Maj. Les’ A. Melnyk
NGB Public Affairs Office
National Guard News
2005-10-10

ARLINGTON, Va. (10/5/2005) — The National Guard Bureau today formally announced the designations of the new modular brigades that will be the basis for the transformed Army National Guard.

The announcement comes in conjunction with an announcement today by the Army’s Chief of Military History at the Association of the U.S. Army convention in Washington, D.C., that lays down the new modular structure for all components of the Army.

Seventy-three percent of Army National Guard units are affected by transformation – the largest shift in Guard force structure since the end of World War II. The conversion to a modular force structure began in fiscal year 2005, and is scheduled to be completed by FY 2008.

At the core of the Army National Guard’s force will be 34 modular “Brigade Combat Teams” that are identical in structure and manning to their active Army counterparts. The BCTs come in three types – Infantry, Armored, and Stryker. Two of the Guard’s BCTs – the 116th in Idaho and the 278th in Tennessee – will be given the traditional designation “Cavalry” because these units have long histories of service as cavalry organizations, but they will be structured identical to the Armored BCTs. The Guard currently has one Stryker BCT, the 56th Brigade, 28th Infantry Division out of Pennsylvania.

Complementing the BCTs are a number of new modular supporting units – six “Fires Brigades,” 10 “Combat Support Brigades (Maneuver Enhancement),” 11 Sustainment Brigades, 12 Aviation Brigades, an Aviation Command and three Sustainment Commands.

A major issue throughout the transformation to modular units was the desire to retain the lineage and honors of historic Army Guard regiments and battalions. In many cases, effected states, NGB, and the U.S. Army Center of Military History jointly decided to convert historic regiments to a new branch in order to keep their lineage intact. Overall, the conversion to modular units led to a large decrease in the number of field artillery and armor battalions in the Guard, and an increase in the number of cavalry squadrons.

One of the most visible effects of transformation will be the number of new shoulder sleeve insignia (unit patches) that Army Guard soldiers will be wearing. Every Sustainment Brigade and every Combat Support Brigade (Maneuver Enhancement) will need a new patch. Four of the Aviation Brigades and two of the Sustainment Commands will need new patches. Even one of the 34 BCTs – Alaska’s 207th Infantry BCT – will have to design a new patch, since the former organization, the 207th Scout Group, did not have a patch of its own and wore the one authorized for Alaska’s Joint Force Headquarters.

Several BCTs will also don new patches that are actually old patches. Nine BCTs that were formerly brigades of divisions have opted to take off their divisional patches and put on historic patches from their past. As a result, Soldiers will once again be wearing the patches of some of the Guard’s most storied units, such as the 26th Infantry Division (now 26th Infantry BCT in Massachusetts), the 37th Infantry Division (now 37th Infantry BCT in Ohio), and the 33rd Infantry Division (now 33rd BCT in Illinois).

Eight Army Guard brigades have elected to continue wearing their division patches, even though the new modular structure severs the command and control relationship that existed between a division headquarters and its subordinate brigades.

The eight existing Army Guard divisions will all continue under the new modular force structure as deployable command and control headquarters. In peacetime, each division headquarters will have training and oversight responsibilities for four or five Guard BCTs. In wartime, each headquarters will have a variable number of BCTs and support units attached to it depending on its mission.

For more information, you can view a Powerpoint presentation that shows all the new units.

Story Copyright to Military Family Network