39th Infantry Brigade Combat Team (United States)

39th Infantry Brigade Combat Team (United States)

The 39th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, formerly called the 39th Infantry Brigade (Separate) – nicknamed The Arkansas Brigade or the Bowie Team – is a combat brigade of the United States Army made up of soldiers from the Arkansas Army National Guard. The 39th IBCT was one of fifteen National Guard brigades designated as an enhanced separate brigade. Brigades with this designation received higher levels of training, more advanced equipment, and higher troop levels than normal National Guard brigades. It also made these brigades a self-contained combat unit capable of intelligence, reconnaissance, maneuver, fire support, combat service support, and command and control without having to require attachments or detachments during deployments. In 2005, it was converted to the standard modular IBCT design as part of Army transformation.

The 39th IBCT is the largest National Guard command in Arkansas. It is headquartered in Little Rock, Arkansas. It was placed in federal service on 12 October 2003 in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom II. The 39th was attached to the 1st Cavalry Division and served in and around Baghdad for a year, returning to the United States in March 2005. In late August 2005, after Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast of the United States, elements of the 39th, then commanded by Colonel Mike Ross, were among the first military units to provide recovery and relief efforts to citizens of New Orleans, Louisiana. The 39th lead the effort to evacuate an estimated 16,000 people from the New Orleans Convention Center. The 39th Brigade completed its second deployment to Iraq in December 2008, after spending a year on active federal duty. Unlike the last deployment to Iraq from 2004–2005, the 39th Brigade headquarters did not have command and control of all of its subordinate units.