2nd Battalion - 8th Infantry Regiment
As of January 1st, 2006, the 2nd Battalion- 8th Infantry Regiment of 2nd Brigade, 4th Infantry Division, has been operating out of Forward Operating base Kalsu, located in Iskanderyah, Iraq. The unit's mission along with that of the 2nd Brigade was to train Iraqi Security Forces to conduct operations independent of coalition assistance.
The 2nd Battalion, 8th Infantry Regiment, was originally constituted on 5 July, 1838, in the Regular Army as Company B, 8th Infantry, and organized at Detroit, MI. It consolidated in May 1869 with Company B, 33d Infantry, with the consolidated unit being designated as Company B, 8th Infantry.
The 8th Infantry was assigned on 17 December, 1917, to the 8th Division and relieved on 24 March, 1923, from this assignment to the 8th Division and reassigned to the 4th Division [later redesignated as the 4th Infantry Division]. Company B inactivated 25 February, 1946, at Camp Butner, North Carolina
It reactivated on 15 July, 1947, at Fort Ord, CA, and inactivated on 1 April, 1957, at Fort Lewis, WA, and relieved from assignment to the 4th Infantry Division.
The unit was redesignated on 1 August, 1957, as Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 2d Battle Group, 8th Infantry, it was assigned to the 8th Infantry Division, and activated in Germany (with its organic elements concurrently constituted and activated). It was relieved on 1 January, 1959, from assignment to the 8th Infantry Division and reassigned to the 1st Infantry Division.
The unit was reorganized and redesignated on 1 October, 1963 as the 2d Battalion, 8th Infantry, it was concurrently relieved from assignment to the 1st Infantry Division and assigned to the 4th Infantry Division. It inactivated on 13 September, 1972, at Fort Carson, CO.
The unit activated on 1 August, 1984, at Fort Carson, CO. It inactivated there on 15 December, 1989, and was relieved from assignment to the 4th Infantry Division.
Reassigned on 16 December 1995, to the 2nd Armored Division and activated at Fort Hood, TX, it was relieved on 16 January, 1996, from assignment to the 2nd Armored Division and reassigned to the 4th Infantry Division.
In March 2003, the unit, along with the rest of 2nd Brigade, 4th Infantry Division, deployed to the Middle East in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. The brigade moved up Highway 1 thru Baghdad, Taji, and on to Saddam Hussein’s hometown of Tikrit, destroying resistance from Iraqi forces. The 2-8th Infantry Regiment, in conjuntion with other components of 2nd Brigade, 4th Infantry Division, secured and held multiple airfields and military complexes for later use by follow-on forces as far north as K2 Airfield near Bayji.
