Country United States Type Infantry Size Brigade | Branch U.S. Army Role Training | |
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Nickname(s) Sledgehammer / (special designation) "FOLLOW ME" | ||
The 197th Infantry Brigade ("Sledgehammer" / "FOLLOW ME") is an inactive Infantry brigade of the United States Army. The brigade was active as an Organized Reserve unit from 1921–1942, in the Regular Army from 1962–1991, and as a TRADOC training unit from 2007–2013. The brigade saw service in Operation Desert Storm with the 24th Infantry Division.
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History
For the new Reorganization Objective Army Division (ROAD) brigade at Fort Benning, Georgia, the adjutant general on 1 August 1962 restored elements of the 99th Reconnaissance Troop, which thirty years earlier had been organized by consolidating infantry brigade headquarters and headquarters companies of the 99th Infantry Division, as Headquarters and Headquarters Companies, 197th and 198th Infantry Brigades. The following month the 197th Infantry Brigade was activated at Fort Benning. When the Third U.S. Army activated the brigade to support training at the Infantry Center, it consisted of a composite artillery battalion (105-mm. and 155-mm. howitzers and Honest Johns), an armor battalion, a mechanized infantry battalion, two infantry battalions, an engineer company, and a chemical platoon, but no support battalion. The strength of the brigade was approximately 3,500 men.
In late 1965 an infantry battalion of the 197th Infantry Brigade was inactivated at Fort Benning to provide personnel for expanding the Army in Vietnam. In early 1973, to provide personnel needed for the Infantry School, Continental Army Command directed that the school support troops be reorganized and the 197th be restructured as a unit in the Strategic Army Force. On 21 March 1973 the brigade officially joined the strategic force, fielding one battalion each of infantry, mechanized infantry, and armor.
Located on Kelley Hill at Fort Benning, the unit mission was not only support to the Infantry School but also to specialize in desert, jungle and urban warfare. The 197th Infantry Brigade (Mechanized) (Separate) was a stand-alone heavy brigade, which during the Gulf War (Desert Storm) was attached to the 24th Infantry Division out of Fort Stewart, Georgia as their third brigade. Soldiers in the 197th who are veterans of the Gulf War wear as their combat patch the patch of the 197th, not the 24th. However, The Institute of Heraldry has not yet minted a combat service identification badge (CSIB) for the 197th.
The 197th was inactivated within months of returning from the war, and its units reflagged as the 3rd Brigade, 24th Infantry Division. The motto of the 197th is "Sledgehammer" and the unit is unofficially known as the "$1.97" (the "dollar ninety-seven"), the "Buck and Change", and the "Bite the Bullet" brigade.
Reactivated in 2007 at Fort Benning, GA as part of TRADOC, the brigade "access(ed) and train(ed) Soldiers and Infantry leaders, demonstrate(ed) Infantry tactics, provide(ed) subject matter expertise, develop(ed) doctrine and support(ed) the USAIS in order to provide the army with soldiers and leaders prepared to fight and win."
The 197th Infantry Brigade was deactivated on December 13, 2013 in order that the U.S. Army would reach manning goals through reductions in the force.
1976
1985
Gulf War
During Operation Desert Storm, the brigade was composed of:
TRADOC
When activated under TRADOC in 2007, the brigade consisted of:
Lineage
(Organized Reserves redesignated 25 March 1948 as the Organized Reserve Corps; redesignated 9 July 1952 as the Army Reserve)