50th Armored Division ( United States ) The 50th Armored Division was a division of the Army National Guard from July 1946 until 1993 . History . On 13 October 1945 the War Department published a postwar policy statement for the entire Army , calling for a 27 - division Army National Guard structure with 25 infantry divisions and 2 armored divisions to accommodate the desires of all the states . Once the process of negotiation was complete , among the new formations formed , for the first time in the National Guard , were armored divisions , the 49th and 50th . The 50th Armored Division replaced the 44th Infantry Division within the New Jersey Army National Guard . New Jersey , which had supported part of the 44th Division before the war , now supported the 50th Armored Division , which became nicknamed the " Jersey Blues . " Therefore most of its elements ' inherited ' the history of the organic units of the old 44th , and elements of the new 44th perpetuated the history and traditions of former units in Illinois . In a 1968 reorganization , the 48th and 49th Armored Division s were disbanded but not the 50th , which from that point was joined by the 27th Armored Brigade from New York , the remnant of the 27th Armored Division . At this point , the Division lost its ' Jersey Blues ' nickname . Following efforts by Army Chief of Staff General Frederick C . Weyand to raise the readiness of the Army National Guard , the 50th Armored Division was reorganized as a bi - state division in New Jersey and Vermont . At the time , individual armor battalions in NJ and VT were issued 90 - mm M48A1 and M48A3 medium tanks . The bi - state organization comprised : Between 1975 - 76 Vt & NJ armor battalions started turning in their M48A3 tanks and began receiving M48A5 105mm models , which were practically identical to the base - model M60 medium tank with the round turret . The M48A5 had the same main gun system as on the M60A1 and M60A3 ' s in use by active - army . During this time , many VT tank crews competed in gunnery exercises held in West Germany and consistently brought back awards . Training within the 50th was rigorous during the Soviet threat peak years of the late - 70 ' s thru mid - 80 ' s . Germany was the primary AO of the 50thAD if it were to be activated . The Center of Military History notes that reorganizing the Army National Guard to meet the new ' Division 86 ' structures in the mid - 1980s was a challenging process , and most Guard divisions expanded their recruiting areas . The 50th Armored Division did not , and instead had the allotment for one of its brigades moved to the Texas Army National Guard , making the future of the division within the force structure ' uncertain ' . During this time , both battalions of Vermont ' s 172nd Armor 86thBDE began doing their annual training at Ft Hood TX , a change from their former armor deployment base of Ft Drum NY . By October 1988 , Vermont ' s 86th Brigade left the 50th Armor Division and became part of the 26th Infantry Division . Not long after this separation from the 50thAD , the 86thBDE got the M60A3 medium tank . On 1 September 1993 , the 50th Armored Division was inactivated and its remaining brigades joined other divisions . New Jersey ' s 50th Infantry Brigade , which took the Division ' s lineage , was made part of the 42nd Infantry Division . The 36th Infantry Brigade from Texas was reabsorbed into the 49th Armored Division . In the early 1990s further consolidation followed the fall of the Soviet Union , and the 26th Infantry Division disbanded , causing Vermont ' s 86th Brigade to join the 42nd Infantry Division and soon receive M1A2 Abrams main battle tanks . It is notable that while under the 50th Armor Division , Vermont ' s 1 / 172nd and 2 / 172nd Armored Battalions of the 86thBDE excelled at tank gunnery and field exercises , making the 86th Brigade the only Army National Guard unit to ever consistently accomplish Tank Table XII , an honor it continued to earn even after the 50thAD disbanded . Sadly due to further military consolidations , the 86thBDE turned in its Abrams tanks in 2006 and ended its Armor designation just short of 40 years .