The 20th Engineer Brigade is a
combat engineer brigade assigned to the
XVIII Airborne Corps of the
United States Army stationed at
Fort Bragg, North Carolina. 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 Bragg, the brigade deployed to 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.
Reactivated as an airborne brigade on 21 June 1974 at Fort Bragg, NC, the unit has since seen numerous overseas tours, including to
Kuwait during the
Gulf war, Kosovo,
Afghanistan during
Operation Enduring Freedom
Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) was the official name used synonymously by the U.S. government for both the War in Afghanistan (2001–2014) and the larger-scale Global War on Terrorism. On 7 October 2001, in response to the September 11 at ...
, and
Iraq during
Operation Iraqi Freedom
{{Infobox military conflict
, conflict = Iraq War {{Nobold, {{lang, ar, حرب العراق (Arabic) {{Nobold, {{lang, ku, شەڕی عێراق (Kurdish languages, Kurdish)
, partof = the Iraq conflict (2003–present), I ...
and
Operation New Dawn Operation New Dawn may refer to:
* Operation New Dawn (Iraq, 2010–2011), the United States Armed Forces' involvement in the Iraq War after August 2010
* Operation New Dawn (Afghanistan), an operation in Trekh Nawa in the summer of 2010
*Second B ...
. It has also independently conducted various humanitarian missions in the United States and in other nations throughout the world.
Organization
The 20th Engineer Brigade currently consists of five engineer battalions headquartered throughout the eastern United States. The Brigade
Headquarters and Headquarters Company (HHC) as well as the
27th Engineer Battalion
The 27th Engineer Battalion (COMBAT)(AIRBORNE) "Tiger Battalion" and its subordinate companies have often used the Fort Bragg/ XVIII Airborne Corps standard of "Airborne!" for its motto.
History
The history of the 27th Engineer Battalion (Combat ...
are headquartered at
Fort Bragg
Fort Bragg is a military installation of the United States Army in North Carolina, and is one of the largest military installations in the world by population, with around 54,000 military personnel. The military reservation is located within Cum ...
,
North Carolina[20th Engineer Brigade History](_blank)
20th Engineer Brigade Staff. Retrieved 25 January 2008 while the
19th Engineer Battalion (Construction Effects) is located at
Fort Knox
Fort Knox is a United States Army installation in Kentucky, south of Louisville and north of Elizabethtown. It is adjacent to the United States Bullion Depository, which is used to house a large portion of the United States' official gold res ...
,
Kentucky.
The
92nd Engineer Battalion is located at
Fort Stewart,
Georgia.
The 307th Engineer Battalion, formerly assigned to the 82nd Airborne Division, was reactivated effective 16 September 2010 by reflagging the existing 37th Engineer Battalion. In 2014 the 307th was transferred to the 3d Brigade Combat Team of the
82nd Airborne Division
The 82nd Airborne Division is an Airborne forces, airborne infantry division (military), division of the United States Army specializing in Paratrooper, parachute assault operations into denied areasSof, Eric"82nd Airborne Division" ''Spec Ops ...
.
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.
History
Lineage
The lineage and honors of the 20th Engineer Brigade date back to the
American Civil War.
First designated as the
Battalion of Engineers on 3 August 1861, the battalion participated in 10 campaigns during the Civil War. Since that time, unit designations have changed many times as predecessors of the 20th Engineer Brigade have served in the
Spanish–American War, the
Philippine–American War
The Philippine–American War or Filipino–American War ( es, Guerra filipina-estadounidense, tl, Digmaang Pilipino–Amerikano), previously referred to as the Philippine Insurrection or the Tagalog Insurgency by the United States, was an arm ...
, the
Mexican Expedition,
World War I and
World War II. Though it was not officially designated as the 20th Engineer Brigade during all of these wars, the Brigade received campaign participation credit for all of these campaigns, and has numerous
campaign streamers for what its previous incarnations did during these conflicts.
On 16 August 1950 the brigade was first designated as the 20th Engineer Brigade and activated at
Camp Leonard Wood
Fort Leonard Wood is a U.S. Army training installation located in the Missouri Ozarks. The main gate is located on the southern boundary of The City of St. Robert. The post was created in December 1940 and named in honor of General Leonard ...
,
Missouri.
It deployed overseas to France in November 1952 and established headquarters in
Croix Chapeau
Croix (French for "cross") may refer to:
Belgium
* Croix-lez-Rouveroy, a village in municipality of Estinnes in the province of Hainaut
France
* Croix, Nord, in the Nord department
* Croix, Territoire de Belfort, in the Territoire de Belfort d ...
. Comprising two battalions and six separate companies, the brigade provided engineer construction support to the Base Section of the European COMMZ in southwestern France. In August 1954, it redeployed back to the United States and was activated at
Fort Bragg
Fort Bragg is a military installation of the United States Army in North Carolina, and is one of the largest military installations in the world by population, with around 54,000 military personnel. The military reservation is located within Cum ...
,
North Carolina, on 10 September 1954. From that time until its inactivation on 12 December 1958, the brigade provided engineer support to the
XVIII Airborne Corps.
Vietnam War and aftermath
In response to the buildup of U.S. forces in the
Republic of Vietnam, the brigade headquarters was reactivated 1 May 1967, at Fort Bragg and deployed to Vietnam in August 1967. During the Vietnam War, the brigade numbered over 13,000 officers and enlisted men organized into three engineer groups, with 14 battalions and 31 separate companies and detachments. One of these soldiers,
Al Gore
Albert Arnold Gore Jr. (born March 31, 1948) is an American politician, businessman, and environmentalist who served as the 45th vice president of the United States from 1993 to 2001 under President Bill Clinton. Gore was the Democratic Part ...
, would later become Vice President of the United States.
[Biography of Vice President Al Gore](_blank)
, United States Government. Retrieved 25 January 2008

The brigade provided all non-divisional engineer support in
Military Regions III and
IV during eleven campaigns.
Units cleared more than one-half million acres (2,000 km²) of jungle, paved 500 kilometers of highway, and constructed bridges totaling more than six miles (10 km) in length. As American forces were withdrawing from Vietnam, the brigade was inactivated 20 September 1971.
As the organization of the Army changed following Vietnam, the 20th Engineer Brigade was again reactivated at Fort Bragg, North Carolina as an
airborne brigade on 21 June 1974.
Assigned as a subordinate command of the XVIII Airborne Corps, which comprised one airborne combat engineer battalion, a heavy construction battalion and four separate companies. Additionally, the
283rd Engineer Detachment (Terrain Analysis)
The 283d Engineer Detachment (Terrain Analysis) was a combat engineer detachment assigned to the 20th Engineer Brigade of the United States Army stationed at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Although the members of the unit wore blue airborne tabs ...
provided terrain intelligence needs of the brigade's mission.
Since that time the brigade and its subordinate units supported the XVIII Airborne Corps, fulfilling critical combat engineer, construction, topographic, and bridging missions.
In the wake of Feb.1976 Guatemala 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
The blizzard of 1977 hit Western New York and Southern Ontario from January 28 to February 1. Daily peak wind gusts ranging from were recorded by the National Weather Service in Buffalo, with snowfall as high as recorded in areas, and the hi ...
. Over 300 members of the unit were dispatched to
New York State to help with recovery efforts.
As requirements and the engineer force structure changed, the brigade inactivated the 548th Engineer Battalion (Combat)(Heavy) in 1987 and activated the 37th Engineer Battalion (Combat)(Airborne). In 1989, the
30th Engineer Battalion (Topographic)
3 (three) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 2 and preceding 4, and is the smallest odd prime number and the only prime preceding a square number. It has religious or cultural significance in many societie ...
was added to the brigade.
Over the years, the brigade has provided engineer support to XVIII Airborne Corps and other Army commands. In addition to training, it has deployed in support of operations across the entire spectrum of conflict from disaster relief to combat operations.
Gulf War
The brigade was called to support the multinational response to the
Iraqi invasion of Kuwait on 2 August 1990. 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.
After the Gulf War, elements of the brigade were dispatched to
Haiti
Haiti (; ht, Ayiti ; French: ), officially the Republic of Haiti (); ) and formerly known as Hayti, is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and ...
on a humanitarian mission. The 20th Engineer Brigade was assigned to construct base camps, improve the Haitian infrastructure, participate in humanitarian service projects, and assist with the reestablishment of public services, with a goal of improving overall quality of life within the country.
Since 11 September 2001, it has participated in repeated operations in
Kosovo, Afghanistan, and
Iraq.
First Iraq tour

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 brigade served as the
Multi-National Corps – Iraq corps-level engineer headquarters for all echelon-above-division engineers in Iraq, providing command and control for general support combat and construction engineer missions across the country. During its deployment, the 20th Engineer Brigade patrolled 57,950 kilometers of roads for
Improvised Explosive Devices, expanded 14 bases in support of the MNC-I basing plan; emplaced or maintained 16 bridges; expanded detention capacity for 6,000 detainees; trained over 53,000 coalition soldiers on explosives hazards awareness; reduced over 11,000 caches and over 80,000 tons of explosive munitions.
Other missions included repair of an airfield known as "Key West" by light equipment elements, support of the Long Range Surveillance Detachment,
313th Military Intelligence Battalion, 82nd Airborne Division based in
Zakhu
Zakho, also spelled Zaxo ( ku, زاخۆ, Zaxo, syr, ܙܵܟ݂ܘܿ, Zākhō, , ) is a city in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, at the centre of the eponymous Zakho District of the Dohuk Governorate, located a few kilometers from the Iraq–Turkey bo ...
, located in Iraqi
Kurdistan.
Another task for the Brigade was to assist British engineers in a systematic mapping of the entire nation and creating an Iraqi Geospatial Reference System, in order to make national reconstruction easier and more organized. 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
The Army National Guard (ARNG), in conjunction with the Air National Guard, is an organized Militia (United States), militia force and a Reserve components of the United States Armed Forces, federal military reserve force of the United States A ...
, 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.
Second Iraq tour
The brigade again deployed to Iraq for the OIF 07-09 rotation. This time, the brigade was headquartered in
Balad, Iraq.
[MNC-I Leaders visit 20th Engineers](_blank)
, Joy Pariante, MNC-I PAO. Retrieved 13 August 2008. The brigade was given
Husky Mine Detection vehicle
Husky is a general term for a dog used in the polar regions, primarily and specifically for work as sled dogs. It refers to a traditional northern type, notable for its cold-weather tolerance and overall hardiness. Modern racing huskies that mai ...
s and
Buffalo mine protected carrier vehicles for the deployment.
The brigade was responsible for providing combat, geospatial and general engineering and reconstruction operations in partnership with Provincial Reconstruction Teams, Civil Service Corps,
Sons of Iraq and
Iraqi Army
The Iraqi Ground Forces (Arabic: القوات البرية العراقية), or the Iraqi Army (Arabic: الجيش العراقي), is the ground force component of the Iraqi Armed Forces. It was known as the Royal Iraqi Army up until the coup ...
engineers, as well as training and assisting the Iraqi Army and provincial engineers in the rebuilding of the infrastructure of Iraq.
As of May 2008, the brigade had constructed 10 major bridges and destroyed or captured IED cells in nine of the country's provinces.
During the deployment it was visited by
Lieutenant General Lloyd J. Austin III, the commanding general of Multi-National Corps Iraq.
The brigade was scheduled to return to Fort Bragg in the fall of 2008, to be replaced by the
555th Engineer Brigade
The 555th Engineer Brigade "Triple Nickel" is a combat engineer brigade of the United States Army based at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington. The brigade is a Corps separate falling directly under I Corps. The 555 numbering was first used in ...
. This was completed during a transfer of authority ceremony on 29 September 2008. The brigade then began redeploying to Fort Bragg, 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
Sergeant (abbreviated to Sgt. and capitalized when used as a named person's title) is a rank in many uniformed organizations, principally military and policing forces. The alternative spelling, ''serjeant'', is used in The Rifles and other uni ...
.
Honors
Unit decorations
Campaign streamers
Notable soldiers
Numerous soldiers who have served in the 20th Engineer Brigade have later achieved fame for various reasons, most of them having served the 20th in Vietnam. Former 20th Engineer Brigade soldiers and engineers include
Chief of Engineers Robert B. Flowers
Lieutenant General Robert B. Flowers was born in Pennsylvania and resided in several areas of the world as his family moved during his father's military career. Following graduation and commissioning from the Virginia Military Institute in 1969 ...
,
Governor of the Panama Canal Zone
The following is a list of governors of the Panama Canal Zone while it was under U.S. control.
Military governors (1904–1914)
Military and civil governors (1914–1924)
Civil governors (1924–1979)
See also
*Panama Canal Zone
Notes
E ...
Harold Parfitt,
Vice President of the United States and
Nobel Peace Prize winner
Al Gore
Albert Arnold Gore Jr. (born March 31, 1948) is an American politician, businessman, and environmentalist who served as the 45th vice president of the United States from 1993 to 2001 under President Bill Clinton. Gore was the Democratic Part ...
,
Sergeant Major of the Army Leon L. Van Autreve
Leon L. Van Autreve (January 29, 1920 – March 14, 2002) was a United States Army soldier who served as the fourth Sergeant Major of the Army. He was sworn in on July 1, 1973, and served until June 1975.
Early life and education
Van Autreve wa ...
, and West Virginian state Senator
Richard Ojeda.
References
External links
The Institute of Heraldry: 20th Engineer Brigade20th Engineer Brigade Homepage
{{FortBragg
Engineer 020
020
020 is the national dialling code for London in the United Kingdom. All subscriber numbers within the area code consist of eight digits and it has capacity for approaching 100 million telephone numbers. The code is used at 170 telephone exch ...
020
020 is the national dialling code for London in the United Kingdom. All subscriber numbers within the area code consist of eight digits and it has capacity for approaching 100 million telephone numbers. The code is used at 170 telephone exch ...
Military units and formations established in 1950