17th Field Artillery Brigade (United States)

17th Field Artillery Brigade
17th Field Artillery Brigade shoulder sleeve insignia
Active	19 August 1918—8 February 1919 19 January 1943—15 November 1945 22 January 1951—21 June 1975 21 September 1978—Present.
Country	United States
Allegiance	Regular Army
Branch	Field Artillery
Type	Brigade
Part of	I Corps
Garrison/HQ	Joint Base Lewis-McChord
Nickname(s)	Thunderbolt Brigade
Motto(s)	"Thunderbolt!"
Commanders
Commander	Colonel Andrew Gainey
Command Sergeant Major	Command Sergeant Major Freddie Barbary
Insignia
Distinctive Unit Insignia

The 17th Field Artillery Brigade, "America's Premier HIMARS Brigade", is an artillery brigade in the United States Army. It is currently based in Joint Base Lewis McChord Washington as Force Fires Headquarters for I Corps.

The 17th Field Artillery Brigade began as the 17th Field Artillery Brigade part of the 17th Division at Camp Bowie, Texas on July 31st, 1918. It demobilized in February 1919 after World War I.

The 17th Field Artillery Brigade activated again at Fort Sill January 1943. During World War II the 17th Field Artillery Brigade participated in Normandy, Northern France, Rhineland, Ardennes-Alsace, and Central Europe.

The 17th Field Artillery Brigade moved to Augsburg Germany on 20 September 1978 and was the only Nuclear Capable Field Artillery unit in Germany. The unit went on to Fort Lewis after assignment in the middle east. Additionally, The 17th was the only Field Artillery Unit deployed from the US Army to Iraq.

The 17th Field Artillery deployed to Iraq from Augsburg in 2003 and again in 2005. In 2007 the 17th Field Artillery Brigade moved to Fort Lewis, Washington a renamed 17th Fires Brigade.

The 17th Fires Brigade deployed to the Basra Province in the summer of 2009.

The 1st Battalion, 377th Field Artillery Regiment was officially inactivated February 2014.

For the purpose of standardizing, the 17th Fires Brigade was officially renamed 17th Field Artillery Brigade on 19 February 2014.

The 17th Field Artillery Brigade is currently composed of:

 This article incorporates public domain material from the United States Army Center of Military History website http://www.history.army.mil/html/forcestruc/lineages/branches/fa/0017firebrig.htm.