181st Infantry Brigade (United States)

The 181st Infantry Brigade is an infantry brigade of the United States Army based at Fort McCoy, Wisconsin. As an Active Component/Reserve Component (AC/RC) brigade, the unit serves primarily in a training role for other units of the US armed forces. The brigade is subordinate to the First United States Army, headquartered at Rock Island Arsenal, Illinois. It has six prime components.

The unit is responsible for training selected United States Army Reserve and Army National Guard units in the Central-Northern United States. The unit was formerly designated as 2nd Brigade, 85th Division. The brigade was redesignated and re-missioned several times: such as in 1999, when the 181st was merged with the 2nd Brigade, 85th Division and carried that name and lineage. The 181st Infantry Brigade currently falls under the Division West, 1st Army Headquartered at Fort Carson, Colorado.

Organization
The unit is currently composed of:
 * Headquarters and Headquarters Company
 * 1st Battalion, 338th Regiment, Training Support (Combat Support/Combat Services Support)
 * 2nd Battalion, 411th Infantry Regiment
 * 3rd Battalion, 340th Infantry Regiment, Fort McCoy, Wisconsin.
 * 1st Battalion,340th Infantry Regiment, Training Support (Combat Support/Combat Services Support), Arden Hills, Minnesota
 * 3rd Battalion, 335th Infantry Regiment, Training Support (Combat Support/Combat Services Support, Highwood, Illinois

World War I
During World War I, the 181st Infantry Brigade was constituted 5 August 1917 in Camp Lewis, Washington. The Brigade was composed of the 361st Infantry Regiment, the 362nd Infantry Regiment, and the 347th Machine Gun Battalion. The 181st Infantry Brigade trained for 10 months at Camp Lewis prior to being deployed to France in August 1918. It was assigned to the 91st Infantry Division.

After Meuse-Argonne and the liberation of France, the Brigade was sent to assist the British with quelling the German Army’s final gasps at Ypres-Lys until the signing of the Armistice on 11 November 1918, which ended World War I. After four months of peacekeeping operations in liberated Belgium, the Brigade was sent back to Camp Lewis and demobilized on 30 April 1919. In 1921 it was reconstituted and placed in the Organized Reserves, again assigned to the 91st Infantry Division.

World War II
In July 1944, during the Arno Campaign of the Second World War, the 91st Reconnaissance Troop spearheaded Task Force Williamson under the command of General E.S. Williamson, Assistant Division Commander for the 91st Division. The 2nd Platoon of the 91st Reconnaissance Troop and the 1st Battalion, 363rd Infantry were the first to enter Leghorn (Livorno) on its way to liberating Pisa.

Post-War
After VE day, the Brigade was deactivated and reconstituted several times through 1945 as a headquarters and headquarters company and a reconnaissance troop. It was reactivated in 1947 as a mechanized cavalry reconnaissance troop; redesignated in 1949 as the 91st Reconnaissance Company and reconstituted in 1963 as a headquarters and headquarters company.

The 181st Infantry Brigade was reactivated at Fort McCoy, Wisconsin in December 2006, the brigade trains soldiers, sailors and airmen to support contingency operations in the Global War on Terror.