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It should be made clear that the lineages of the 159th Aviation Battalion (later Regiment) and the 159th Aviation Brigade (later 159th Combat Aviation Brigade) are entirely separate and the Department of the Army does not recognize the term "spiritual ancestor" in determining unit lineages. In 1997 the Aviation Brigade, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), larger than any other divisional aviation brigade, was split into two aviation brigades: the 101st and the 159th. They were the only numbered aviation brigades in the Army because this division had two. The division had wanted DA to give its second aviation brigade (159th) the lineage of the former 159th Aviation Battalion, but that already belonged to battalions of the 159th Aviation Regiment and the lineage could not be assigned to the new brigade. Nonetheless, the division decided to go with the number 159th, even though the unit had no history or lineage prior to this activation date. Members of the unit wore the distinctive unit insignia of the 159th Aviation Battalion/Regiment, which helped to promote the fiction that there was a lineage connection between the old 159th Aviation Battalion and the 159th Combat Aviation Brigade, but this was never true.VilePig (talk)
