56th Stryker Brigade Combat Team The 56th Stryker Brigade Combat Team , 28th Infantry Division , also known as the " Independence Brigade " , is a brigade combat team of the Pennsylvania Army National Guard . The 56th SBCT is one of nine Stryker Brigade Combat Teams in the United States Army and one of five brigades of the 28th Infantry Division . It is the only reserve component stryker unit in the Army 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 headquarters is located at Horsham Air Guard Station in Willow Grove , Pennsylvania . History . The 56th SBCT is composed of some of the oldest units in the United States Armed Forces . 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 . The 56th Infantry Brigade was formed in September 1917 as part of the 28th Division . The brigade initially included the 111th and 112th Infantry Regiment s ) . During World War I it was involved in the Meuse - Argonne , Champagne - Marne , Aisne - Marne , Oise - Aisne , and Ypres - Lys ( FA ) 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 ( though not its heraldic antecedants , due to the arcane lineage system of the United States Army ) to the Reorganization Objective Army Division reorganization of the 28th Infantry Division from regiments to brigades in 1963 . That year , it 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 . 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 . Iraq deployment . 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 Composition . The brigade is composed of the following additional units :