Authorized for wear on 17 June 1997, the 21st Cavalry Brigade Shoulder Sleeve Insignia, also called a unit patch, features a gold eagle in flight on a teardrop-shaped patch that is divided by a bend dexter (a diagonal line running from the viewer’s upper right to the lower left) into red and white areas (obviously these are not discernable on the ACU versions of the insignia). The eagle with outstretched talons and uplifted wings stands for the Combat Aviation capabilities of the brigade, while scarlet and white were colors once used for the Cavalry branch. This concept is enhanced even more on the 21st Cavalry Brigade Distinctive Unit Insignia, which employs a cavalry saber to serve as the bend.
For thirty years, the 21st Cavalry Brigade trained personnel to fly and man a variety of aircraft, starting with the AH-64 Apache but eventually expanding its tutelage to the Black Hawk and Lakota choppers and unmanned aerial equipment. Its students were not limited to U.S. Army or even U.S. military personnel; aviation students from Kuwait, Egypt, Sudan, Singapore, and the Netherlands also journeyed to the Brigade’s home base of Fort Hood (now Fort Cavazos) for the world-class training it provided. The training it offered was the embodiment of the unit motto of IMPETUM PERSEQUI, Latin for “Continue The Attack.”
The 21st Cavalry Brigade was inactivated on 26 March 2015.
Related Items
21st Cavalry Brigade Unit Crest (DUI)
21st Cavalry Brigade Combat Service ID Badge (CSIB)