Originally constituted as the 199th Infantry Regiment in 1952, today’s 199th Regiment is responsible for the management and operation of the Louisiana Army National Guard Regional Training Institute (RTI). In 2008, the unit and program were redesignated as the 199th Regiment–Louisiana Regional Training Institute; today, it is frequently referred to as simply the 199th Regiment (RTI).
Organized in May 1952 using units that had been part of a previous 199th Infantry Regiment with lineages going back to the organization of the 2nd and 3rd Louisiana Volunteer Infantry Regiments in 1861, the 199th Infantry Regiment was consolidated with the 156th Infantry Regiment in 1960 and took the designation of the 156th Infantry. Some of the 199th Infantry’s units not involved in the consolidation began the Louisiana Military Academy, responsible for training Louisiana Army National Guard units and an Army National Guard Officer Candidate School. In 1997, the 199th Infantry Regiment was reactivated and redesignated as the 199th Regiment and tasked with running the Regional Training Institute, housed at Camp Beauregard, Louisiana.
The 199th Regiment provides regionalized leadership, Noncommissioned Officer Education System (NCOES), Officer Candidate School (OCS), and general studies training for the Army National Guard (ARNG), the United States Army Reserve (USAR), and the Active Component (AC). The 199th Regiment plans and programs leadership training within its region based on requirements identified by the Individual Training Branch (ARNG-TRI) and the Army program for Individual Training (ARPRINT) and works in conjunction with its Proponents or Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) in their respective areas of training.
♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦
The 199th Regiment Distinctive Unit Insignia was approved for the 199th Infantry Regiment on 1 May 1952. It was rescinded on 5 August 1960, but was reinstated on 3 July 1997 and subsequently redesignated for the 199th Regiment; the motto was corrected and the description updated on 29 June 2016.
The gray saltire acknowledges the Civil War service of the Regiment’s ancestral units—they fought in the Confederate Army in seventeen campaigns. During World War II, the unit, now designated as the 156th Infantry Regiment, was assigned to the 39th Division which ultimately became the 5th Depot (replacement) Division; this service in France is commemorated by the blue bar in the chief of the insignia. The bar in the base is red, reflecting the unit’s reorganization into various antiaircraft artillery units (red is the color of artillery). “
Nous Sommes Prets,” the unit motto, is French for “We Are Ready.”
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.
More 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.