3rd Battalion - 8th Cavalry Regiment
The 3D Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment was constituted in the Regular Army as Company C, 8th Cavalry in July 1866, and organized in October, 1866 at Angel Island, California. Designated as a cavalry company, the unit was active throughout the Indian Wars, earning the streamers Comanche's, Apaches, Pine Ridge, Arizona 1867, Arizona 1868, Arizona 1869, Oregon 1868, and Mexico 1877. Cavalry companies were formally redesignated as cavalry troops in 1883. For the next sixty years, C Troop, 8th Cavalry, continued to develop its arsenal and tactics as horse and lever-action rifles were slowly replaced with armored vehicles and machine guns.
The 8th Cavalry regiment as a whole was assigned in December 1917 to the 15th Cavalry Division. The regiment was relieved from service in the 15th Cavalry Division in May of 1918, and assigned in September 1921 to the 1st Cavalry Division. The unit was disbanded on 1 February 1928 at Fort Bliss, TX.
The unit reconstituted on 1 August 1940 in the Regular Army as Troop C, 8th Cavalry, and activated at Fort Bliss, TX, as an element of the 1st Cavalry Division, but was affected by the 8th Cavalry being dismounted on 28 February 1943.
The 8th Cavalry dismounted in February 1943, and reorganized 4 December 1943 partly under cavalry and partly under infantry tables of organization and equipment, before being reorganized wholly as infantry on 20 July 1945 but retaining cavalry designations. In July, 1945, the 8th Cavalry reorganized wholly as infantry, yet retained its cavalry designation. The Second World War took 3D Battalion, 8th Cavalry, to combat in the pacific, with streamers for participation in New Guinea, Bismarck Archipelago with (with arrowhead), Leyte and Luzon. In Luzon, the Troop received the Presidential Unit Citation. The Battalion also earned the Philippine Presidential Unit Citation, streamer embroidered 17 OCTOBER 1944 to 4 JULY 1945.
The unit was redesignated on 25 March 1949 as Company C, 8th Cavalry.
From the Army of occupation in Japan, the 3D Battalion, 8th Cavalry, went to fight in the Korean Conflict. On 25 January 1951, the First Team, joined by the revitalized 3rd Battalion, 8th Cavalry rebounding from its tragedy at Unsan, moved back into action. The movement began as a reconnaissance in force to locate and assess the size of the Red Army, believed to be at least 174,000 strong. The Eighth Army moved slowly and methodically, ridge by ridge, phase line by phase line, wiping out each pocket of resistance before moving farther North. The advance covered 2 miles a day, despite heavy blinding snowstorms and subzero temperatures. The First Cavalry slowly advanced though snow and later, when it became warm, through torrential rains. The Red Army was slowly, but firmly, being pushed back. On 14 March, the 3rd Battalion, 8th Cavalry had crossed the Hangchon River and on the 15th, Seoul was recaptured by elements of the 8th Army.
In Korea, 3D Battalion, 8th Cavalry, earned the streamers U.N. Defense, U.N. Offense, CCF Intervention, First U.N. Counteroffensive, CCF Spring Offensive, U.N. Summer-Fall Offensive, Second Korean Winter, Korea, Summer-Fall 1952, and Third Korean Winter. For its extensive actions in Korea, the unit was awarded the Presidential Unit Citation (Army), streamer embroidered TAEGU, The Republic of Korea Presidential Unit Citation, streamer embroidered WAEGWAN-TAEGU, the Republic of Korea Presidential Unit Citation, streamer embroidered KOREA, and the Chryssoun Artistian Andrias (Bravery Gold Medal of Greece), streamer embroidered KOREA.
It was consolidated on 1 August 1957 with the 8th Reconnaissance Company (activated 15 May 1943 at Camp Young, California) and the consolidated unit was reorganized and redesignated as Headquarters and Headquarters Troop, 3rd Reconnaissance Squadron, 8th Cavalry. It was concurrently relieved from assignment to the 1st Cavalry Division and assigned to the 8th Infantry Division (with its organic elements concurrently constituted and activated).
The Battalion was reorganized and redesignated on 1 April 1963, as the 3rd Squadron, 8th Cavalry, assigned to the 8th Infantry Division. On 16 December 1986, the Squadron was inactivated in Germany, and relieved from assignment to the 8th Infantry Division.
Redesignated on 16 February 1987 as the 3rd Battalion, 8th Cavalry, the unit was assigned to the 3rd Armored Division, and activated in Germany. Shortly thereafter, the Squadron was redesignated in February, 1987, to its current designation as the 3D Battalion, 8th Cavalry, assigned to the 3D Armor Division activated in Germany. In the early months of 1991, the Battalion participated in combat actions in Southwest Asia, as part of the 3D Armor Division, and earned the following streamers: Defense of Saudi Arabia, Liberation and Defense of Kuwait, and Cease Fire. For these actions, the Battalion was awarded the Valorous Unit Award, streamer embroidered IRAQ. It inactivated on 15 November 1991 in Germany and was relieved from assignment to the 3rd Armored Division; the former 8th Reconnaissance Company as concurrently withdrawn from the 3rd Battalion, 8th Cavalry.
In July 1998, the 1-12th Cavalry Battalion, 1st Cavalry Division, at Fort Hood, Texas, completed new equipment training on the M1A2 Abrams tank with a Tank Table VIII crew gunnery live-fire exercise. This event ended a 3-year process of fielding the world's most sophisticated and lethal main battle tank to the soldiers of the 1st Cavalry Division. However, that process began well before the division's first M1A2's were issued to the 3-8th Cavalry Battalion in 1995. Fielding of M1A2 tanks to the 1st Cavalry Division was a textbook example of total package fielding (TPF). It also illustrates some of the techniques and procedures that we use in the office of the Project Manager, Abrams Tank System (PM Abrams), to ensure that fieldings of complex weapon systems occur successfully and with minimal impact on the receiving unit.
The 3rd Battalion was reassigned on 16 December 1992 to the 1st Cavalry Division and activated at Fort Hood, Texas. In December 1992, to March, 1993, B Co, 3D Battalion, 8th Cavalry, deployed to Kuwait with Task Force 2-7 Infantry. In March, 1993, A Co, 3D Battalion, 8th cavalry, became the first company in the U.S. Army to field the M1A2 Abrams tank. In August, 1995, 3D Battalion, 8th Cavalry became the first battalion in the U.S. Army to field the M1A2 Abrams tank. From August to December, 1996, 3D Battalion, 8th Cavalry, deployed to Kuwait for Operation Desert Spring. From August to December, 1998, C and D Co, 3D Battalion, 8th Cavalry, deployed to Kuwait as part of Task Force 1/9 Infantry. From August to December, 1999, A and D Co deployed to Kuwait as part of Task Force 2-7 Infantry. From April to August, 2000, B and Co Task Force 1/9 Infantry.
TF 3-8 Cavalry troops deployed to Kuwait as part of an Operation Desert Spring rotation from 15 April to 15 August 2001 for ODS Rotation 01-02. The 3-8 Cavalry barely had returned home from a Desert Spring rotation before being sent back to Kuwait for another deployment. as part of Task Force Blackjack from November 2001 to April 2002. The battalion core was there from April to August 2001 and returned in November 2001.
Command Support Center Scania is typically the last stop for troops heading into Baghdad from Kuwait. Following what is usually a 12-hour convoy, the road weary troops stop there for fuel, food and some rest. After a brief sojourn they start their engines, move out, and more than 100 kilometers later they are in Baghdad. When the 2nd Brigade Combat Team from the 10th Mountain Division stopped at Scania on their journey to Baghdad, they were greeted by an envoy from the 2nd Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment of the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division. The troops wanted to welcome the Mountain Division Soldiers to the First Team.
