20th Engineer Brigade (United States)

The 20th Engineer Brigade is a combat engineer brigade assigned to the XVIII Airborne Corps of the United States Army stationed at Fort Liberty. Although the brigade was identified as an airborne unit, not all of its subordinate units were airborne qualified—despite the airborne tab as part of the unit patch. Soldiers of the 20th Engineer Brigade provide various supportive duties to other Army units, including construction, engineering, and mechanical work on other Army projects. Though its predecessor units have lineage that dates back before the American Civil War, the formation was not formally designated as the 20th Engineer Brigade until its activation on 16 August 1950, at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri. Deploying overseas in November 1952, it supported construction projects in southwestern France until its return to the US on 10 September 1954. From then until its inactivation on 12 December 1958, it provided support to XVIII Airborne Corps. Reactivated on 1 May 1967, at Fort Liberty, the brigade deployed to South Vietnam where it supported American forces for several years and a dozen campaigns. The brigade was deactivated on 20 September 1971, as American forces withdrew from the country. while the 19th Engineer Battalion (Construction Effects) is located at Fort Knox, Kentucky. In 2014 the 307th was transferred to the 3d Brigade Combat Team of the 82nd Airborne Division. The insignia was originally authorized on 30 June 1967. It was amended on 14 January 1975 to add the blue and white "Airborne" tab. The tab is part of the unit insignia and does not indicate whether an individual soldier is Airborne qualified. Parachute wings on an individual soldier indicate Airborne qualification. While the brigade headquarters was on jump status, some subordinate elements were not. On 16 September 2009, the brigade's Airborne status was terminated and the "Airborne" tab on the brigade's shoulder sleeve insignia was removed.

The lineage and honors of the 20th Engineer Brigade date back to the American Civil War. The brigade provided all non divisional engineer support in Military Regions III and IV during eleven campaigns. In the wake of February 1976 Guatemalan earthquake, the brigade participated in humanitarian aid and rebuilding efforts of a major highway, CA 9. The brigade participated in the recovery efforts following the Great Lakes Blizzard of 1977. Over 300 members of the unit were dispatched to New York State to help with recovery efforts. The brigade grew to a 7,700 soldier force composed of three groups, ten battalions, four separate companies, and eight detachments in support of XVIII Airborne Corps during Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm. The brigade completed 1,500 combat heavy battalions equivalent days of work constructing roads, airfields, heliports, ammunition/fuel/water storage points, life support areas and forward landing strips, distributed over ten million maps, trained over 5,000 coalition engineers, and supported the French attack on Assalman airfield. During follow on missions the brigade destroyed over 6,000 enemy bunkers and one million tons of munitions. Since 11 September 2001, it has participated in repeated operations in Kosovo, Afghanistan, and Iraq.

In November 2004 the brigade headquarters deployed to Camp Victory, Iraq in support of OIF 04 06. The brigade grew to a size of 6,100 personnel in of three brigade headquarters companies, seven battalions, six separate companies and nine detachments. The 20th Brigade suffered at least one casualty during its tour in Iraq, with a soldier killed by an enemy Improvised Explosive Device on 22 August 2005 in Ad Dwar when an explosive device destroyed his vehicle. During its deployment to Iraq, the Unit assumed command of several additional battalions from the Army National Guard, forcing existing formations of the unit to cope with additional responsibilities. Seemingly elements of the 107th and 507th Engineer Battalions of the Michigan Army National Guard, the 30th Engineer Brigade (TA) of the North Carolina Army National Guard and the 194th Engineer Brigade of the Tennessee National Guard were part of the brigade.

The brigade again deployed to Iraq for the OIF 07 09 rotation. This time, the brigade was headquartered in Balad, Iraq. The brigade was given Husky Mine Detection vehicles and Buffalo mine protected carrier vehicles for the deployment. This was completed during a transfer of authority ceremony on 29 September 2008. The brigade then began redeploying to Fort Liberty, completing its return by November 2008. A year later, in August 2009, the brigade held a ceremony promoting dozens of its soldiers to the rank of Sergeant. Governor of the Panama Canal Zone Harold Parfitt, Vice President of the United States and Nobel Peace Prize winner Al Gore, and West Virginian state Senator Richard Ojeda.