1st Brigade - 1st Cavalry Division
The 1st (Iron Horse) Brigade was constituted 29 August 1917 in the Regular Army as Headquarters, 1st Cavalry Brigade. The Brigade organized as part of the 15th Cavalry Division the following February at Fort Sam Houston, Texas. The Brigade's initial wartime service was patrolling the Mexican Border, until demobilization, 14 July 1919, at Brownsville, Texas. Operating from horseback, the cavalry was the only force capable of piercing the harsh terrain of the desert to halt the band of smugglers that operated along the desolate Mexican border.
The Brigade was later reconstituted 20 August 1920 in the Regular Army as Headquarters and Headquarters Troop, 1st Cavalry Brigade, an element of the 1st Cavalry Division. On 1 September 1921, the unit organized at Camp Harry J. Jones, in Douglas, Arizona.
The Brigade fought as Infantry in the Pacific Theater of World War II, as did the entire 1st Cavalry Division. It fought on New Guinea, the Bismarck Archipelago, and the Philippines, earning both the United States and the Philippines Presidential Unit Citation. The Brigade deactivated 2 March 1949 in Japan and was relieved from assignment from the 1st Cavalry Division.
The 1st Brigade Headquarters was converted and redesignated as Headquarters, 1st Constabulatory Brigade, on 20 May 1949, and served in Germany. the Brigade was relieved from assignment to the United States Constabulatory on 24 November 1950. On 15 August 1951, they deactivated in Germany and disbanded on 5 December 1951.
The Brigade was again reconstituted in the Regular Army, converted, and redesignated on 15 July 1963, as Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1st Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division. The unit was activated on the 1st of September 1963 in Korea.
The 1st Brigade was transferred to Fort Benning, Georgia, in July 1963 and deployed to Vietnam with the 1st Cavalry Division later that year. Major operations included the Pleiku Campaign, Operations in War Zone C (III Corps), the Cambodian Operation, and operations throughout War Zone D. The Brigade returned to Fort Hood in July 1971. In June 1972, the brigade received the official designation of "Iron Horse."
The "Iron Horse" Brigade deployed to Operation Desert Shield/Storm in October 1990 and conducted military operations with Allied Forces throughout the 6 month Gulf Campaign. The 1st Brigade redeployed to Fort Hood, Texas, in April 1991.
Since then, elements of the Brigade have deployed to Guantanamo Bay from May-June 1992 for Operation Island Sentinel, to the Emirate of Kuwait for Operation Intrinsic Action, to the Republic of Korea for Exercise Foal Eagle, and the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, California for annual training. The IRON HORSE Brigade recently completed the transition to the M1A2 Abrams Tank.
In April, 1998, the Brigade was alerted for peace enforcement duty in Bosnia-Herzegovina as part of Operation Joint Guard.
The Brigade executed their National Training Center train up between August 1999 and November 1999. The Brigade deployed to the National Training Center starting 2 January 2000. As a Brigade Combat Team, the unit executed each mission with confidence and with the warrior mentality. The BCT redeployed 12 February 2000 without any major incidents.
The BCT returned from NTC and immediately executed a War Fighter Exercise (WFX). The exercise was executed in the customary high standards of the IRONHORSE team.
Upon completion of the WFX, the Brigade assumed the nation's Division Ready Brigade (DRB).
IRONHORSE Brigade is the first in the First Cavalry Division to transition to Force XXI and has already received the new M1A2 SEP (System Enhancement Package) tank into its two tank battalions in addition to other modernized, digitally enhanced equipment putting it on the cutting edge of technology while maintaining the highest standards of training and soldier readiness.
As of March 19 2004 every soldier in First Brigade Combat Team (1BCT) was in Kuwait, preparing for the final leg of their deployment to Baghdad, part of Operation Iraqi Freedom. The last plane, containing 74 Soldiers, landed at Camp Wolverine on Wednesday, March 18. Concentration shifted towards the unloading of more than 15,000 pieces of equipment from ships in the Sea Port of Debarkation (SPOD).
As of 25 March 2004 1st Brigade Combat Team deployed over 3175 soldiers to Kuwait to participate in Operation Iraqi Freedom 2. It took six days to deploy the entire BCT.
The Brigade combat team was involved in the heaviest fighting in Baghdad since the end of the war. The attacks by anti-coalition militias in their area was largely a result of the closing of the cleric Muqtada Sadr's newspaper and than the capture of one of his key aides. Those two key events happened just after they arrived and were transitioning with the outgoing unit. They have taken the fight to the enemy on our terms and at times of the American's choosing and have been very, very successful.
As of May 2004 First Brigade Combat team was beginning to really get into rebuilding Iraq. Colonel Abrams conducted a press conference about the $51 million dollars of work that the 1st BCT is about to undertake. They started renovating the sewer systems of the Sadr City. Also, a weapons buyback program was implemented by the 1st BCT. Despite many who thought it would fail, it turned out to be an amazing success. Lines were around the corner before it even opened. $1.35 million were bought back in weapons from Iraqis. This is very important, as it is over 70,000 weapons and rounds of ammunition that will not be used against US soldiers. As the 1 BCT continues to work in this area, the anti-American sentiment is on the sharp decline. .
More than three tons of ordnance was turned into Coalition forces during a weapons rewards program in the Thawra district. The program, which began 15 May 2004, was aimed to disarm the local populace while infusing money into the economy. Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 12th Cavalry Regiment, 2nd Battalion, 5th Cavalry Regiment and 2nd Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment provided security for the weapons turn-in sites while the 1st Brigade Combat Team was inundated with thousands of weapons and tons of explosives and munitions. The task of handling, sorting, transporting, and destroying the large amount of ordnance was shouldered by five specialized explosive ordnance disposal teams and the soldiers of the 20th Engineer Battalion "Lumberjacks." Ordinarily, the 1st Brigade Combat Team is allocated two Explosive Ordnance Disposal teams. However, for this undertaking, the brigade requested assistance from the Air Force and Navy. The EOD teams disposed of most of the weapons turned in; however, the Iraqi Civil Defense Corps redistributed a large number of the weapons for their use.
