Sky Soldier, was the term used by the Nationalist Chinese in reference to paratroopers who made thousands of parachute jumps in dozens of different Pacific area countries. Those Sky Soldiers were part of the 173d Airborne Brigade which was activated on the island of Okinawa on March 26, 1963. Before leaving the island the men of the 173d adopted for their unit the nick-name of the "Herd," which rhymes with 173d. They picked that name because of Colonel Boland, the 1st Battalion Commander, who, by playing Rawhide over a loud-speaker, provided the men with certain inspiration. Legend has it that the Colonel was walking past a quonset-hut when he heard someone playing Rawhide on a record-player and bought the record. Later the Colonel used the song to announce all battalion formations, and the song became the units theme song. Decades later, the men still identify themselves as "Herdmen" or "Herdmember." Some wives and women who love the men of the "Herd" identify themselves as, "Herdwomen" or, in one case, "Herdlady." Brigadier General Ellis W. Williamson was the units first Commander who, through excellent leadership, established the Brigade as an aggressive and unique unit to be used as a "strike-force" throughout the Pacific Region. In May, 1965, the Brigade became the first US Army combat unit sent to the Republic of South Vietnam.

Their first mission was to secure the air base at Bien Hoa, just outside Saigon, that was taking a terrible pounding from enemy rockets and mortars. In the combat operations to follow, the paratroopers demonstrated their strength against a well trained enemy and difficult circumstances, including blistering heat, too much water--or not enough, a steady diet of food from cans, snakes, leeches, jungle-rot, and no (for many reasons) sleep.

One of the 173d's first assignments in War Zone D was destroying enemy base camps, a task the paratroopers became well aquatinted with. Later, they implemented the use of long range patrols. During the Iron Triangle battles in the Tay Ninh Province, the 173d made the first and only parachute assault of the war. In the summer and fall of 1967, some of the bloodiest fighting of the war erupted at Dak To , culminating with the capture of Hill 875. The paratroopers lost nearly 300 men and had over 675 wounded. In addition to using parachutes, elements of the brigade conducted an amphibious assault against NVA and VC forces, clearing much of the rice-growing lowlands.

The 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Battalions of the 503rd Parachute Infantry Regiment, with the 1st Mechanized Battalion/50th Infantry, Troop E of the 17th Cavalry, Company D of the 16th Armor plus the First Battalion of the Royal Australian Regiment, and the 105 Field Battery of the 1st RAR Australian Group made up the brigade. In addition, the 3rd Battalion of the 319th Artillery and a battery of the 161st New Zealand Artillery provided the brigade with artillery support.

Overall, the 173d Airborne Brigade took part in 14 designated campaigns in the Republic of Vietnam and remained in combat longer than any other American military unit since the Revolutionary War. During more than six years of continuous combat, 8,435 paratroopers from the brigade were wounded and 13 Sky Soldiers had earned the Medal of Honor medal. The number of casualties sustained by the 173d Airborne Brigade, was two-thirds of those suffered by the entire 82nd Airborne Division in all of WWII.

As a unit, the Brigade earned 14 campaign streamers and 4 unit citations. And of the men who came home ... well, they wear their combat ribbons and awards with great pride ... as over 1,743 of their brother paratroopers paid the ultimate sacrifice by laying-down their lives for their country.

      The Brigade was deactivated at Ft.Cambell, Kentucky on January 14, 1972 until reactivation again on 12 June 2000 on Caserma Ederle in Vicenza, Italy, where it serves as European Command's only conventional airborne unit. The SETAF Infantry Brigade continues the proud legacy of this historic unit. In January 1994, an Infantry Brigade was established at SETAF to provide command and control of SETAF’s deployable units. The brigade mission is to operate as a separate, independent brigade; to fall in on a division as an organic brigade; and to operate as the Army Forces component in a Joint task force. In August 1994, the newly formed brigade deployed to Rwanda on Operation Support Hope to aid millions of displaced citizens. This same operation saw portions of the USASETAF headquarters deploy for the first time in history, as the nucleus of the Joint Task Force Headquarters.

For the first time in nearly three decades, the colors of the famous 173d Airborne Brigade (Separate) were unfurled on 12 June 2000. In June of 2000, elements of the 173D Airborne Brigade conducted an airborne assault and airfield seizure at Kesckemet Airfield, Hungary. The purpose of the mission was to exercise the rapid deployment capabilities of various units within US Army Europe (USAREUR), and expand interoperability with Hungary - a recent addition to NATO's team. Exercise Lariat Response demonstrated the ability of SETAF and 1st Armored Division to deploy rapidly and be ready for combat. With the support of V Corps’ 12th Aviation Brigade, 30th Medical Brigade and the Air Force’s 86th Airlift Wing, SETAF successfully deployed its light forces to secure the area.

Part of the Lariat Response mission following the airfield seizure was airland reinforcement by C-130's. USAREUR provided their Light Immediate Ready Company (L)IRC, which at the time consisted of elements of the 1st Armored Division's 1st Battalion, 6th Infantry Regiment. Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 508th Infantry (Airborne Battalion Combat Team) trained with elements of the 34th Long Range Reconnaissance Battalion and the 88th Rapid Reaction Battalion of the Hungarian Army. The training consisted of the airfield seizure and follow-on airlandings, combined air-assaults - using both UH-60 Blackhawks and Hungarian Air Force MI-8 Hips, combined patrolling, weapons familiarization, and a squad-level force-on-force competition, commonly called the MILES Rodeo (MILES stands for Multiple Integrated Laser Engagement System)."

When soldiers from the 173d Airborne Brigade went to the Combat Maneuver Training Center at Hohenfels, Germany in August 2000, soldiers from the Vermont Army National Guard's Company A, 3rd Battalion, 172nd Infantry and the 54th Engineer Battalion of Bamburg, Germany augmented the brigade's forces and helped accomplish the various missions in the field. The 173d Airborne Brigade returned home in September 2000 after seven weeks of training at Grafenwoehr and Hohenfels, Germany. Their duty in Germany began at the ranges and lanes of Grafenwoehr and ended in the mock villages at Hohenfels. The soldiers spent the last three weeks at the Combat Maneuver Training Center in Hohenfels, where they put their skills to the test against the black-suited opposing force, or OPFOR, in an all out-defensive battle 15 September 2000.

African Lion is a 173d Airborne Brigade exercise held every two years in Morocco. The Moroccan and American leaders joined forces to defeat a simulated enemy on a computerized battlefield. The sophisticated simulation equipment, known as the Joint Conflict and Tactical Simulation Systems, allowed military leaders to simulate a battle using terrain from any where in the world. A series of networked laptop computers at each station act as a company headquarters in the field.

On March 23, 2003, the 173rd Airborne Brigade conducted a combat jump into Northern Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. The unit remained in Iraq until February 2004.

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