UNITED STATES ARMY

30th ARMORED BRIGADE COMBAT TEAM, NORTH CAROLINA ARNG (UEx) Unit Guidons

Notes

Armored brigade combat teams (ABCTs) of the Army National Guard are organizationally identical to their Regular Army counterparts and are subordinate to division headquarters, but many of them retain their identity as separate brigades so as to preserve the lineage and honors of previous organizations. The 30th Armored Brigade Combat Team, for example, descends from the former 30th Infantry Division and uses the old divisional shoulder sleeve insignia (SSI).  The brigade's peacetime higher headquarters is the 29th Infantry Division (Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina and Florida). The two combined arms battalions (CABs) each have a headquarters company, two mechanized infantry companies, two armored companies and a combat engineer company. Current plans call for some changes to the organization structure of the Army's ABCTs. A third CAB will be added, the FA battalions will be reconfigured from two firing batteries each with eight howitzers to three batteries each with six howitzers, and the BTSB will be reorganized as a brigade engineer battalion. The additional assets will mostly come from other units that are scheduled for inactivation. The 30th Armored Brigade Combat Team ("Old Hickory") has an organizational flag and guidon of the standard pattern for separate armored brigades: vertical stripes of yellow and green, the Armor branch colors, with the brigade SSI centered. The CABs are affiliated with either armor, cavalry or infantry regiments. Their organizational colors and the guidons of their headquarters companies reflect the regimental identity, while the other companies have branch-oriented guidons. The cavalry and FA battalions have traditional branch-oriented guidons. The headquarters company of the brigade special troops battalion (BSTB) uses a branch immaterial guidon and the other three companies have branch-oriented guidons. The headquarters company and forward support companies of the brigade support battalion (BSB) have buff guidons with scarlet letters and numerals but no branch insignia; the other three companies have branch-oriented guidons.