estimated 16,000 people from the New Orleans Convention Center. The 39th Infantry Brigade Combat Team completed its second deployment to Iraq in 2008, after spending a year on active federal duty. Unlike the first deployment, the brigade combat team did not have command and control of all its subordinate units.

  1. ^ "Special Designation Listing". United States Army Center of Military History. April 21, 2010. Archived from the original on June 9, 2010. Retrieved July 14, 2010.