3rd Battalion - 18th Field Artillery Regiment
The 18th Field Artillery was constituted on 1 July 1916 in the Regular Army as Battery C, 18th Field Artillery, and organized at Fort Bliss, TX. The 18th Field Artillery was asssigned to the 3rd Division on 12 November 1917. After participation in World War I, the unit was inactivated 15 February 1922 at Camp Pike, AR.
The 18th was again activated 31 December 1922 at Fort Sill, OK. The 18th Field Artillery was relieved 24 March 1923 from assignment to the 3d Division and assigned to the 9th Division. It was then relieved from assignment to the 9th Division and assigned to the 6th Division in August 1927.
On 1 January 1930 the unit was reassigned from the 6th Division to the 3d Division; then to the 2d Cavalry Division on September 1932. The 18th was inactivated 1 January 1935 at Fort sill, OK. the 18th Field Artillery was relieved 1 July 1940 from assignment to the 2d Cavalry divison. Reorganized and redesignated 1 march 1943 as Battery C, 685th Field Artillery Battalion. It was redesignated 9 August 1943 as Battery C, 18th Field Artllery Battalion.
After World War II, the battalion inactivated 3 March 1946 at Camp Kilmer, NJ. The 18th reactivated 1 August 1946 at Fort Sill, OK. It was reorganized and redesignated 1 June 1958 as Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, 3d Howitzer Battalion, 18th Artillery. The unit was redesignated in March 1964 as the 3d Battalion, 18th Field Artillery. Following valorous participation in Vietnam, the unit became the 3d Battalion, 18th field Artillery on 1 September 1971.
During Operation Desert Shield/Storm, 3-18 FA was attached to the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, which was under the control of XVIII Airborne Corps, and was among the lead elements in the ground offensive into Iraq. Although a general support artillery battalion, the 3d Battalion 18th Field Artillery was tasked with the difficult job of providing direct support. In May of 1991, the battalion returned to Fort Sill, OK, where it continues to serve as part of the IIId Armored Corps Artillery.
3-18 FA (Paladin) "Steel Professionals" started the year 2000 with a battery EXEVAL and battalion LFX. In June 2000, 3-18 FA excelled during a demanding EXEVAL, testing its ability to deploy, move, shoot, communicate and sustain.
