The 35th Engineer Brigade is a

combat engineer A combat engineer (also called pioneer or sapper) is a type of soldier who performs military engineering tasks in support of land forces combat operations. Combat engineers perform a variety of military engineering, tunnel and mine warfare ta ...

brigade A brigade is a major tactical military formation that typically comprises three to six battalions plus supporting elements. It is roughly equivalent to an enlarged or reinforced regiment. Two or more brigades may constitute a division. Br ...

of the

United States Army National Guard The Army National Guard (ARNG), in conjunction with the Air National Guard, is an organized militia force and a federal military reserve force of the United States Army. They are simultaneously part of two different organizations: the Army Na ...

Missouri Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...

based at

Fort 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 Woo ...

. Originally constituted as an

infantry Infantry is a military specialization which engages in ground combat on foot. Infantry generally consists of light infantry, mountain infantry, motorized infantry & mechanized infantry, airborne infantry, air assault infantry, and marine i ...

regiment, the brigade has undergone several changes before reaching its current state. It deployed once 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 ...

. Units within the brigade have deployed multiple times in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom and

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 ...

Organization

As an active army national guard unit, the 35th Engineer Brigade is not a permanent formation, instead only being called upon when needed. It has a lineage to the 35th Infantry Division, which is also a part of the Kansas and Missouri Army National Guard, but it is not a part of the division at this time.35th Engineer Brigade Homepage: Subordinate Units
, 35th Engineer Brigade Staff. Retrieved 4 October 2008. The brigade currently consists of two engineer

battalion A battalion is a military unit, typically consisting of 300 to 1,200 soldiers commanded by a lieutenant colonel, and subdivided into a number of companies (usually each commanded by a major or a captain). In some countries, battalions are ...

s as well as several other units, in addition to its

Headquarters and Headquarters Company In United States Army units, a Headquarters and Headquarters Company (HHC) is a company-sized military unit, found at the battalion level and higher. Considered one unit, a Headquarters and Headquarters Company is essentially two elements with ...

. These units include the 1140th Engineer Battalion based in

Cape Girardeau Cape Girardeau ( , french: Cap-Girardeau ; colloquially referred to as "Cape") is a city in Cape Girardeau and Scott Counties in the U.S. state of Missouri. At the 2020 census, the population was 39,540. The city is one of two principal citie ...

, Missouri, the 203rd Engineer Battalion, based in Joplin, Missouri.

History

Originally constituted as the 138th Infantry Regiment in 1928,GlobalSecurity.org: 25th Engineer Brigade
Globalsecurity.org. Retrieved 4 December 2008. the unit was reorganized and reconstituted several times, and did not receive its

Shoulder Sleeve Insignia A shoulder sleeve insignia (often abbreviated SSI) is an embroidered patch worn on some uniforms of the United States Army. It is used by major formations of the U.S. Army; each formation has a unique formation patch. The U.S. Army is unique amon ...

until 1984, and its

Distinctive Unit Insignia A distinctive unit insignia (DUI) is a metallic Heraldry, heraldic badge or device worn by soldiers in the United States Army. The DUI design is derived from the coat of arms authorized for a unit. DUIs may also be called "distinctive insignia" (D ...

in 1970.The Institute of Heraldry: 35th Engineer Brigade
, The Institute of Heraldry. Retrieved 04-13-2008. The insignia were based on those of the 35th Infantry Division, which has been the commanding unit of the brigade through the entirety of its history. The unit was relieved on 15 April 1959 from assignment to the 35th Infantry Division; and was concurrently converted and redesignated as

Headquarters and Headquarters Detachment In United States Army units, a Headquarters and Headquarters Company (HHC) is a company-sized military unit, found at the battalion level and higher. Considered one unit, a Headquarters and Headquarters Company is essentially two elements with ...

, 101st Replacement Group. It was later reorganized and redesignated on 1 April 1963 as Combat Section, Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 35th Command Headquarters, Divisional. It was converted and consolidated 16 January 1968 with the 1135th Ordnance Company. The 35th Engineer Brigade provides command and control of combat engineer units assigned to

I Corps I Corps, 1st Corps, or First Corps may refer to: France * 1st Army Corps (France) * I Cavalry Corps (Grande Armée), a cavalry unit of the Imperial French Army during the Napoleonic Wars * I Corps (Grande Armée), a unit of the Imperial French A ...

for worldwide missions. It also directs training of

Missouri Army National Guard The Missouri National Guard (MONG), commonly known as the Missouri Guard, is a component of the Army National Guard and Missouri State Department of the National Guard. It is composed of Army and Air National Guard units. The Department office is ...

s Engineer units to meet US Army readiness standards prior to mobilization. Prepares Missouri Engineer units for State Emergency Duties (SED) for various missions and provides units for task force missions to Joint Task Forces (JTF) conducting missions across the operational continuum. The 35th Engineer Brigade, was tasked in late 2000, with handling much of the planning pertaining to

Operation Alaskan Road Operation or Operations may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * ''Operation'' (game), a battery-operated board game that challenges dexterity * Operation (music), a term used in musical set theory * ''Operations'' (magazine), Multi-Man ...

. Operation Alaskan Road is a

Department of Defense Department of Defence or Department of Defense may refer to: Current departments of defence * Department of Defence (Australia) * Department of National Defence (Canada) * Department of Defence (Ireland) * Department of National Defense (Philippin ...

Innovative Readiness Training (IRT) Exercise, a USCINCPAC sponsored multi-year exercise spread over a seven-year period, with a US$33-million budget. The project aims to build a two-lane, 14.8-mile road with no more than a 7-percent grade across the island on

Annette Island Annette Island or ''Taak'w Aan'' (Tlingit) is an island in the Gravina Islands of the Alexander Archipelago of the Pacific Ocean on the southeastern coast of the U.S. state of Alaska. It is at . It is about long and about wide. The land area ...

linking Metlakatla to the north side of the island. The project comes as fulfillment of a government promise that was originally made to Metlakatla, home of Alaska's last

Indian reservation An Indian reservation is an area of land held and governed by a federally recognized Native American tribal nation whose government is accountable to the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs and not to the state government in which it ...

. Elements of the brigade saw tours of duty in

in 2005, assisting the

20th Engineer Brigade 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 un ...

in construction and support duties. The unit deployed again to the

Baghdad Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesiphon ...

area as part of Multi-National Division-Baghdad during

in 2007 and 2008.Multi-National Force: Iraq
Sgt. Henry Bauer, 35th Engineer Brigade. Retrieved 4 October 2008. Missions of the brigade have been widely varied, some are

humanitarian Humanitarianism is an active belief in the value of human life, whereby humans practice benevolent treatment and provide assistance to other humans to reduce suffering and improve the conditions of humanity for moral, altruistic, and emotional ...

in nature, others have required the training and use of the brigade's complement of

sappers A sapper, also called a pioneer or combat engineer, is a combatant or soldier who performs a variety of military engineering duties, such as breaching fortifications, demolitions, bridge-building, laying or clearing minefields, preparing field ...

. The unit was deployed to Joplin, Missouri to help secure the city in the aftermath of the 22 May 2011 EF5 tornado. During that time the unit looted the same city it was in charge of securing. According to the St. Louis dispatch. In a telephone interview, Brig. Gen. Randy Alewel, commander of the 35th Engineer Brigade, confirmed that members of his unit were involved in the looting. "We conducted an investigation and disciplinary action was imposed on those soldiers," Alewel said. But he declined to say how many soldiers were involved, the extent of the looting or what discipline they received.Mo. National Guard exempt from Sunshine Law
''

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...

''. Retrieved 2012-05-23

References

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External links

35th Engineer Brigade
Engineer 035