1st Battalion - 86th Field Artillery

The missions of the National Guard differ from the Army in that the National Guard typically supports three missions instead of one primary mission. The missions of the 1-86 FA are as follows. The Wartime Mission is to destroy, neutralize, or suppress the enemy by cannon, rocket, and missile fires and to help integrate all fire support assets into combined arms operations. The State Mission is to provide units/personnel trained and equipped for immediate deployment in support of natural disasters and civil disturbances within the State of Vermont as an aid to civil authorities. The Community Support Mission is to provide units/personnel in support of community events/activities.

The 1-86 FA is converting to the Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS) in 2003.

In late October and during November, guerrilla warfare was increasing in intensity behind the United Nations front lines in North Korea. Remnants of the North Korea People's Army retreating into North Korea from the Pusan Perimeter and, to a lesser degree, miscellaneous guerrillas carried on this action. On the night of 6-7 November 1950, an estimated 500 North Koreans attacked the camp of the 86th Field Artillery Battalion. There the North Koreans penetrated the battalion positions and by mortar fire destroyed six 155-mm. howitzers and the battalion trains containing all the ammunition supply, inflicting about 40 casualties. The enemy withdrew after daylight. Aerial observers later discovered an estimated 2,000 enemy troops moving on secondary roads into the mountains northwest of Yonghung.