1st Squadron, 113th Cavalry Regiment
"We Maintain"

The 1st Squadron, 113th Cavalry Regiment is the brigade cavalry squadron for the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 34th Infantry Division. An element of the Iowa Army National Guard, 1-113th Cavalry is located at Camp Dodge, Iowa.

The 1st Squadron, 113th Cavalry and the 113th Cavalry Regiment as a whole have historical ties to Iowa, with Federal duty dating back to the Mexican Border war and the First World War. In World War II, the Regiment saw action in Normandy, Northern France, Belgium, Holland and Germany. They had over 305 days of continuous combat covering a distance of over 800 miles. The Regiment was the first American element to join up with the Russian forces at the Elbe River. The Regiment destroyed over 600 enemy vehicles and captured 21,599 enemy prisoners of war. The unit was inactivated after World War II.

After years of reorganizations, inactivations and reactivations, the 1st Squadron, 113th Cavalry was reactivated on 11 September 1992 at ceremonies at Camp Dodge, Iowa as the divisional cavalry squadron for the 34th Infantry Division. In that capacity, the mission of 1-113th Cavalry was to provide the 34th Infantry Division commander with a mobile, compact fighting force, capable of performing reconnaissance to provide timely information on the location and development of the enemy to his front, flank or rear. The Squadron was also capable of conducting limited attacks to exploit enemy weaknesses on the battlefield.

Initially, the Squadron was organized with 2 ground and 2 aviation troops. On 1 September 1996 an additional ground troop was activated, becoming C Troop, and an aviation maintenance troop was also activated (F Troop). Each of the ground troops contained 9 IPM1 tanks, 6 M113 armored personnel carriers, 6 M901 Improved TOW Vehicles (ITV), and 2 M106 mortar carriers, in addition to other equipment. Each of the aerial troops had 8 AH-1F Cobra attack helicopters at their core to help them accomplish their mission.

With the transformation of the 34th Infantry Division to the US Army's modular force structure, 1st Squadron, 113th Cavalry Regiment was reorganized as a brigade cavalry troop and assigned directly to 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 34th Infantry Division. D Troop (Aviation), E Troop (Aviation), and F Troop (Aviation Maintenance) were inactivated, with the remaining troops being reorganized.