3rd Brigade - 1st Cavalry Division
The 3rd Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division was first constituted on 29 August 1917. It was organized in December 1927 as Headquarters, 3rd Brigade, an element of the 15th Cavalry Division. The Brigade demobilized on 15 July 1919. The Brigade was reconstituted on 10 August 1921, joining the newly constituted 1st Cavalry Division. Never officially reorganized, the Brigade remained on inactive status until its activation on 15 October 1940.
The Brigade was converted and redesignated as HHC, 9th Armored Division Trains, and the unit deployed to the European Theater where it received campaign participation credit for the operations in Rhineland, Ardennes-Alsace, and Central Europe. The unit was awarded two Meritorious Unit Commendations with streamers embroidered Europe 1944 and Europe 1945.
Following World War II, the unit returned to the United States and was inactivated. It remained inactive until 15 July 1963, when it was relieved from assignment to the 9th Armored Division, converted and redesignated as HHC, 3rd Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division.
The Brigade was activated on 1 September 1963, with the Division on station in Korea at the Demilitarized Zone. In July 1965, the Division moved to Fort Benning and underwent reorganization as an airmobile unit. The Brigade sailed from Charleston, South Carolina to Quo Nhon, Republic of Vietnam on 17 September 1965.
The first major action undertaken by the Brigade began on 10 October 1965, and was followed by participation in the Ia Drang Valley operation known as the Pleiku Campaign. For its exceptional performance in the campaign, the Brigade shares with the Division, the Presidential Unit Citation. The 3rd Brigade was formed into a separate unit and assumed operational control of the old 1st Cavalry Division area of operations until 10 April 1971.
Finally in 1972, the Brigade left Vietnam for Fort Hood, Texas, to rejoin the 1st Cavalry Division. When its colors arrived at Fort Hood on 29 June 1972, the unit officially became the "Greywolf" Brigade, named after General George Crook, considered our nations greatest Indian Fighter. The Brigade underwent a change from an airmobile configuration to an Infantry Heavy Brigade.
The "Greywolf" Brigade remained with the Division until its inactivation in 1980. It remained on the inactive roles until 21 May 1991, when the 1st "Tiger" Brigade, 2nd Armored Division was redesignated as the 3rd "Greywolf" Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division.
Since that time, the Brigade has participated in several National Training Center rotations, deployed Task Force sized elements to Kuwait, and in September 1996, conducted the first post-Desert Storm, no-notice, brigade sized deployment to Kuwait in support of Operation Desert Strike.
