| 1st Cavalry Division[1] | |
|---|---|
1st Cavalry Division shoulder sleeve insignia |
|
| Active | 13 September 1921 – Present |
| Country | United States |
| Branch | Regular Army |
| Type | Heavy Division (Unit of Action) |
| Size | 16,700 soldiers |
| Part of | III Corps |
| Garrison/HQ | Fort Hood, Texas |
| Patron | St George |
| Motto | The First Team! |
| Colors | Black & Yellow |
| March | Garryowen |
| Mascot | Horse |
| Engagements | World War II Korean War Vietnam War Operation Desert Storm Global War on Terrorism Operation Iraqi Freedom Operation Enduring Freedom |
| Commanders | |
| Current commander |
Major General Daniel B. Allyn |
| Notable commanders |
Adna R. Chaffee, Jr. Walter C. Short Thomas L. Harrold Robert M. Shoemaker Wesley K. Clark George William Casey, Sr. Eric K. Shinseki |
| Insignia | |
| Distinctive Unit Insignia | |
| U.S. Cavalry Divisions | |
|---|---|
| Previous | Next |
| none | 2nd Cavalry Division |
The 1st Cavalry Division ("First Team"[2]) is one of the most famous and most decorated combat divisions of the United States Army.[3]
Presently, in its digitalized, modular, rapidly deployable 4 combat brigade configuration, it is the most powerful heavy armored division in the United States Army, with a spacious base of operations in Fort Hood, Texas.
Currently the 1st Cavalry Division is subordinate to Americas "Phantom" Corps III Corps and is commanded by Major General Daniel B. Allyn.
Contents |
Description: On a yellow triangular Norman shield with rounded corners 5.25 inches (133 mm) in height overall, a black diagonal stripe extending over the shield from upper left to lower right and in the upper right a black horse's head cut off diagonally at the neck all within a 0.125 inches (3.2 mm) green border.
Symbolism: Yellow, the traditional cavalry color, and the horse's head refer to the division's original cavalry structure. Black, symbolic of iron, alludes to the transition to tanks and armor. The black diagonal stripe represents a sword baldric and is a mark of military honor; it also implies movement "up the field" and thus symbolizes aggressive elan and attack. The one diagonal bend, as well as the one horse's head, also alludes to the division's numerical designation.
Background: The shoulder sleeve insignia was originally approved 3 January 1921 with several variations in colors of the bend and horse's head to reflect the subordinate elements of the division. The current design was authorized for wear by all subordinate elements of the division on 11 December 1934 and previous authorization for the variations was canceled. The insignia is worn subdued on field uniforms after experience in Vietnam where the gold was too conspicuous. Normally the gold is changed to the base color of the uniform to subdue it.
Description: A metal and enameled device, 1 inch in height overall, consisting of a gold colored Norman shield with a black horse's head couped in sinister chief, and a black bend charged with two five-pointed stars. Properly: Or, on a bend sable two stars of five points Or, in chief sinister a sable couped horse head, a border vert.
Symbolism: The device is a miniature reproduction of the 1st Cavalry Division's shoulder sleeve insignia with the addition of two five-pointed stars. The Division Commander and the Division Staff wore the distinctive insignia design from 1922 to 1934 as a shoulder sleeve insignia.
Background: The distinctive unit insignia was approved 25 August 1965.
The history of the 1st Cavalry Division began in 1921 after the Army established a permanent cavalry division Table of Organization & Equipment on 4 April 1921. It authorized a Square Division organization of 7,463 Officers and Men, organized as follows:
On 20 August 1921, the War Department Adjutant General constituted the 1st and 2d Cavalry Divisions to meet partial mobilization requirements, and authorized the establishment of the 1st Cavalry Division under the new TO&E on 31 August 1921. Since 1st Cavalry Division was to assemble from existing units, it was able to go active in September, 1921, even though the subordinate units did not arrive at their assigned stations completely until as late as 1922.
1st Cavalry Division was assigned to the VIII Corps Area, with its Division Headquarters and 2d Brigade located at Fort Bliss, Texas, and the 1st Brigade at Douglas, Arizona. The Headquarters facilities used by 1st Cavalry Division were those previously vacated by 8th United States Brigade when it was commanded by MG John J. Pershing in 1916, and the wartime 15th Cavalry Division, which had existed at Fort Bliss between 10 December 1917 and 12 May 1918.
Headquarters, 2nd Cavalry Brigade, had existed at Fort Bliss since 10 December 1917, when it was part of the wartime 15th Cavalry Division. Headquarters, 2nd Cavalry Brigade was deactivated in July 1919, and was reactivated at Fort Bliss on 31 August 1920.
Headquarters, 1st Cavalry Brigade had previously existed at Fort Sam Houston, but their quarters had been vacated when 1st Cavalry Brigade deactivated in July 1919. These facilities passed to the 2nd Infantry Division when they returned from France. 1st Cavalry Brigade was reactivated on 31 August 1920 at Douglas, Arizona, occupying the facilities left vacant when Headquarters, 3rd Cavalry Brigade was deactivated in July, 1919.
First Cavalry Division’s Troop List was slowly assembled. The 1st, 7th, and 8th Cavalry Regiments had previously been assigned to the wartime 15th Cavalry Division until they were returned to the VIII Corps Area Troop List on 12 May 1918. 1st Cavalry Regiment remained so assigned until it was transferred to 1st Cavalry Division on 20 August 1921. The 7th, 8th, and 10th Cavalry Regiments were transferred on 13 September 1921, although the assignment of the 10th Cavalry Regiment to the 1st Cavalry Division was controversial because the transfer violated the Jim Crow laws. This controversy continued until 18 December 1922, when the 5th Cavalry Regiment, then on the VIII Corps Area Troop List, swapped places with the 10th Cavalry Regiment on the 1st Cavalry Division Troop List.
The 1st Cavalry Division illustrated all of the aspects of the Army's dilemma between realism and idealism. In 1923 the 1st Cavalry Division held division maneuvers for the first time, intending to hold them annually thereafter. However, financial constraints made that impossible. Only in 1927, through the generosity of a few ranchers who provided free land, was the division able to conduct such exercises again.
In 1928 Maj. Gen. Herbert B. Crosby, Chief of Cavalry, faced with personnel cuts in his arm, reorganized the cavalry regiments, which in turn reduced the size of the 1st Cavalry Division. Crosby's goal was to decrease overhead while maintaining or increasing firepower in the regiment. After the reorganization each cavalry regiment consisted of a headquarters and headquarters troop; a machine gun troop; a Medical and Chaplain Element; and two squadrons, each with a Headquarters Element; and two Line troops. The cavalry brigades' machine gun squadrons were inactivated, while the responsibility for training and employing machine guns fell to the regimental commanders, as in the infantry.
About the same time that Crosby cut the cavalry regiment, the Army Staff, seeking to increase the usefulness of the wartime cavalry division, published new tables of organization for an even larger unit. The new structure summarized changes made in the division since 1921, which involved increasing the size of the signal troop (177), expanding the medical unit to a squadron (233), and endorsing Crosby's movement of the machine gun units from the brigades to the regiments (2X176). A divisional aviation section, an armored car squadron (278), and tank company (155) were added, and the field artillery battalion was expanded to a regiment (1,717). Divisional strength rose to 9,595. Although the new tables had little impact on the peacetime cavalry structure, the 1st Cavalry Division did eventually receive one troop of an experimental armored car squadron, and a field artillery regiment replaced its field artillery battalion.
With the arrival of the 1930s, serious work started on the testing and refining of new equipment and TO&Es for a mechanized and motorized Army. To facilitate this, 1st Cavalry Division traded 1st Cavalry Regiment for 12th Cavalry Regiment on 3 January 1933.
Taking into account recommendations from the VIII Corps Area, the Army War College, and the Command and General Staff School, the board developed a new smaller triangular cavalry division, which the 1st Cavalry Division evaluated during maneuvers at Toyahvale, Texas, in 1938. Like the 1937 infantry division test, the maneuvers concentrated on the divisional cavalry regiments around which all other units were to be organized.
Following the test, a board of 1st Cavalry Division officers, headed by Brig. Gen. Kenyon A. Joyce, rejected the three-regiment division and recommended retention of the two-brigade (four-regiment) organization. The latter configuration allowed the division to deploy easily in two columns, which was accepted standard cavalry tactics. However, the board advocated reorganizing the cavalry regiment along triangular lines, which would give it a headquarters and headquarters troop, a machine gun squadron with special weapons and machine gun troops, and three rifle squadrons, each with one machine gun and three rifle troops. No significant change was made in the field artillery, but the test showed that the engineer element should remain a squadron to provide the divisional elements greater mobility on the battlefield and that the special troops idea should be extended to include the division headquarters, signal, and ordnance troops; quartermaster, medical, engineer, reconnaissance, and observation squadrons; and a chemical warfare detachment. One headquarters would assume responsibility for the administration and disciplinary control for these forces.
Although the study did not lead to a general reorganization of the cavalry division, the wartime cavalry regiment was restructured, effective 1 December 1938, to consist of a headquarters and headquarters troop, machine gun and special weapons troops, and three squadrons of three rifle troops each. The special troops remained as structured in 1928, and no observation squadron or chemical detachment found a place in the division. With the paper changes in the cavalry divisions and other minor adjustments, the strength of a wartime divisional rose to 10,680.
In order to prepare for war service, 1st Cavalry Division participated in the following maneuvers:
With the attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941, the “great laboratory” phase for developing and testing organizations, about which Marshall wrote in the summer of 1941, closed, but the War Department still had not developed ideal infantry, cavalry, armored, and motorized divisions. In 1942 it again revised the divisions based on experiences gained during the great GHQ maneuvers of the previous year. As in the past, the reorganizations ranged from minor adjustments to wholesale changes.
1st Cavalry Division retained its square configuration after the 1941 maneuvers, but with modifications. The division lost its antitank troop, the brigades their weapons troops, and the regiments their machine gun and special weapons troops. These changes brought no decrease in divisional firepower, but placed most weapons within the cavalry troops. The number of .50-caliber machine guns was increased almost threefold. In the reconnaissance squadron, the motorcycle and armored car troops were eliminated, leaving the squadron with one support troop and three reconnaissance troops equipped with light tanks. These changes increased the division from 11,676 to 12,112 officers and enlisted men.
The last of the 1st Cavalry Division's mounted units permanently retired their horses and converted to infantry formations on 28 February 1943. However, a mounted Special Ceremonial Unit known as the Horse Platoon – later, the Horse Cavalry Detachment – was established within the division in January 1972. Its ongoing purpose is to represent the traditions and heritage of the American horse cavalry at military ceremonies and public events.[4]
The Division shipped out equipped as an Augmented Light Infantry Division. 1st Cavalry Division reported for its Port Call at Camp Stoneman, CA as follows:
| Unit | Staged | Departed | Arrived |
|---|---|---|---|
| HHT, 1st Cavalry Division | 21 June 1943 | 26 June | 11 July |
| HHT, 1st Cavalry Brigade | 21 June 1943 | 3 July | 24 July |
| HHT, 2nd Cavalry Brigade | 18 June 1943 | 26 June | 11 July |
| 5th Cavalry Regiment | 20 June 1943 | 2 July | 24 July |
| 7th Cavalry Regiment | 18 June 1943 | 26 June | 11 July |
| 8th Cavalry Regiment | 18 June 1943 | 26 June | 11 July |
| 12th Cavalry Regiment | 20 June 1943 | 3 July | 24 July |
| HHB, Division Artillery | |||
| 61st Field Artillery Battalion | 3 July 1943 | 24 July | |
| 82nd Field Artillery Battalion | 4 June 1943 | 23 June | |
| 99th Field Artillery Battalion | 23 May 1943 | 23 June | |
| 8th Engineer Squadron | 23 May 1943 | 18 June | |
| 1st Medical Squadron | |||
| 16th Quartermaster Squadron | |||
| 7th Cavalry Recon Squadron | 26 June 1943 | 11 July | |
| 1st Antitank Troop | |||
| 1st Signal Troop |
The 1st Cavalry Division arrived in Australia as shown above, continued its training at Strathpine, Queensland, until 26 July, then moved to New Guinea to stage for the Admiralties' campaign 22–27 February 1944. The Division saw its first combat in the Admiralty Islands, units landing at Los Negros on 29 February 1944. Momote airstrip was secured against great odds. Attacks by fanatical Japanese were thrown back, and the enemy force surrounded by the end of March. Nearby islands were taken in April and May. The Division next took part in the invasion of Leyte, 20 October 1944, captured Tacloban and the adjacent airstrip, advanced along the north coast, and secured Leyte Valley, elements landing on and securing Samar Island. Moving down Ormoc Valley (in Leyte) and across the Ormoc plain, the Division reached the west coast of Leyte 1 January 1945. The Division then invaded Luzon, landing in the Lingayen Gulf area 27 January 1945, and fought its way as a "flying column" to Manila by 3 February 1945. More than 3,000 civilian prisoners at the University of Santo Tomas, including more than 60 US Army nurses (some of the "Angels of Bataan and Corregidor") were liberated,[5] and the 1st Cavalry then advanced east of Manila by the middle of February before the city was cleared. On 20 February the Division was assigned the mission of seizing and securing crossings over the Marikina River and securing the Tagaytay-Antipolo Line. After being relieved 12 March in the Antipolo area, elements pushed south into Batangas and provinces of Bicol Region. They mopped up remaining pockets of resistance in these areas in small unit actions. Resistance was officially declared at an end 1 July 1945. The Division left Luzon 25 August 1945 for occupation duty in Japan, arriving in Yokohama 2 September 1945 and entering Tokyo 8 September, the first United States Division to enter the Japanese capital.
Occupation duty in Japan followed for the next five years.
In the summer of 1950, North Korea attacked South Korea, and the 1st Cavalry Division was rushed to Korea to help shore up the Pusan Perimeter. After the X Corps attack at Incheon, a breakout operation was launched at the Pusan Perimeter. The 1st Cavalry Division remained in the line until it was relieved by the 45th Infantry Division from the United States Army National Guard in January 1952. Following the relief, the division returned to Japan. 1957 saw the division back in Korea, where it remained until 1965.
During the Korean War, there were disparaging rumors about the 1st Cavalry Division's fighting abilities, including a folk song of the time called "The Bug-Out Ballad."[6] It was also rumored that the series of engagements that gave rise to the song were due (at least partly) of the myth that the Division lost its unit colors.[7] Other Army and Marine units disparagingly described the division shoulder insignia as representing 'The horse they never rode, the river they never crossed, and the yellow speaks for itself'. Another version goes: "The shield they never carried, the horse they never rode, the bridge they never crossed, the line they never held, and the yellow is the reason why." The incident that apparently gave rise to this false rumor appears to be the Unsan Engagement which took place on 1 and 2 November 1950 at Unsan, Korea. In that battle, the 8th Cavalry, a component of the 1st Cavalry Division, was pushed back from positions in and around the town of Unsan by vastly superior Chinese forces. The regiment was severely battered, suffering heavy casualties and losing a considerable amount of equipment. This was one of the first major Chinese operations in the Korean War and, like the Changjin (Chosin) Reservoir Battle of this same period, it took the United Nations Command by surprise. Considering the circumstances, the 8th Cavalry fought very well, and it has never been criticized for its conduct in this operation.[7]
On 28 October 1950, Gen. Walker relieved the 1st Cavalry Division of its security mission in P’yongyang. The division’s new orders were to pass through the ROK 1st Division’s lines at Unsan and attack toward the Yalu River. Leading the way on the twenty-ninth, the 8th Cavalry departed P’yongyang and reached Yongsan-dong that evening. The 5th Cavalry arrived the next morning, with the mission to protect the 8th Cavalry’s rear. With the arrival of the 8th Cavalry at Unsan on the thirty-first, the ROK 1st Division redeployed to positions northeast, east, and southeast of Unsan; the 8th Cavalry took up positions north, west, and south of the town. Meanwhile, the ROK 15th Regiment was desperately trying to hold its position east of the 8th Cavalry, across the Samt’an River.
During the afternoon of 1 November the Chinese force’s attack north of Unsan gained strength against the ROK 15th Regiment and gradually extended to the right flank of the 1st Battalion, 8th Cavalry. At nightfall the 1st Battalion controlled the northern approaches to the Samt’an River, except for portions of the ROK 15th Regiment’s zone on the east side. The battalion’s position on the left was weak; there were not enough soldiers to extend the defensive line to the main ridge leading into Unsan. This left a gap between the 1st and 2d Battalions. East of the Samt’an the ROK 15th Regiment was under heavy attack, and shortly after midnight it no longer existed as a combat force.
The ordeal of the 8th Cavalry now began. At 1930 on 1 November the Chinese attacked the 1st Battalion, 8th Cavalry, all along its line. At 2100 Chinese troops found the weak link in the ridgeline and began moving through it and down the ridge behind the 2d Battalion, penetrating its right flank and encircling its left. Now both the 1st and 2d Battalions were engaged by the enemy on several sides. Around midnight the 8th Cavalry received orders to withdraw southward to Ipsok.
As of 0130 on 2 November there were no reports of enemy activity in the 3d Battalion’s sector south of Unsan. But as the 8th Cavalry withdrew, all three battalions became trapped by Chinese roadblocks south of Unsan during the early morning hours. Members of the 1st Battalion who were able to escape reached the Ipsok area. A head count showed that the battalion had lost about 15 officers and 250 enlisted men. Members of the 2d Battalion, for the most part, scattered into the hills. Many of them reached the ROK lines near Ipsok. Others met up with the 3d Battalion, the hardest hit. Around 0300 the Chinese launched a surprise attack on the battalion command post. Hand-to-hand fighting ensued for about half an hour before the enemy was driven from the area. The disorganized members of the 3d Battalion formed a core of resistance around three tanks on the valley floor and held off the enemy until daylight. By that time only 6 officers and 200 enlisted men were still able to function. More than 170 were wounded, and there was no account of the number dead or missing. Attempts by the 5th Cavalry to relieve the beleaguered battalion were unsuccessful, and the 3d Battalion, 8th Cavalry, soon ceased to exist as an organized force.
The enemy force that brought tragedy to the 8th Cavalry at Unsan was the Chinese 116th Division. Elements of the 116th’s 347th Regiment were responsible for the roadblock south of Unsan. Also engaged in the Unsan action was the Chinese 115th Division.
The division next saw combat during the Vietnam War. No longer a conventional infantry unit, the division had become an air assault division as the 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile), commonly referred to as the 1st Air Cavalry Division, using helicopters as troop carriers. In 1965 colors and subordinate unit designations of the 1st Cavalry Division were transferred from Korea to Ft. Benning, Georgia, where they were used to reflag the existing the 2nd Infantry Division and the 11th Air Assault Division (Test), which were merged into single unit with the designation of 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile). Concurrently, the colors and subordinate unit designations of the 2nd Infantry Division were transferred to Korea to reflag what had been the 1st Cavalry Division. Shortly thereafter, the 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile) began deploying to Camp Radcliffe, An Khe, Vietnam. The division, along with the 101st Airborne Division, perfected new tactics and doctrine for helicopter-borne assaults over the next five years in Vietnam. All aircraft carried insignia to indicate their battalion and company.[8]
The Division was equipped with the M16 rifle, the UH-1 troop carrier helicopter, the AH-1 attack helicopter, and the CH-47 Chinook cargo helicopter.
The unit's first major operation was the Pleiku Campaign. During this action, the division conducted 35 days of continuous airmobile operations. The opening battle, the Battle of Ia Drang Valley, was described in the book We Were Soldiers Once...And Young which was also the basis of the subsequent Mel Gibson film We Were Soldiers. The unit also earned the first Presidential Unit Citation (US) presented to a division during the Vietnam War.
Most of 1967 was spent in Operation Pershing. This was a large scale search of areas in II Corps which saw 5,400 enemy killed and 2,000 captured. The division re-deployed to Camp Evans, north of Hue in the I Corps Tactical Zone, during the 1968 Tet Offensive, involved in recapturing Quang Tri and Hue. After intense fighting in Hue, the division then moved to relieve Marine Corps units besieged at the Khe Sanh combat base (Operation Pegasus) in March 1968. The 1st Cavalry Division next conducted major clearing operations in the A Shau Valley from mid-April through mid-May, 1968. From May until September 1968 the division participated in local pacification and "MedCap" (Medical outreach programs to offer medical support to the Vietnamese local population) missions I Corps.
In the autumn of 1968, the 1st Cavalry Division relocated south to the III Corps Tactical Zone northwest of Saigon, adjacent to a Cambodian region commonly referred to as the "Parrots Beak" due to its shape. In May, 1970, the division was among U.S. units participating in the Cambodian Incursion, withdrawing from Cambodia on 29 June. The division thereafter took a defensive posture while the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Vietnam continued. The bulk of the division was withdrawn on 29 April 1971, but its 3rd Brigade was one of the final two major U.S. ground combat units in Vietnam, departing 29 June 1972. Its 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry, as the main unit of Task Force Garryowen, remained another two months.
In the aftermath of Vietnam, the 1st Cavalry Division was converted from the air-mobile light infantry role into a triple capabilities or TRICAP division. The unit received an infusion of mechanized infantry and artillery, in order to make it capable of missions needing three types of troops; armored, air-mobility, and air cavalry. However, the TRICAP concept was short-lived and by 1975, the division was equipped as a 2 brigade armored division with its third brigade provided by the Mississippi Army National Guard's 155th Armored Brigade from 1984-1991.
The division participated in numerous REFORGER exercises, and was used to test new doctrinal concepts and equipment, including the XM-1 tank. The unit assignment and structure changed significantly, notably when 1/9 Cavalry, the division's most famous unit was removed from service. The 13th Signal Battalion fielded Mobile Subscriber Equipment (MSE) a secure digital communications system for Corps and below units. B company 13th Signal Battalion was first to provide MSE communications to SWA Theater of Operations 1990.
The 1st Cavalry next saw combat as a heavy division, during Operation Desert Storm[10] in January and February 1991. The 1st Cavalry Division deployed in October 1990 as part of VII Corps. The division's 'round-out' formation, the 155th Armored Brigade was not deployed in a surprise political decision. It was planned to augment the division by attaching the Tiger Brigade from the 2nd Armored Division, but that brigade was attached to the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force (1st & 2nd Marine Divisions) to add heavy armor support to that force. Consequently, the 1st Cavalry Division was assigned the role of the VII Corps' reserve for much of the ground war, but was crucial in the movement of ground forces to the Kuwaiti and west Saudi Arabian theaters by making two assaults into Iraqi held territory with the division's Black Jack Brigade moving north drawing Iraqi divisions out of Kuwait to support the Iraqi units defending in Iraq. This movement was led by the 1st Battalion, 5th Cavalry, from the Wadi Al-Batien to just north of Basra through several Iraqi Divisions before stopping. The assault by M-1 Abrams Main Battle Tanks , M-2 Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicles, and other support vehicles moved much faster than was thought possible, catching the Iraqi Army totally off guard.
The 13th Signal Battalion was the first unit in the U.S. Army to deploy Mobile Subscriber Equipment (MSE) into combat. Installing, operating, and maintaining communications equipment to support a vast communications network spanning over 280 kilometers, the 13th Signal Battalion again met the challenge of providing the division's communications.
After the Division returned from Kuwait, the 1st "Tiger" Brigade, 2nd Armored Division was reflagged into the 3rd Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division.
In response to the continued hostile movements and actions of the Iraqi military after Desert Storm, the United States Military began deployment rotations for active combat brigades and special forces units to Iraq/Kuwait border.
The 1st Cavalry's 3 brigades contributed heavily to the decade long deployments from 1992-2002.
The 1st Cavalry Division took control of "peace keeping" operations in the former Yugoslavia with approximately 6,900 personel on June 20, 1998. 1st Brigade served for Rotation SFOR 4. 2nd Brigade served for Rotation SFOR 5. 2nd Brigade was alerted for action during the Russian move from Bosnia into the Pristina International Airport in June 1999, but no action was ultimately taken after consultation at the highest levels in NATO. In August 1999, the 10th Mountain Division took over operations in the Tuzla/Multinational Division North area.
The division as a whole did not participate in the 2003 invasion of Iraq, but some units were deployed and participated in the initial invasion of Iraq.[11] The division in its entirety deployed to Iraq in January 2004, sending an initial detachment of the 9th Cavalry Regiment into combat in September 2003. The 1st Cavalry relieved the 1st Armored Division in Baghdad. Among its subordinate formations, it included Louisiana's 256th Infantry Brigade, Arkansas' 39th Infantry Brigade, elements of Washington's 81st Armored Brigade and the 2d Battalion, 162d Infantry (Oregon Army National Guard) during that rotation. After spending more than a year in Iraq, it redeployed back to the U.S. by April, 2005. It was relieved by the 3rd Infantry Division. Division Artillery (DIVARTY) was organized as the 5th BCT. It contained HHB, DIVARTY; 1–7 CAV; 1–8 CAV; 1–21 FA; and the 515th FSB (Provisional). The Division fought in many key battles against insurgents including the Second Battle of Fallujah in 2004, where the 2nd Brigade Combat Team engaged in fierce house to house intense urban combat to root out enemy cells waiting in the city.
During its deployment for OIF2:
The Division assumed duties as the Headquarters, Multi-National Division – Baghdad Nov 2006– Dec 2007
The Division assumed duties as the Headquarters, Multi-National Division – Baghdad Jan 2009– Jan 2010. The deployment was extended by 23 days past the one year mark.
Assets of the 1st Cavalry Division deployed to the Washington DC area shortly after the 09/11/2001 terror attacks.
11/2001 An advanced party of a Brigade Combat team of the 1st Cavalry Division was deployed to Iraq/Kuwait border as part of Operation Enduring Freedom.
On 12/15/2001, elements of the 1st Cavalry Division deployed to Bagram, Afghanistan for ongoing support of Operation Enduring Freedom.
The Division deployed to Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom and assumed command of Regional Command-East in May 2011 replacing the 101st Airborne Division.
On 15 July 2005 the 1st Cavalry Division transitioned to the Unit of Action modified table of organization and equipment (MTOE). No longer are battalion sized elements made up purely of armor and/or infantry battalions. Brigades are now composed of Combined Arms Battalions (CAB), meaning that every maneuver battalion combines Infantry, Armor and a supporting element, excluding the brigade reconnaissance squadrons.
It is the only division formed entirely of heavy brigade combat teams, and can be considered as the most powerful division in the army.
The division is supported by the 4th Sustainment Brigade at Fort Hood.
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| Conflict | Streamer | Year(s) |
|---|---|---|
| World War 2 |
New Guinea | 1943 |
| Bismarck Archipelago | 1943 | |
| Leyte with Arrowhead | 1944 | |
| Luzon | 1944 | |
| Korean War |
UN Defensive | 1950 |
| UN Offensive | 1950 | |
| CCF Intervention | 1950-1951 | |
| First UN Counteroffensive | 1951 | |
| CCF Spring Offensive | 1951 | |
| UN Summer-Fall Offensive | 1951 | |
| Second Korean Winter | 1951-1952 | |
| Vietnam War |
Defense | 1965 |
| Counteroffensive | 1965-1665 | |
| Counteroffensive, Phase II | 1966-1967 | |
| Counteroffensive, Phase III | 1967-1968 | |
| Tet Counteroffensive | 1968 | |
| Counteroffensive, Phase IV | 1968 | |
| Counteroffensive, Phase V | 1968 | |
| Counteroffensive, Phase VI | 1968-1969 | |
| Tet 69/Counteroffensive | 1969 | |
| Summer-Fall 1969 | 1969 | |
| Winter-Spring 1970 | 1969-1970 | |
| Sanctuary Counteroffensive | 1970 | |
| Counteroffensive, Phase VII | 1970-1971 | |
| Gulf War |
Defense of Saudi Arabia | 1991 |
| Liberation and Defense of Kuwait | 1991 | |
| Operation Iraqi Freedom |
Iraqi Governance | 2004 |
| National Resolution | 2005 | |
| Iraqi Surge | 2007 | |
| Iraqi Sovereignty | 2009 | |
| Operation Enduring Freedom |
Consolidation III | 2011 |
| Transition I | 2011-2012 |
| Ribbon | Award | Year | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Presidential Unit Citation (Army) | Pleiku Province | ||
| Valorous Unit Award (Army) | Fish Hook | ||
| Meritorious Unit Commendation (Army) | Southwest Asia | ||
| Philippine_Republic_Presidential_Unit_Citation | 1944-1945 | ||
| Republic of Korea Presidential Unit Citation (Army) | Waegwan-Taegu | ||
| Gold Cross of Valour (Greece) | 1955 | Korea | |
| Republic of Vietnam Cross of Gallantry, with Palm | 1965-1969 | For service in Vietnam | |
| Republic of Vietnam Cross of Gallantry, with Palm | 1969-1970 | For service in Vietnam | |
| Republic of Vietnam Cross of Gallantry, with Palm | 1970-1971 | For service in Vietnam | |
| Republic of Vietnam Civil Action Honor Medal, First Class | 1969–1970 | For service in Vietnam |