76th Infantry Brigade Combat Team (United States)
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The 76th Infantry Brigade Combat Team ("Night Hawks"[1]) is a modular infantry brigade of the United States Army National Guard of Indiana. It is headquartered in Lawrence Readiness Training Center, on the grounds of Fort Benjamin Harrison.[3] In the buildup to World War I, the United States...
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76th Infantry Brigade Combat Team File:76th Infantry Brigade.gif

Shoulder sleeve insignia

Active 1963 – presentCountry United StatesBranch United States Army National GuardType InfantrySize BrigadeNickname(s) Night Hawks (special designation)[1]

"Blue Devil" BrigadeEngagements

Operation Enduring Freedom

Operation Iraqi FreedomCommandersCurrent

commander COL Gerald E. Hadley[2]Notable

commanders William G. EversonInsigniaDistinctive unit insignia File:76InfantryBCTDUI.jpg

The 76th Infantry Brigade Combat Team ("Night Hawks"[1]) is a modular infantry brigade of the United States Army National Guard of Indiana. It is headquartered in Lawrence Readiness Training Center, on the grounds of Fort Benjamin Harrison.[3]

History[]

In the buildup to World War I, the United States Congress approved the formation of seventeen new National Guard divisions, numbered 26 through 42. The states of Indiana, Kentucky, and West Virginia were chosen to provide units for the 38th Infantry Division. Indiana's 151st and 152nd Infantry regiments formed the new 76th Infantry Brigade. The 38th Division never deployed to Europe, and was released from federal service in 1919.[4]

The 38th Division was activated for federal service again in 1941, with the same organizational structure that had been used in World War I. However, in 1942, the Army reorganized its structure, and the 76th Brigade ceased to exist as in identifiable military organization.[4]

On 1 March 1963, as part of the Army's Reorganization Objective Army Division (ROAD), the Headquarters and Headquarters Company of the 1st Brigade, 38th Infantry Division was born. Less than 20 months later, it was restored to its 1917 designation of 76th Infantry Brigade, known as the "Blue Devil" Brigade. Since the creation of the 76th Brigade at Indianapolis on 1 November 1965, the unit has moved to Columbus, to Camp Atterbury and to Bedford, with units located throughout southern Indiana.

Out of the ashes of the Blue Devil Brigade, the Nighthawk Brigade was formed. The 76th Infantry Brigade (Separate) was formed on 1 September 1994 at Indianapolis, Indiana this time with units located throughout the state of Indiana. The Nighthawk Brigade was selected to be one of the 15 enhanced brigades with a charter to achieve and maintain a higher state of readiness than previously expected of National Guard brigades. The unit relied heavily on the existing infantry regiments. The lineage of each combat regiment still in Indiana can be found within the brigade.

Under a plan approved by Army Chief of Staff General Eric K. Shinseki, in December 2000 the Army announced which active and reserve forces will see service in Bosnia and Kosovo through May 2005. Under the plan, units from the active Army and reserve forces supported the Stabilization Force mission, known as SFOR, in Bosnia or the Kosovo Force, known as KFOR, for six-month periods. SFOR 11 (April 2002 – October 2002) consists of the 116th Cavalry Brigade (enhanced separate brigade), Idaho Army National Guard; 76th Infantry Brigade (enhanced separate brigade), Indiana Army National Guard. Units from the 34th Infantry Division, Minnesota Army National Guard, also supported SFOR 11.

Units involved from Indiana in SFOR11 were E-troop 238th Cavalry, Bluffton, IN, C company 1-151 Infantry, New Albany, IN, members from A, C, B and D Companies of the 1-152nd Infantry Attached to C company 1-152 Tell City, IN. The members of the 1-152nd were split between 238th Cavalry FOB Morgan, and C company 1-151 Camp Mcgovern. Bosnia, prior to Deployment to Bosnia.

Late 2002 the 76th BDE was called on to provide a Separate Infantry Battalion to provide support for an escalating campaign in the Middle East. The 1st Battalion, 293rd Infantry Regiment was mobilized to camp Arifjan Kuwait on 2 January 2003. The "Nightfighters" setup security for the newly constructed support base. On D+5 the 1st Battalion, 293rd Infantry Regiment was called on to move north to support Operation Iraqi Freedom.

1st battalion, 152nd infantry (Fit to Fight) was also called up on December 31st 2002 and was activated on January 1st 2003 in support of operation enduring freedom and landed in Kuwait between February 12th and 14th 2003. The companies of the 152nd Infantry, were tasked with many different missions, before the beginning of the War Dco was assigned to perform security for the Theater Distribution Center (TDC) outside of Camp Doha, Kuwait. The individual platoons of Dco were also tasked with escorting arriving units to their respective bases of operations in Kuwait, supplemental security of Camp Doha, Kuwaiti Internation airport. In march of 2003 two platoons of Delta company moved North into Iraq and secured the area for soon to be built Convoy Support Center(CSC) Scania, they were also tasked with providing continued security for the CSC, providing support to the 300mp and presence patrols of surrounding villages and towns, until the units departure from the region in February of 2004, other platoons of Dco soon moved north to CSC Scania and Forward Operating Base (FOB) Kalsu, where they would perform other duties to include route clearance, Quick Reaction Force (QRF) and Internal Reaction Force (IRF) duties. Dco Had two fatalities, Spc William Jeffries and Corporal Darrel Smith, Spc. Jeffries passed away after being evacuated from Kuwait to Rota, Spain from a sudden illness. CPL Smith passed away as a result of injuries sustained in a humvee roll over.

1-152 Aco was tasked with the securement of an Iraqi ammunition storage facility not far from Talil Air base.

1-152 Cco was tasked with escorting private contract construction companies incharge of repairs to Iraqi infrastructure in southern Iraq.

1-152 Bco was tasked to work with 5th group and moved to Baghdad International AirPort (BIOP).

1-152 Headquarters Company (HQ) moved into FOB Kalsu and assumed Command of operations out of the FOB.

On 6 April 2004 elements of the 76th Infantry Brigade were ordered to mobilize for deployment to Afghanistan. Three hundred soldiers from the 113th Support Battalion, and an unidentified number of soldiers from the 1st Battalion, 151st Infantry Regiment, the 38th Military Police Company, and the 1438th Transportation Company began deploying in July 2004.

The unit suffered at least four casualties, on 26 March 2005, four soldiers, Captain Michael T. Fiscus, Master Sergeant Michael T. Heister, Specialist Brett M. Hershey, and Private First Class Norman K. Snyder were killed when a mine detonated near their vehicle as they were traveling near Kabul.[5]

In October 2004, the 376th Engineer Company was mobilized for duty in Mosul, Iraq, in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

In November 2012, Headquarters Company returned from a nine month deployment to Afghanistan, in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.[6]

Order of battle[]

The brigade is currently composed of the following units:

Special Troops Battalion[7]

1st Squadron (RSTA), 152nd Cavalry Regiment

1st Battalion, 151st Infantry Regiment

1st Battalion, 293rd Infantry Regiment

1st Battalion, 163rd Field Artillery Regiment

113th Brigade Support Battalion

Sources[]

Public Affairs Office, 76th Brigade Combat Team

References[]

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