The Fredericksburg unit traces its lineage and honors to 1858 and its service as a
militia unit in the
Army of Northern Virginia. In 1985, the 229th Engineer Battalion was formed, and units in the
battalion saw multiple overseas deployments to
Bosnia,
Iraq and
Afghanistan. Personnel from the 229th Engineer Battalion were also mobilized to provide security at the
Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport outside
Washington, D.C. in
Crystal City, Virginia, following the
September 11 attacks. The 229th was reorganized in 2005 as the Special Troops Battalion, 116th Brigade Combat Team in an Army-wide reorganization of brigades into
Brigade Combat Teams. "Troops Forward" became the unit's motto. The STB consisted of an HHC with platoons of
Infantry, Support (Medical, Food Service and Transportation), Chemical,
Military Police, Supply, Mechanics,
Cavalry, Logistics and Administration. There were three other companies in the Special Troops Battalion (Engineers, Military Intelligence and Signal). On 15 October 2016, the Special Troops Battalion became the 229th Brigade Engineer Battalion. The battalion's current structure has Company A, a combat engineer company; Company B, a combat engineer company specializing in route clearance; Company C, a signal company; Company D, a military intelligence company; and Company E, a support company providing sustainment support, including transportation, maintenance and food service. The 189th Engineer Company was reassigned from the
276th Engineer Battalion to the 116th in 2016 and became the core of Company B and the 189th designation was inactivated. The 189th was formerly a bridging unit, but has been reorganized as a combat engineer sapper company. ==References==