Early history The history of the 1st Cavalry Division began in 1921, after the Army established a permanent cavalry division
table of organization and equipment on 4 April 1921. It authorized a
square division organization of 7,463 officers and men, organized as follows: • Headquarters Element (34 men) • Two Cavalry Brigades (2,803 men each) • Field Artillery Battalion (790 men) • Engineer Battalion (357 men) • Division
Quartermaster Trains Command (276 men) • Special Troops Command (337 men) • Ambulance Company (63 men) , Texas, 2005. On 20 August 1921, the
War Department constituted the 1st and
2nd Cavalry Divisions in the
Regular Army to meet partial mobilization requirements, authorizing the establishment of the 1st Cavalry Division under the new
TO&E on 31 August 1921. Since the 1st Cavalry Division was to be organized from existing units, the division headquarters was activated on 13 September 1921, even though all of the division's subordinate units did not arrive until 1922. The 1st Cavalry Division was allotted to the Eighth
Corps Area and assigned to the
Third Army. The division headquarters and 2nd Cavalry Brigade were located at
Fort Bliss, Texas, while the 1st Cavalry Brigade was stationed at
Camp Harry J. Jones in
Douglas, Arizona. The headquarters facilities used by the 1st Cavalry Division were those previously vacated by the 8th 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. The 1st, 7th, and
8th Cavalry Regiments had previously been assigned to the wartime
15th Cavalry Division until they were returned to the Eighth Corps Area troop list on 12 May 1918. The 1st Cavalry Regiment remained assigned until it was transferred to the 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. 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 Major General
Herbert B. Crosby, Chief of Cavalry, faced with personnel cuts, 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 regiments. 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. At about the same time, Crosby cut the cavalry regiment, and 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 increased the size of the signal troop (177), expanded the medical unit to a squadron (233), and endorsed 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 a tank company (155) were added, the
field artillery battalion was expanded to a regiment (1,717), and divisional strength rose to 9,595.
Prelude to World War II 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, the 1st Cavalry Division traded the 1st Cavalry Regiment, which was in the process of being reorganized as a separate mechanized unit, for the 12th Cavalry Regiment from the 2nd Cavalry Division 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
Brigadier General 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 as 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 engineering 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 of 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: • Toyahvale, TX Maneuvers – 7 October through 30 October 1939. • Cravens-Pitkin
Louisiana Maneuvers – 13 August through 24 August 1940. • Second 3rd Army
Louisiana Maneuvers – 10 August through 4 October 1941. • VIII Corps
Louisiana Maneuvers near Mansfield, LA – 27 July 1942 – 21 September 1942.
World War II Composition The division was composed of the following units: • 1st Cavalry Brigade • 5th Cavalry Regiment • 12th Cavalry Regiment • 2nd Cavalry Brigade • 7th Cavalry Regiment • 8th Cavalry Regiment • 1st Cavalry Division Artillery • 61st Field Artillery Battalion • 82nd Field Artillery Battalion • 99th Field Artillery Battalion • 271st Field Artillery Battalion • 1st Medical Squadron • 8th Engineer Squadron • 16th Quartermaster Squadron • 1st Signal Troop • 27th Ordnance Company • 302nd Reconnaissance Troop • 603rd Medium Tank Company • 801st CIC Detachment • Headquarters Troop
Training . 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. 1st Cavalry Division reported for its port call at Camp Stoneman, CA as follows:
Combat chronicle Although originally part of the III Corps (which eventually participated in the
European Theater), while training in the United States, most of 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 experienced 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 the
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, on 20 October 1944, captured
Tacloban and the adjacent airstrip, advanced along the north coast, and secured Leyte Valley, with 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 on 1 January 1945. The division then invaded
Luzon, landing in the
Lingayen Gulf area on 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, 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 on 12 March in the Antipolo area during the middle of the
Battle of Wawa Dam, elements pushed south into
Batangas and provinces of the
Bicol Region together with recognized guerrillas. They mopped up the remaining pockets of resistance in these areas in small unit actions. Resistance was officially declared at an end on 1 July 1945.
Casualties •
Total battle casualties: 4,055 •
Killed in action: 734 Following the battle, there were disparaging rumors about the 1st Cavalry Division's fighting abilities, including a folk song of the time called "The Bug-Out Ballad". The series of engagements that were rumored to have given rise to the song were due (at least partly) to the myth that the division lost its
unit colors. 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." •
Korean War casualties • 3,811 killed in action • 12,086 wounded in action • Korean War honors • 9
Medal of Honor recipients: • :
8th Engineer Battalion:
Melvin L. Brown (4 September 1950). • :
5th Cavalry Regiment:
Lloyd L. Burke (28 October 1951),
Samuel S. Coursen (12 December 1950), and
Robert M. McGovern (30 January 1951). • :
8th Cavalry Regiment:
Emil Kapaun (1 and 2 November 1950)
Tibor Rubin (23 July 1950, to 20 April 1953),
James L. Stone (21 and 22 November 1952)
Robert H. Young (9 October 1950) • :16th Reconnaissance Company:
Gordon M. Craig (10 September 1950). File:1st Cavalry Division arrives in Korea.jpg|Division troops land at
Pohang, Korea. File:Bazookas Korea.jpg|Cavalrymen holding a 2.36 in bazooka. File:105-mm-howitzer-korea.jpg| Gun crew of a 105mm howitzer in action along the 1st Cavalry Division sector. File:Hill 518.jpg|A Division observation post overlooks Hill 518, held by the North Koreans north of Waegwan. September 1950. File:1st Cav at Naktong River.jpg|A .50 Cal. Machine gun squad of Co. E, 2nd Battalion, 7th Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division, fires on North Koreans along the north bank of the Naktong River, 26 August 1950. File:In this undated file photo, U.S. Army Capt. Emil Kapaun, right, a chaplain with the 3rd Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division, helps a Soldier carry an exhausted troop off the battlefield 130311-A-CP123-001.jpg|Capt.
Emil Kapaun, right, a chaplain with the 3rd Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, helps evacuate an exhausted soldier from the battlefield. The 1st Cavalry Division remained in the line until it was relieved by the
45th Infantry Division from the
Oklahoma Army National Guard in January 1952. Following the relief, the division returned to Japan. The division returned to Korea in 1957, where it remained until 1965.
Vietnam War As a result of the
Howze Board, helicopters were used in
Vietnam for reconnaissance, command and control, troop transport, attack gunships, aerial rocket artillery, medical evacuation, and supply. It was a revolution in maneuver doctrine that freed the infantry from the limitations of terrain to attack the enemy at the time and place of its choosing. The
11th Airborne Division had been reactivated at
Fort Benning on 1 February 1963 and redesignated as the
11th Air Assault Division (Test). In September 1963, Air Assault I exercises tested the Airmobility concept at the battalion level at Fort Stewart in
Georgia. Air Assault II, a much larger exercise, was conducted across two states in October 1964. The 11th Air Assault Division operated against the
82nd Airborne Division and the 11th thoroughly dominated the exercise. When the test proved successful, the assets of the 11th Air Assault Division (Test), the 10th Air Transport Brigade, and the
2nd Infantry Division were merged into a single unit. The colors and subordinate unit designations of the 1st Cavalry Division were transferred from its post in Korea. On 3 July 1965, the colors of the 11th Air Assault Division (Test) were cased and retired and the 1st Air Cavalry Division colors were moved onto the field at Doughboy Stadium and passed to the commander of the former 11th Air Assault Division, Major General Kinnard. At the same time, the personnel and units of the 1st Cavalry Division that remained in Korea were reflagged as a new 2nd Infantry Division. On 29 July 1965, President
Lyndon B. Johnson ordered the 1st Air Cavalry Division to
Vietnam. Shortly thereafter, the division began deploying to
Camp Radcliff,
An Khe, Vietnam, in the
Central Highlands and was equipped with the new
M16 rifle, the
UH-1 troop carrier helicopter, UH-1C gunships, the
CH-47 Chinook cargo helicopter, and the massive
CH-54 Skycrane cargo helicopter. All aircraft carried insignia to indicate their battalion and company. File:Bruce_Crandall%27s_UH-1D.jpg|Major
Bruce P. Crandall's UH-1D helicopter climbs after discharging infantrymen on a search and destroy mission in
Ia Drang Valley in November 1965. . File:Infantry 1-9 US Cavalry exiting UH-1D.jpg|1st Air Cavalry troopers exit a
Huey chopper in Vietnam. File:AH-1G Cobra Vietnam.jpg|
Bell AH-1G over Vietnam. File:Ch47-chinook-vietnam.jpg|Troops unload from a
CH-47 helicopter in the Cay Giep Mountains, Vietnam, 1967. File:Start of Tet Offensive.png|31 January 1968. Start of Tet Offensive as seen from LZ Betty's water tower, Quang Tri. File:1st Cav at LZ Stud.jpg|4 April 1968. 1st Cav forces at LZ Stud, the staging area for Operation Pegasus. File:Second crashed helicopter.jpg|26 April 1968. Operation Delaware, second crashed helicopter on Signal Hill, A Shau Valley. File:Two 1st Cav LRP teams.jpg|July 1968. Two 1st Cavalry Division LRP teams, Quang Tri. File:1st Cavalry Division Tunnelrat Vietnam.jpg| Unknown Date. Tunnel rat preparing for entering Vietnamese Tunnel, Vietnam. File:USS Boxer LPH-4 loaded with helicopters of the 1st Cavalry Division, 1965.jpg|1965. Photo of USS
Boxer (CV-21/LPH-4) loaded with helicopters of the 1st Cavalry Division. The division's first major operation was to help relieve the
Siege of Plei Me near
Pleiku and the pursuit of the withdrawing
People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) which culminated in the
Battle of Ia Drang, described in the book
We Were Soldiers Once...And Young, was also the basis of the film
We Were Soldiers. Because of that battle the division earned the
Presidential Unit Citation (US), the first unit to receive such in the war. In 1966, the division attempted to root the communist
Viet Cong (VC) and PAVN out of
Bình Định Province with
Operation Masher,
Operation Crazy Horse and
Operation Thayer. 1967 was then spent conducting
Operation Pershing, a large scale search and destroy operation of PAVN/VC base areas in
II Corps in which 5,400 PAVN/VC soldiers were killed and 2,000 captured. In
Operation Jeb Stuart, January 1968, the division moved north to
Camp Evans, north of
Hue and on to Landing Zones Sharon and Betty, south of
Quang Tri City, all in the
I Corps Tactical Zone. In the early morning hours of 31 January 1968, the largest battle of the Vietnam War, the
Tet Offensive, was launched by 84,000 PAVN/VC soldiers across
South Vietnam. In the division's area of operation, the PAVN/VC forces
seized most of the city of Huế. As the 3rd Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division, fought to cut off PAVN/VC reinforcements pouring into
Huế, at
Quảng Trị, five battalions, most from the
324th Division, attacked the city and LZ Betty (Headquarters 1st Brigade). To stop allied troops from intervening, three other PAVN/VC infantry battalions deployed as blocking forces, all supported by a 122mm-rocket battalion and two heavy-weapons companies armed with 82mm mortars and 75mm recoilless rifles. After intense fighting, 900 PAVN/VC soldiers were killed in and around Quảng Trị and LZ Betty. However, across South Vietnam, 1,000 Americans, 2,100 South Vietnamese, 14,000 civilians, and 32,000 PAVN/VC were killed. On 19 April 1968, as the 2nd Brigade continued pushing west to the
Laotian border, the 1st and 3rd Brigades (about 11,000 men and 300 helicopters) swung southwest and air assaulted
A Shau Valley, commencing
Operation Delaware. The PAVN was a well-trained, equipped, and led force. They turned A Shau into a formidable sanctuary —complete with
PT-76 tanks; powerful crew-served 37mm antiaircraft cannons, some radar controlled; twin-barreled 23mm cannons; and scores of 12.7mm heavy machine guns. A
long-range penetration operation was launched by members of the Division's
long-range reconnaissance patrol (LRP) against the PAVN when they seized
"Signal Hill"—the name attributed to the peak of
Dong Re Lao Mountain, a densely forested mountain midway in the valley—so the 1st and 3rd Brigades, slugging it out hidden deep behind the mountains, could communicate with Camp Evans near the coast or with approaching aircraft. Despite hundreds of B-52 and jet air strikes, the PAVN forces shot down a
C-130, a
CH-54, two
CH-47s and nearly two dozen UH-1s. Many more were lost in accidents or damaged by ground fire. The division also suffered more than 100 dead and 530 wounded in the operation. Bad weather aggravated the loss by causing delays in troop movements, allowing a substantial number of PAVN to escape to safety in Laos. Still, the PAVN lost more than 800 dead, a tank, 70 trucks, two bulldozers, 30 flamethrowers, thousands of rifles and machine guns, and dozens of antiaircraft cannons. They also lost tons of ammunition, explosives, medical supplies and foodstuffs. In the Vietnam War, the division suffered more casualties than any other U.S. Army division: 5,444 men killed in action and 26,592 wounded in action.
Cold War When the 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile) departed Vietnam, its colors were retained by reflagging the existing
1st Armored Division at Fort Hood as the "new" 1st Cavalry Division, configured as an armored division. Concurrently, the colors of the 1st Armored Division were transferred to Germany where the
4th Armored Division was reflagged as the 1st Armored Division. In the aftermath of Vietnam, the 1st Cavalry Division was converted from an airmobile light infantry role into a triple capabilities (TRICAP) division. The unit received an infusion of mechanized infantry and artillery, to make it capable of missions needing three types of troops;
armored, airmobility and air cavalry. In the post-Vietnam era, morale in the US Army waned. In response, the Department of the Army released a morale–enhancing order in 1973 permitting local commanders to encourage morale-enhancing uniform distinctions. Consequently, many units embraced the wear of various military berets. The 1st Cavalry Division's use of various colored berets started in 1971 with the TRICAP experiment: black for armor, light–blue for
infantry, red for
artillery, and
kelly–green for support. 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 1st Battalion,
9th Cavalry was inactivated. The 13th Signal Battalion fielded mobile subscriber equipment (MSE), a secure digital communications system for corps and below units.
1st Cavalry Division organization 1989 •
1st Cavalry Division, Fort Hood (Texas) (
Operation Reforger unit.
POMCUS materiel depots in
Belgium (
Grobbendonk,
Zutendaal) and the
Netherlands (
Brunssum,
Eygelshoven) and ammunition depot in Zutendaal) • Headquarters and Headquarters Company • 2nd Battalion,
8th Cavalry (
Mississippi Army National Guard) • Headquarters and Headquarters Company • 3rd Battalion,
141st Infantry McAllen (
Texas Army National Guard) • 1st Battalion,
155th Infantry (Mechanized), • Headquarters and Headquarters Troop • 1st Squadron,
7th Cavalry (Reconnaissance) • Company D, 227th Aviation • Headquarters and Headquarters Battery • 8th Engineer Battalion • 13th Signal Battalion •
312th Military Intelligence Battalion (Combat Electronic Warfare & Intelligence) • 545th Military Police Company • 68th Chemical Company By October 1986 all heavy army and national guard divisions, including the 1st Cavalry Division, had transitioned to the
Army of Excellence J-series
TOE. The 1st Cavalry Division's 4th Battalion, 5th Air Defense Artillery was the first unit to field the
AN/TWQ-1 Avenger system, with training underway in 1990. in January and February 1991. It participated in the
Battle of Norfolk. The 1st Cavalry Division deployed in October 1990 as part of
XVIII Corps. The division's 'round-out' formation, the 155th Armored Brigade was not deployed. 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
CENTCOM's reserve. During the Ground war, was assigned to
VII Corps and 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-Batin to just north of
Basra through several Iraqi divisions before stopping. The assault by
M1 Abrams main battle tanks,
M2 Bradley infantry fighting vehicles, and other support vehicles moved much faster than was thought possible, catching the Iraqi Army 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 communications network spanning over 280 kilometers, the 13th Signal Battalion again provided the division's communications. The 13th Signal Battalion was the first unit in the U.S. Army to provide digital communications in
West Asia. It was a gateway link from the Port of Dammam to the U.S. Army XVIII Airborne Corps Headquarters. After the division returned from Kuwait, the 1st "Tiger" Brigade, 2nd Armored Division was reflagged as the 3rd Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division (separate lineage). In response to the continued hostile movements by the
Iraqi Armed Forces after Desert Storm, the
U.S. Department of Defense ordered successive Operation Intrinsic Action deployments by combat brigades and special forces units to the Iraq/Kuwait border. The 1st Cavalry's three brigades contributed heavily to the decade-long deployments from 1992 to 2002.
Bosnia-Herzegovina The 1st Cavalry Division took control of the U.S.
peacekeeping contingent in
Bosnia-Herzegovina with approximately 6,900 personnel on 20 June 1998, as part of the multinational
Stabilization Force (SFOR). The 1st Brigade served for Rotation
SFOR 4. 2nd Brigade served for Rotation SFOR 5. The 2nd Brigade was alerted for action during the
Russian move from Bosnia to 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.
War on terror Elements of the division arrived in
Washington, D.C., shortly after the
11 September attacks.
Iraq War , 14 March 2007. In October 2001 an advance party of a division brigade combat team was deployed to the
Iraq/Kuwait border. Some divisional units participated in the initial
2003 invasion of Iraq. 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 were:
Louisiana's 256th Infantry Brigade; Arkansas'
39th Infantry Brigade; element of A Company, 28th Signal Battalion; elements of Washington's
81st Armored Brigade; and the 2d Battalion, 162nd Infantry (
Oregon Army National Guard), and Company E (Air Traffic Control Services), 126th Aviation, MA ARNG. After spending more than a year in Iraq, it redeployed back to the US 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 house-to-house intense
urban combat to root out enemy cells in the city. During its OIF2 deployment, the division assigned and attached personnel numbered approximately 40,000. 168 personnel were killed in action, with approximately 1,500 wounded. The division assumed duties as Headquarters,
Multi-National Division – Baghdad from November 2006 to December 2007. 4th Brigade Combat Team, activated in 2005, arrived in
Ninawa Governorate in October and November 2006. However, 2–12 Cavalry was detached, deployed to Baghdad to augment the division efforts there. The 3d Brigade Combat Team, "Greywolf", deployed to the
Diyala Province in September 2006 and fought in the
Battle of Baqubah as a part of the
Iraq War troop surge of 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. The 4th Brigade Combat Team "Long Knife" deployed to
Mosul,
Nineva Province, October 2006 to January 2008 and again September 2010 to September 2011.
Afghanistan (2001–2014) In November 2001, elements of the 1st Cavalry Division (3d Platoon, 545th MP CO, originally assigned to 2d Brigade "BlackJack" 1st Cav) deployed to
Bagram Airfield,
Afghanistan as part of
Operation Enduring Freedom – Afghanistan. In May 2011, the division headquarters deployed in support of
Operation Enduring Freedom and assumed command of
Regional Command East, replacing the
101st Airborne Division (Air Assault). The 1st Infantry Division HQ took command of RC-East on 19 April 2012. In June 2014, the division headquarters returned to Afghanistan and assumed command of
Regional Command South, replacing the
4th Infantry Division. In October 2014, the division flag returned to Fort Hood, leaving its Deputy Commanding General behind as the new Train Advise Assist Command South. Operation Enduring Freedom – Afghanistan (OEF-A) ended in late 2014.
Operation Freedom's Sentinel (2015–2021) After the completion of Operation Enduring Freedom – Afghanistan, the new US deployment to Afghanistan was known as
Operation Freedom's Sentinel. The headquarters served as the United States Forces – Afghanistan National Support Element, and was also responsible for Bagram Airfield, the largest US military base in Afghanistan. It supported forces serving in the United States'
Operation Freedom's Sentinel and NATO's
Resolute Support Mission, enabling both the international effort to train, advise, and assist the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces and the counterterrorism fight. The 1st Cavalry Division Sustainment Brigade also supported both Operation Freedom's Sentinel and Resolute Support and was the Army's only deployed active duty
Sustainment Brigade until US forces withdrew in 2021.
Operation Inherent Resolve The division's 3d BCT deployed in February 2017 to Kuwait, and elements of 3ABCT supported operations in Iraq to retake Mosul from ISIS.
Global missions ,
1st Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division during the 2014
Latvia Day Parade in
Riga,
Latvia during
Operation Atlantic Resolve. The 1st Cavalry Division currently holds three of the active Army's ten armored brigade combat teams. The division provides the Army and Combatant Commanders with trained and ready forces. In April 2014, 2–5 Cavalry from 1st BCT, 1CD deployed to Europe to support Operation Combined Resolve II, a NATO exercise in southeastern Germany. In October 2014, 1CD returned to Europe to support its NATO partners in another pair of exercises, this time participating in Operations Combined Resolve III and Atlantic Resolve with the majority of 1ABCT. A battalion task force from the Combat Aviation Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division deployed to Germany in November 2015; it participated in Atlantic Resolve, then stayed in Germany for the next nine months to provide aviation support to US and NATO forces across Europe. In June 2015, the 2d BCT was the first rotational brigade deployed to South Korea, relieving the 1st BCT, 2nd Infantry Division as it inactivated. The 2d BCT deployed for nine months; in February 2016, the 2d BCT was replaced by the 1st BCT on another nine-month rotation. == Organization ==