2nd Fires Brigade
Division Artillery (DIVARTY), 2nd Infantry Division
"Warrior Thunder"
On 30 November 2006, the Fires Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division was inactivated and personnel reflagged as the 210th Fires Brigade.
Prior to its inactivation, the Fires Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division stood ready, as the most forward deployed Fires Brigade in the world. It had a mission to, on order, conduct counterfire and deep operations in defense of the Republic of Korea.
The Fires Brigade consisted of the 6th Battalion, 37th Field Artillery; 1st Battalion, 38th Field Artillery; and the 702nd Brigade Support Battalion. Both of the artillery battalions were equipped with the M270 Multiple Launch Rocket System. The Fires Brigade had been created as part of the transformation of the 2nd Infantry Division to the US Army's new modular force structure. Various assets previously held at division level were made organic to the Division's maneuver brigades under the transformation. Artillery battalions that had previously been habitually task organized with the brigade they were assigned to support were made organic to those brigades. The DIVARTY had employed 3 155mm Direct Support Cannon Battalions, one Multiple Launch Rocket System-Army Tactical Missile System (MLRS/ATACMS) battalion, a separate MLRS/ATACMS battery, a target acquisition battery and a headquarters and headquarters battery.
These units had a total of more than 2,000 highly trained and focused US and Korean Augmentee to the US Army (KATUSA) soldiers and support the Warrior Division from 6 separate camps.
The Fires Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division was originally constituted on 21 September 1917 as the 2nd Field Artillery Brigade. The unit was partially organized in October 1917 at Governors Island, New York, and assigned to the 2nd Division (later redesignated as the 2d Infantry Division). The organization completed on 1 January 1918 in Le Valdahon, France. During World War I, firing in support of both US and Allied Forces, the 2nd Field Artillery Brigade participated in key battles fought at Aisne, Ile de France, Aisne-Marne, Lorraine and Meuse-Argonne. For its actions the unit was awarded the French Croix de Guerre with 2 Palms and the French Fourragere. Following the war the unit returned to Fort Sam Houston and was disbanded on 7 October 1939.
The unit was reconstituted on 10 September 1940 in the Regular Army as Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, 2nd Division Artillery and activated on 1 October 1940 at Fort Sam Houston, Texas. The 2nd Division Artillery entered WWII with the Normandy landing on 7 June 1944 and fired in support of the Division through France, Belgium, Germany, and finally into Czechoslovakia. In July 1945 the 2nd Division Artillery departed Le Havre, France for Camp Swift, Texas and began training for operations in the Pacific Theater. The war in the Pacific ended before it could be deployed. For its actions in World War II the unit earned campaign streamers embroidered Normandy, Northern France, Rhineland, Ardennes-Alsace and Central Europe. The unit was mentioned in official dispatches for action in Ardennes and Elsenborn Crest and was awarded the Belgian Fourragere.
The 2nd Division Artillery moved with the rest of the Division into the Pusan perimeter in August 1950. There the 2nd Infantry Division relieved the 24th Infantry Division. The 2nd Division Artillery fired in support of US, ROK and UN forces until the cessation of the war and deployed back to Fort Lewis, Washington in 1954. For actions in Korea the unit earned ten Campaign Streamers and was awarded 2 Republic of Korea Presidential Unit Citations.
The 2nd Division Artillery returned to Korea with the Division in July 1965 and and was stationed at Camp McNair in the West Corridor near Pobwoni. When the 7th Infantry Division departed the peninsula in 1971, the Headquarters relocated to Camp Stanley with subordinate units occupying 3 separate garrisons. Approximately 160 Commissioned and Warrant Officers and 2200 enlisted Warriors were assigned to the 4 battalions and 2 separate batteries. Through 2001 and 2002, the Battalion helped expand A Battery, 38th Field Artillery into a full battalion, the 1st Battalion, 38th Field Artillery, adding an additional battalion to the order of battle.
In September 2005, the Headquarters of the 2nd Division Artillery relocated to Camp Casey in September 2005 as part of 2nd Infantry Division Transformation Plan. Under the transformation of the 2nd Infantry Division to the US Army's new modular force structure, the 2nd Division Artillery was inactivated and reactivated as the 2nd Fires Brigade. This unit consisted of a Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, 6-37th Field Artillery, and 1-38th Field Artillery, all stationed at Camp Casey and the 702nd Brigade Support Battalion at Camp Castle. Approximately 1300 Warriors were assigned to the 3 battalions and one separate battery. The other artillery battalions previously assigned to the 2nd Division Artillery were made organic to the reorganized Brigade Combat Teams they had previously habitually supported, a key element of the modular force structure.
On 30 November 2006, the Fires Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division was inactivated and personnel reflagged as the 210th Fires Brigade.
