The 21st Signal Brigade is a military communications brigade of the United States Army.
It was activated on September 1, 1965, at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, and was deployed to Nha Trang, Vietnam in 1966 to supply communications to I and II Corps areas as the 21st Signal Group. The Brigade participated in 13 campaigns and earned the Meritorious Unit Commendation before being deactivated on November 21, 1971.
On October 16, 2003, the 1108th Signal Brigade was reflagged as the 21st Signal Brigade at Fort Detrick, Maryland and serves there until the present day. The unit conducts theater level communications network operations. The brigade earned the Army Superior Unit Award in 2009.
Specialist Hilda Clayton was a U.S. Army combat photographer who was killed in 2013 when a mortar accidentally exploded during an Afghan training exercise. She captured the explosion that killed her and four Afghan soldiers. She was assigned to the brigade's 55th Signal Company (Combat Camera) at Fort Meade, Maryland. Ortiz Clayton was the first combat documentation and production specialist to be killed in Afghanistan.Military-Review
Units July 1969 +41st Signal Battalion; Qui Nhon, Vietnam43rd Signal Battalion (Modified Support); Pleiku, Vietnam459th Signal Battalion, Phu Bai, Vietnam73rd Signal Battalion (Support); Don Duong, Vietnam
Organization today
+56th Signal Battalion, at Fort Sam Houston (TX)114th Signal Battalion, at Raven Rock Mountain Complex (PA)302nd Signal Battalion, at Fort Detrick (MD)
Insignia The shoulder sleeve insignia is a rounded rectangle that is diagonally divided white and orange (signal corps colors) by a gold lightning bolt. In the center is a vertical sword created from a satellite dish and a globe for a hilt. The shoulder sleeve insignia was approved effective 16 October 2003.
The distinctive unit insignia is a gold metal pin with a central upfacing sword flanked by two orange lightning bolts surrounded by an "s" shaped scroll with the motto "Edge of the Sword" in black letters. The distinctive unit insignia was originally approved for the 21st Signal Group on 19 August 1968.
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