The 71st Airborne Brigade was a Texas Army National Guard unit that was activated 15 January 1968 and inactivated 1 November 1973. It was organized from three battalions of the 143rd Infantry Regiment, units whose lineages were transferred to the Brigade and thus gave it a history of campaign participation in the First and Second World Wars. Its HQ was created through the redesignation of the Headquarters, 36th Infantry Division, and it was redesignated as the 36th Airborne Brigade, which was subsequently disbanded on 1 April 1980 at Houston, Texas.
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Also known as a unit crest or DUI, a Distinctive Unit Insignia is worn by all Soldiers (except General Officers) in units that have been authorized to be issued the device. It is worn centered on the shoulder loops of the Army Green Service Uniform (AGSU) and the blue Army Service Uniform (ASU, Enlisted only) with the base of the insignia toward the outside shoulder seam. DUIs are not worn on the Dress variations of either uniform, however. Full guidance on wear of the DUI is found in DA Pamphlet 670-1,
Section 21-22, "Distinctive unit insignia" and 21–3(d) and (e),
"Beret" and
"Garrison Cap," respectively.
A red and green arrowhead in the center of the 71st Airborne Brigade's Distinctive Unit Insignia is a reference to the unit’s Shoulder Sleeve Insignia. Wings represent the Brigade’s Airborne status, while the star at the top is a sign of leadership and a symbol of its home state of Texas. Two fleur-de-lis bookending the arrowhead denote service as the 36th Division in World War I in the Meuse-Argonne campaign and as the 36th Infantry Division in the Ardennes-Alsace and Central Europe campaigns of World War II. Participation in the Rhineland campaigns is denoted by the color and the wavy bar (suggested by the coat of arms of the Rhine Province).
Besides recalling the unit’s Shoulder Sleeve Insignia, the arrowhead is an emblem denoting participation in the assault landing of the Naples-Foggia campaign, with its two colors (red and green) representing the French Croix de Guerre with Palm the Brigade was awarded for another assault landing in the Southern France campaign. "Go Texans Go," the unit motto, displays the pride the unit felt in representing the state it defended and in which it was formed.