3rd Brigade - 4th Infantry Division (Mechanized)
As of January 2006 3rd Brigade, 4th Infantry Division, was participating in Operation Iraqi Freedom as part of the larger Task Force Band of Brothers which was led by 101st Airborne Division commanding general, Maj. Gen. Thomas Turner. The unit’s mission included training the Iraqi Security Forces, assisting in the rebuilding of the Diyala Province infrastructure as well as continuing to root out the anti-Iraqi forces that inhabit the region.
In March 2003, during its first deployment in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom, the 4,000 troops in the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, had nine forward operating bases spread across 1,500 square miles of Iraq north of Baghdad, from Samarra to Taji. The headquarters was at LSA Anaconda, a logistics support area about 12 miles from FOB Eagle.
The 3rd Brigade Combat Team was a self contained, combat ready force of 3,800 soldiers assigned to six battalions and five separate companies. The BCT consisted of two mechanized infantry battalions, a tank battalion, a combat engineer battalion, a field artillery battalion and a forward support battalion. In addition, the brigade was supported by a reconnaissance troop, an air defense battery, a military intelligence company, and a signal company, as well as the brigade headquarters company.
Although stationed at Fort Carson, the BCT was the mechanized infantry brigade for the 4th Infantry Division (Mechanized) stationed at Fort Hood, Texas. It was one of three Brigades located in the 4th Infantry Division. 3rd BCT was the only brigade located on Fort Carson, CO. The other two Brigades were located at Fort Hood, Texas along with the Division Headquarters. As a result of the geographical location of the 3BCT, The Brigade had two General officer Commanders, one at Fort Hood and the other at Fort Carson.
The 3rd Brigade was constituted 19 November 1917 in the Regular Army as Headquarters, 8th Infantry Brigade, an element of the 4th Infantry Division. It was organized in December 1917 at Camp Greene, NC. The Brigade has been reorganized and redesignated several times over the years. Finally, on 15 December 1970, it was activated at Fort Carson, CO, as 3rd Brigade, 4th Infantry Division.
When the Division Headquarters moved to Fort Hood, TX, the Brigade was redesignated as 3rd Brigade Combat Team (BCT).
3rd BCT has received numerous campaign participation credits, including Aisne-Marne and Meuse-Argonne During World War I. During Vietnam, 3rd BDE participated in Counteroffensive, Phases II-VI, and Tet Counteroffensive, to name a few. 3rd BDE has received many decorations. A few of the more prestigious decorations include the Presidential Unit Citation, Valorous Unit Award, Republic of Vietnam Cross of Gallantry with Palm, and the Republic of Vietnam Civil Action Honor Medal, First Class.
The 3rd BCT, 4th Infantry Division (Mechanized), or the "Iron Brigade", is composed of two M2A2 Bradley Fighting Vehicle equipped infantry battalions (1-8 IN and 1-12 IN), one M1A1 Abrams equipped armor battalion (1-68 AR), one M109A6 155mm Paladin equipped field artillery battalion (3-29 FA), one mechanized combat engineer battalion (4 EN), and one forward support battalion (64 FSB). In addition, the Brigade Combat Team has one Bradley Stinger Fighting Vehicle/Stinger air defense battery (C/1-44 ADA), one military intelligence company (C/104 MI), one signal company (534 SIG) and one brigade recon troop (B/9 Cavalry), to support its combat operations. The three separate companies' parent battalions are located at Fort Hood, TX.
The Brigade has been actively deploying soldiers on a variety of missions around the world. We work extensively with the 116th CAV Brigade, the National Guard unit stationed in Boise, ID. We routinely send soldiers to assist in their training and serve as observer/controllers during their annual training. We trained soldiers on techniques of fire fighting and deployed them to Washington during the summer of 1997 to assist in the rampant outbreak of forest fires.
The Brigade had a highly successful NTC rotation during July 1997, and was in the process of gearing up for some exciting training at Pinon Canyon, followed by another tour to the National Training Center in the fall of 1998. The 3rd BCT played a large role in the 4th Infantry Division's Advanced Warfighting Experiment (AWE), where it was exposed to the Army's most advanced computerized systems that allowed it to fight a digitized three dimensional battle.
The Brigade brigade deployed for a 90 day training exercise to Kuwait (Sep to Dec 1997), where it sent TF 1-12 IN, with all supporting elements, to conduct multi-national coalition training.
As of mid-2001, recent operations had included Cooperative Nugget, a NATO sponsored Partnership for Peace Exercise, two rotations to the Joint Readiness Training Center (JRTC) at Ft. Polk, the 4th Infantry Division Warfighter Exercise (WFX) and two very successful rotations to the National Training Center (NTC) at Fort Irwin, CA. It was also scheduled to, in the coming months, prepare for and assume the Division Ready Brigade (DRB) in conjunction with the 4th Infantry Division, support the Division Capstone Exercise (DCX) II at Ft Hood and prepare a task force for deployment to Southwest Asia.
The mission of the 3rd Brigade Combat Team is to maintain balanced readiness; on order deploy to a contingency area of operations, complete RSOI, conduct combat operations and win. It is also tasked with, on order, redeploying.
