During the first eighteen years of its existence, the Alabama National Guard’s 142nd Signal Brigade served without a unit insignia as the 142nd Signal Group. Headquartered in Decatur, the Group was ordered into active Federal service two times in 1963, the first in June to enforce the desegregation of the University of Alabama and the second in September to perform the same role at a public school in Alabama.
The unit was redesignated as the 142nd Signal Brigade on 1 April 1978. In 2005, some subordinate elements of the Brigade were deployed to Southwest Asia in support of the Global War on Terrorism, but neither the whole Brigade nor its Headquarters and Headquarters Company were ever deployed to a combat zone before its inactivation in August 2008. Nonetheless, the Brigade had proven that at all times it was prepared to serve “For State And Nation.”
Approved two weeks after it the unit received its brigade designation, the Shoulder Sleeve Insignia (unit patch) of the 142nd Signal Brigade is configured in a diamond shape to mimic the design of early radio antennas. Four lightning flashes are a symbol of the speed of modern communications, and the scarlet saltire superimposed over them is taken from the state flag of Alabama.
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