XVIII Airborne Corps (United States)

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U.S. XVIII Airborne Corps
XVIII Airborne Corps Shoulder Insignia
Active	1942-01-17 as II Armored Corps 1943-10-09 - 1945-10-15 1951-05-21 - Present
Country	United States
Branch	Regular Army
Type	Field Army
Size	~88,000 personnel
Garrison/HQ	Fort Bragg, North Carolina
Motto	Sky Dragons
Battles/wars	World War II Operation Desert Shield Operation Enduring Freedom Operation Iraqi Freedom
Commanders
Current commander	Lieutenant General Lloyd J. Austin III

XVIII ABC Distinctive Unit insignia

XVIII ABC Beret Flash

XVIII ABC Background Trim

The XVIII Airborne Corps is the corps of the United States Army designed for rapid deployment anywhere in the world. It is referred to as "America's Contingency Corps" and is the Army's largest warfighting organization. As of 2004, it consists of approximately 88,000 soldiers in four divisions. Its headquarters are at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.

1 History
2 General Information
3 References
4 External links

[edit] History

[edit] World War II

The corps was first activated as the II Armored Corps at Camp Polk in Louisiana, January 1, 1942, then redesignated as XVIII Corps October 9, 1943, and became the XVIII Airborne Corps on August 25, 1944, assuming command of the 82nd and 101st Airborne divisions, as part of the preparation for Operation Market Garden. Major General Matthew B. Ridgway commanded the corps, which then consisted of the 82d Airborne Division and the 101st Airborne Division and was part of the First Allied Airborne Army. Following the Battle of the Bulge, all airborne units in the U.S. Army fell under the command of the corps. XVIII Airborne Corps participated in Operation Varsity, the crossing of the Rhine river into Germany. It was one of the largest airborne operations in World War II, including the 17th Airborne Division and the British 6th Airborne Division. The 82nd Airborne Division was to participate in the assault, however due to a lack of a sufficient number of transports, it was unable to take part. The XVIII Airborne Corps returned to the U.S. in June 1945 and deactivated on October 15th 1945 at Camp Campbell, Kentucky.

[edit] Post WWII

The Corps was reactivated at Fort Bragg on May 21st 1951, under the command of MG John W. Leonard. Since then, the Corps has been the primary strategic response force, with subordinate units participating in over a dozen major operations (Listed Below) in both combat and humanitarian roles, primarily in Central America and the CENTCOM area of responsibility. XVIII Airborne Corps most recently returned, in January 2006, from a year-long deployment to Baghdad, Iraq, where it served as the Multi-National-Corps-Iraq.

[edit] 21st century

Main article: Transformation of the United States Army

Under the current Army Chief of Staff's future restructure of the Army, the corps headquarters of the XVIII Airborne Corps will lose its Airborne (specifically parachute) certification as a cost-cutting measure—the same will occur to the divisional headquarters of 82nd Airborne Division. This plan is designed to follow the U.S. Army's restructuring plan to go from being division-based to a brigade-based. This will mean that the largest units that will be Airborne—specifically parachute certified—will be at the brigade level. Even so, for traditional and historical reasons, the formation will continue to be called the XVIII Airborne Corps.

The divisions that fall under the XVIII Airborne Corps (as well as the other two corps in the Army) are in a period of transition, shifting from corps control to fall directly under FORSCOM, eliminating the corps status as a middle man. This ties in with the Army's broad modularity plan, as a corps can deploy and support any unit, not just the units subordinate to the corps. The 3rd Infantry Division and the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) have already changed over to FORSCOM control. The 10th Mountain Division will transfer after the division returns from Afghanistan, as will the 82nd Airborne Division, following its deployment.