Originally organized in 1921 in the Maine and Vermont Army National Guard as simply the 86th Brigade, the 86th Infantry Brigade Combat Team (ICBT) received its current designation in 2006. Ten years later, it became one of a dozen National Guard units selected to participate in the Army’s Associated Units program, which pairs National Guard and Reserve units with active-duty Regular Army components in order to improve readiness and efficiency. The 86th ICBT, nicknamed the “Vermont Brigade,” was paired with the 10th Mountain Division in 2016.
Until 2016, the 86th Infantry Brigade Combat Team Combat Service ID Badge, or CSIB, consisted of a stag’s head superimposed over a design typically used for brigades. Three colored segments denoted Artillery (red), Armor (yellow), and Infantry (blue), while the stag’s head was taken from the Vermont National Guard unit crest. With the pairing of the 86th IBCT and the 10th Mountain Division, Soldiers in the 86th began wearing the 10th’s CSIB and unit patch, or Shoulder Sleeve Insignia, in a move the Army called “re-patching.” Re-patching has led to some vocal protests that it is blurring the regional ties that made service in the National Guard appealing to many of its personnel.
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86th Infantry Brigade Combat Team Patch (SSI)
86th Infantry Brigade Combat Team Unit Crest (DUI)