Century of Service: 85th Infantry Division

A discussion about the history of the U.S. Army's 85th Infantry Division with the Division's Chief of Staff LTC Daniel Jaquint and Command Public Affairs Specialist MSG Anthony Taylor. Presented in partnership with U.S. Army Office of Public Affairs Midwest.

The 85th Infantry Division was first activated on August 25, 1917, at Camp Custer, Michigan. Nicknamed the "Custer Division" after the cavalry commander George Armstrong Custer, the division was comprised of the 169th and 170th Infantry Brigades and the 160th Field Artillery Brigade. The division trained for a year before deployment in England in WWI, where the division was broken up to support other units as part of the American Expeditionary Forces.

The 85th was reactivated in 1942 during WWII and again in 1947 in Chicago, Illinois in the U.S. Army Reserve. Today, the 85th USAR Support Command can trace its lineage to the original 85th Infantry Division. 

LIEUTENANT COLONEL (P) DANIEL J. JAQUINT is a native of Syracuse, New York; he graduated from the University of Iowa in 1990 and received his commission as a Second Lieutenant in the Field Artillery. His first assignment was as Company Fire Support Officer with B-Co, Task Force 3/77 AR where he deployed to Saudi Arabia and Kuwait in support of Operation Desert Storm. He then served as a Battery Fire Direction Officer, Firing Battery Platoon Leader and Battery Executive Officer with 2/29 FA in Baumholder, Germany. After completing the Advanced Course, as an Honor Graduate, he served as the Assistant S-3 for the 212th FA BDE at Ft. Sill, OK. Upon transition the Reserve component he was assigned as the S-3 Air for the 1/131 IN (Illinois Army National Guard). In the Reserve Component, he served in a number of wide-ranging assignments to include: Operations Officer, Far East District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Seoul, Korea; and Observer Controller/Trainer with the 75th Great Lakes Division-Mission Command. In 2012 he deployed to Kabul, Afghanistan and served as the Officer in Change, Counter-IED and Senior Military Advisor to the Afghan National Police Counter-IED Directorate in support of the NATO Training Mission-Afghanistan. Upon returning from Operation Enduring Freedom he served as G-3 Plans Officer for the 85th Support Command in Arlington Heights, IL. From 2014 – 2016 LTC Jaquint commanded the 1-383rd CS/CSS (Training Support) in Des Moines, IA under the operational control of the 181st IN BDE, 1st Army, Division. His current assignment is Chief of Staff, 85th Army Reserve Support Command, Arlington Heights, IL

MASTER SERGEANT ANTHONY TAYLOR serves as the Command Public Affairs Specialist for the U.S. Army Reserve’s 85th Support Command, headquartered in Arlington Heights, Illinois. He oversees the command’s Community Relations program, Command Internal information and News Media Relations. He is the (public affairs) principal staff assistant and advisor to the commanding general of the 85th Support Command, an organization of approximately 3,500 personnel that provides mission ready Soldiers ahead of pre and post deployment preparation.

He additionally serves as a U.S. Army public affairs Master Sergeant, with more than 20 years of service, in the U.S. Army Reserve, and is currently assigned to First Army headquarters at Rock Island Arsenal. He served on a deployment, in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom, in 2009 assigned to U.S. Army Central Command as a public affairs operations sergeant and has worked in support of various overseas missions throughout South Korea, Kuwait, Iraq, Tajikistan, Qatar, Bahrain, and Germany.