The 1st Battalion, 67th Armor Regiment was originally constituted on 24 March 1923 in the
Regular Army as Company A, 19th Tank Battalion. It was redesignated on 1 September 1929 as Company A, 2d Tank Regiment. It converted and was redesignated 25 October 1932 as Company A, 67th Infantry (Medium Tanks). The unit activated on 5 June 1940 at
Fort Benning,
Georgia. The unit converted and was redesignated on 15 July 1940 as Company A, 67th Armored Regiment, an element of the
2nd Armored Division. It was reorganized and redesignated on 25 March 1946 as Company D, 6th Tank Battalion, and remained an element of the 2d Armored Division. It was redesignated on 31 January 1949 as Company D, 6th Medium Tank Battalion (the 6th Medium Tank Battalion relieved 14 July 1950 from assignment to the 2d Armored Division and reassigned 29 October 1950 to the
24th Infantry Division). It disbanded on 10 November 1951 in Korea. The company reconstituted on 3 December 1954 in the Regular Army as Company D, 6th Tank Battalion, an element of the 24th Infantry Division, and activated on 22 December 1954 in Japan. It was relieved on 1 July 1957 from assignment to the 24th Infantry Division, and concurrently reorganized and redesignated as
Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1st Medium Tank Battalion, 67th Armor, and assigned to the 2d Armored Division (with its organic elements concurrently constituted and activated). The unit was reorganized and redesignated on 1 July 1963 as the 1st Battalion, 67th Armor. It was relieved on 21 May 1991 from assignment to the 2d Armored Division and assigned to the
1st Cavalry Division. It was relieved on 16 December 1992 from assignment to the 1st Cavalry Division and reassigned to the 2d Armored Division. The 1st Battalion was relieved on 16 January 1996 from assignment to the 2d Armored Division and assigned to the
4th Infantry Division. Members of the
Mahdi Army ambushed D Company's 2nd Platoon, led by LT Ryan Kelley, in Musayyib. As the patrol fought its way out of the center of the city under heavy machine gun, rifle, and
RPG fire, the battalion gathered combat power and moved from multiple locations to counter-attack into the city. Once the ambushed patrol made it out of the city, the battalion counter-attacked the Mahdi Army to seize the main mosque in Musayyib. Delta Company, led by CPT Irvin Oliver, 1–67 Armor led the battalion counterattack into the city on the east side of the
Euphrates river while Alpha Company, led by CPT Bradley Maryoka, with a section from Delta Company, attacked in support from the west side of the Euphrates. Bravo Company, led by the Company Executive Officer, CPT Barry Wiley, followed Delta on the eastern side of the river and attacked into the center of the city along an axis west of Delta's advance. The Battalion TAC, with LTC Patrick Donahoe, the battalion commander, and CSM Earnest Barnett, the battalion command sergeant major, moved to the Tahir Iraqi Police Station west of the Route Cleveland bridge over the Euphrates where Iraqi Police Commanding General, General Qais joined the battalion commander. The 2nd Brigade/4th ID Commander, COL John Tully, also moved to the Tahir Iraqi Police Station. General Qais brought the highly trained Iraqi Police unit, "Hillah SWAT" with him and employed them with 1–67 AR specifically to clear the mosque at the center of Musayyib. Elements of the Iraqi 2nd Battalion, 4th Brigade, 8th Iraqi Division joined in the attack, successfully seizing the mosque and killing 33 militiamen. 1–67 Armor suffered no casualties, but 2/4/8 Iraqi Army had one soldier killed by enemy fire. The fight lasted over 8 hours. After the end of the fighting the battalion commander met with the city's leadership at the District Council building in Mussayib, including Themar Theban, the political leader of the Office of the Martyr Sadr. In 2011, 1-67 Armor deployed in support of Operation Enduring Freedom XI. The Death Dealer Battalion was deployed from May 2011 until April 2012. During that tour, the Death Dealers focused on improving security, governance and development in the Arghandab River Valley in RC-South, Afghanistan. After 1-67 AR's redeployment from Afghanistan, the unit quickly reset and retrained and in October 2013, deployed to Kuwait in Support of Operation Spartan Shield. The majority of the battalion served in direct support of
Operation Enduring Freedom. 2nd Brigade, 4th Infantry Division was deactivated on 15 January 2015. 1-67 AR was the only battalion to be reactivated from 2nd Brigade/4ID. 1-67 Armor officially stood up on 1 May 2015 at
Fort Bliss,
Texas under 3rd Brigade, 1st Armored Division. On 1 June 2015, 1-67 Armor was reactivated under 3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division, Fort Bliss, Texas. From October 2015 to April 2016, the Death Dealers went through a rigorous training program to prepare them for a National Training Center rotation (NTC 16-05) and subsequent deployment in support of Operation Spartan Shield. In June 2016, 1-67 Armor deployed to Kuwait in support of Operation Spartan Shield. The Death Dealers sent elements forward to Iraq in support of Operation Inherent Resolve. This element was tasked with advising, assisting and enabling the 9th Iraqi Army Division to recapture territory in Northern Iraq that was previously lost to ISIL. Over the course of 9 months elements of 1-67 Armor contributed to the clearance of over 250 km2 of the
Saladin Governorate and participated in the
Mosul Offensive. Simultaneously, while elements of the Death Dealer Battalion were involved in the
Mosul Offensive, the unit's rifle company aptly named "Commando" deployed in support of
Operation Freedom's Sentinel was called upon by the
101st Airborne Division's 3rd Brigade Combat Team "
Rakkasans", to secure regions of
Afghanistan that had not seen U.S. Forces in almost 4 years. The company spent an unprecedented 46 days working alongside
Special Operations Forces from the
United States,
Poland, and
Romania and the
Texas Army National Guard as a part of Task Force "Rak Solid" in the Uruzgan Province, securing a small airstrip just outside of the remote village of
Tarin Kot, 120 kilometers away from the nearest base, while tasked as part of an Expeditionary Advisor Package. Most recently, 1-67 Armor deployed to
EUCOM in support of Operation European Assure, Deter and Reinforce to counter Russian Agression. ==3rd Battalion, 67th Armor==