47th Forward Support Battalion
"Modern Pioneers"
The 47th Forward Support Battalion the 2d Brigade Combat Team (2d BCT) of the 1st Armored Division. 2d BCT is a heavy brigade comprised of two mechanized infantry battalions, an armor battalion, an engineer battalion, and a field artillery battalion.
The 47th Forward Support Battalion was constituted 7 January 1939 in the regular Army as the 4th Medical Squadron and activated 1 February 1939 at Fort Knox, Kentucky. It was recognized and re-designated 1 April 1940 as the 4th Medical Troop (organic elements concurrently inactivated). On 15 July 1940 it was once again reorganized and re-designated as the 4th Medical Battalion and assigned to the 1st Armored Division (organic elements concurrently activated). The battalion went through further change on 1 January 1942 when it was re-designated as the 47th Armored Medical Battalion. On 20 July 1944, it was again reorganized and re-designated as the 47th Medical Battalion (Armored).
Near the close of World War II the battalion was reorganized and re-designated the 47th Armored Medical Battalion. Following World War II the battalion was inactivated on 10 April 1946 at Camp Kilmer, New Jersey. The unit was later activated 7 March 1951 at Fort Hood, Texas. Throughout the Cold War Era the battalion continued to change through several relocations and activations. On 1 May 1987, after many years of forward deployment in Germany, the battalion was finally converted and re-designated to its current posture as the 47th Support Battalion (Forward) and concurrently activated in Germany as an element of the 1st Armored Division.
The battalion served in Southwest Asia during Operation DESERT STORM, in Bosnia, and in Albania in support of Task Force Hawk, and in Kosovo in support of Task Force Falcon.
