Infantry Training School Patch (O9JW15BX2)

Courtesy of Gibsons Tactical Tavern

The Shoulder Sleeve Insignia (SSI) for the U.S. Army Infantry School was first approved on 23 April 1951 for the Infantry School and was redesignated for the U.S. Army Infantry School on 7 August 1964. On 10 June 1969, the insignia was amended to change the size and added a border space for overedge stitching, and the authorization for wear was subsequently extended to personnel assigned to the U.S. Army Infantry Center and its assigned units on 30 October 1974. That authorization was rescinded on 6 November 2009.

Although it’s only natural to point to the drills and training introduced by Baron von Steuben as the genesis of today’s United States Army Infantry School, a more similar institution was the Infantry School of Instruction at Jefferson Barracks in Missouri. Established by Major General Edmund P. Gaines in 1824, the school originally trained enlisted Soldiers and small squads before expanding its scope to teach Infantry officers. Though generally lauded as successful, the school—eventually known as the Infantry School of Practice—closed in 1826.

Despite the essential nature of the Infantry, the Army seemed almost to intentionally avoid providing a centralized institution where enlisted troops could learn their craft. When the Army divided its military post-graduate School of Application for Infantry and Cavalry in 1892, for instance, a school was created for Cavalry (at Fort Riley) and another for Artillery (at Fort Sill)—and none for Infantry.

It wasn’t until 1918 that a true Infantry training institution began to be established in Columbus, Georgia; it managed to survive Congressional budget cuts to become a permanent Infantry School in 1920, with the Army formally designating it as the Infantry School and changing its name from “Camp Benning” to “Fort Benning.” Its ability to survive was due in no small part to the work of Major General Charles Farnsworth, the first Chief of Infantry and Commandant of the school.

The Infantry School was designated the U.S. Army Infantry Center, but in 2009 the Center was officially closed when the Armor Center and School relocated to Fort Benning from Fort Knox as part of the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure committee's mandates. Today, Fort Benning is named Fort Moore and is home to the Maneuver Center of Excellence comprising both the Infantry and Armor Schools.

These are NEW and UNUSED

Military Surplus. Individual Listing. Individually Pictured.