MISSION:
The 81st Readiness Division provides programs and installation services for commands and assigned units enabling mission readiness.
VISION:
Be the best Readiness Division - in the eyes of our supported commanders and leaders - committed to excellence, living the Army Values and focused on Wildcat PRIDE.
LINEAGE:
"TRAIN, MAINTAIN, SUSTAIN"
The 81st Readiness Division provides essential services and customer care to more than 50,000 Soldiers, Civilians, and Family Members in a footprint that includes the southeast region of the United States, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Much of the staff is made up of dual-status technicians, ensuring continuity and military expertise.
The unit’s origins pre-date World War I when the 81st Division (National Army) organized at Camp Jackson, South Carolina, in August 1917. It became known as the “Wildcat Division” for its unauthorized sleeve emblems.
Division commander General Charles Bailey ignored a War Department order to remove the patches and appealed the matter to General John J. Pershing, who approved the patch by saying, “… see to it that you live up to it.”
During World War I, the unit fought in the Lorraine and Meuse-Argonne campaigns before demobilization in 1919. Reactivated in 1942, the 81st I.D. fought in the Palau and Philippine campaigns before inactivating in Japan in 1946. From 1947 to inactivation in 1965, the 81st I.D. remained in the Organized Reserve. The 81st Army Reserve Command (ARCOM) organized in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1967. It deployed units to Vietnam, Southwest Asia, and the Balkans.
The 81st was relocated in 1996 to Birmingham, Alabama, and reorganized as the 81st Regional Support Command (RSC). It was responsible for command and control of all Army Reserve units in the southeast United States and Puerto Rico.
In 2003, the 81st RSC was reorganized as the 81st Regional Readiness Command (RRC) but retained essentially the same mission as its predecessor. In September 2008, the 81st RRC inactivated at Birmingham, Alabama. In its place, a reorganized 81st Regional Support Command (RSC) activated at Fort Jackson, South Carolina.
On October 1, 2018, the 81st RSC was reorganized as the 81st Readiness Division and designated to gain additional responsibilities from other Army Reserve Functional Commands in addition to the enduring Base Operations (BASOPS) mission.
After 9/11, the 81st successfully deployed more than 28,000 USAR Soldiers in the Global War on Terror.
Today the 81st RD provides the Army Reserve with “Ready Soldiers, Ready Facilities and Ready Equipment” through base operations, administrative support, and vehicle and equipment maintenance for over 50,000 Soldiers throughout nine southeastern states, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. This footprint covers 254 facilities, 45 maintenance shops, and a New Equipment Fielding Facility. All this supports essential capabilities for warfighting and civil homeland emergency response through Defense Support to Civil Authorities.
The 81st RD Soldiers still wear the original Wildcat patch, the Army’s first and oldest shoulder sleeve insignia.