| Unit Name: | 56th Stryker Brigade Combat Team |
| Nickname: | "Independence Brigade" |
| Motto: | "Strength Through Honor""Ride the Lightning" |
| Type: | Infantry Brigade |
| Branch: | United States Army |
| Dates: | 1747 – present |
| Command Structure: | 28th Infantry Division |
| Size: | 4,000 |
| Specialization: | Stryker Infantry |
| Garrison: | Biddle National Guard Base Willow Grove, Pennsylvania |
| Battles: | American Civil War World War I World War II Operation Iraqi Freedom |
| Notable Commanders: | George C. Rickards |
| Identification Symbol 2 Label: | Combat service identification badge |
| Identification Symbol 3 Label: | Team insignia |
The 56th Stryker Brigade Combat Team (SBCT), 28th Infantry Division, also known as the Independence Brigade, is a brigade combat team of the Pennsylvania Army National Guard and has its headquarters located at Horsham Air Guard Station in Willow Grove, Pennsylvania.
The 56th SBCT is one of nine Stryker Brigade Combat Teams in the United States Army and for many years, until the conversion of 81st SBCT, it was the only reserve component Stryker unit in the Army. It is one of five brigades of the 28th Infantry Division, and provides light infantry land assets for both federal and state active duty missions. The federal mission is to deploy on short notice as part of the 28th Infantry Division and destroy, capture, or repel enemy forces using maneuver and shock effect. The state mission of the brigade is to serve the Governor and the citizens of the Commonwealth as needed in times of natural disaster or civil unrest.
The 56th SBCT is composed of some of the oldest units in the United States Army. Units of the 111th Infantry trace their lineage back to 1747, when Benjamin Franklin first established his famed "Associators" in Philadelphia. The battalions, as well as the brigade, carry battle streamers from nearly every conflict throughout American history.[1]
The current 56th Brigade Combat team derives its numerical designation, although not its lineage, from the historical 56th Infantry Brigade. The 56th Infantry Brigade was formed in September 1917 as part of the 28th Division. The brigade, commanded in late 1918 by Arthur L. Conger, initially included the 111th and 112th Infantry Regiments.[2] During World War I it was involved in the Meuse-Argonne, Champagne-Marne, Aisne-Marne, Oise-Aisne, and Ypres-Lys (field artillery only) operations. During the war, the 28th Infantry Division took a total of 14,139 casualties (KIA-2,165 ; WIA-11,974). The brigade was again part of the 28th Division from 1921 to 1941.
The current brigade traces its origins to the 111th Infantry and the Pentomic and Reorganization Objective Army Division reorganizations of the 28th Infantry Division from regiments to battle groups and finally to brigades, culminating in 1963.[3] In 1963, the brigade was formed as the 1st Brigade, 28th Infantry Division. In 1968, as part of the McNamara-inspired reorganization of the Army National Guard, it was reassigned to the 42nd Infantry Division as the 56th Brigade, 42nd Infantry Division. From 1975 it has again been assigned to the 28th Infantry Division.
The brigade was called to active duty during the Blizzard of 1996, when flood emergencies were declared by the Governors of Pennsylvania and West Virginia. During the blizzard in Philadelphia, the 56th Brigade won credit in saving over 70 lives by providing emergency medical transportation during the duration of the Governor's proclamation.
In December 2000, the United States Army proposed a new reorganization. The following year, the 56th Brigade was selected as the only reserve component Stryker Brigade out of seven in the entire United States Army. The brigade was reflagged the 56th Stryker Brigade Combat Team on 24 October 2004 at Fort Indiantown Gap's Muir Field.[4]
On 1 September 2005 the entire Brigade Combat Team was mobilized to deploy to Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina, the sixth strongest hurricane ever recorded in the Atlantic Ocean, slammed into the Gulf Coast. The 56th SBCT was stationed in and around New Orleans to support the relief effort for nearly a month and a half. This included a subsequent deployment to the areas damaged by Hurricane Rita, which made land fall near the Louisiana-Texas border.
The brigade trained at Camp Shelby, Mississippi from 19 September 2008 until November 2008 when it moved to the Joint Readiness Training Center (JRTC) in Fort Polk, Louisiana until December 2008. The brigade continued training at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst in December 2008 and moved to Camp Buehring, Kuwait, in January 2009 awaiting movement into Iraq. The 56th SBCT, based at Camp Taji, Iraq, conducted operations in the northern Baghdad Governorate, as part of Multi-National Division – Baghdad, from January to September 2009, before redeploying to Kuwait and returning home at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst.
56th Stryker Brigade – OIF composition
As of 2024 the brigade consists of the following units: