The 196th Field Artillery Brigade Combat Service ID Badge (CSIB) utilizes the same design as the Brigade’s Shoulder Sleeve Insignia – Military Operations in Hostile Conditions, or SSI – MOHC (SSI for short), which was approved on 23 January 1979.
Scarlet and yellow, the colors used for Artillery for decades, predominate the palette of the shield, which features a black gun barrel placed upon a bend dexter (diagonal bar running from viewer’s top left to bottom right) and a white-bordered blue disc in the upper right corner containing three stars.
The bend in the insignia actually refers to a bend in the Tennessee River, Moccasin Bend, found in Chattanooga, home of the Brigade headquarters when the insignia was approved. A gun barrel obviously represents the basic mission of the organization, while the blue disc and three stars also allude to the unit’s location: the image is taken from the Tennessee state flag, with the stars signifying the three “Grand Divisions” of Tennessee (East, Middle, West).
Related Items
196th Field Artillery Brigade Patch (SSI)
196th Field Artillery Brigade Unit Crest (DUI)