1st Cavalry Division
"First Team"
1965-1989
The 1st Cavalry Division moved to Fort Benning, Georgia in 1965, but only long enough to be reorganized and prepared for a new mission. The 11th Air Assault Division (Test) was reflagged as the 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile). The 1st Cavalry Division in Korea was reflagged as the 2nd Infantry Division. Within 90 days of becoming the Army's first air mobile division, the First Team was back in combat as the first fully committed division of the Vietnam War.
Their first real combat test came during the Pleiku campaign, 35 days of continuous air mobile operations, beginning on 29 October 1965. The troopers destroyed 2 of the 3 regiments of a North Vietnamese Division, earning the first Presidential Unit Citation given to a division in Vietnam.
The Division began 1968 by terminating Operation Pershing, the longest of the 1st Cavalry Division's Vietnam actions. For nearly a year the Division scoured the Bong Son plain, An Lo valley and the hills of coastal II Corps, seeking out enemy units and their sanctuaries. When the operation ended on 21 January 1968, the enemy had lost 5,401 soldiers and 2,400 enemy soldiers had been detained. Some 1,300 individual and 137 crew served weapons had been captured or destroyed.
Moving to I Corps, Vietnam's northern most tactical zone, the Division set up Camp Evans for their new base camp. In late January 1968, the enemy launched the Tet Offensive, a major effort to overrun South Vietnam. Some 7,000 enemy, primarily well equipped, crack NVA regulars blasted their way into the imperial city of Hue and Quang Tri, the capital of Vietnam's northern most province. The 1st Cavalry Division went on the move and by 1 February 1968, Quang Tri was liberated followed by Hue. After shattering the enemy's dreams of a Tet victory, the 1st Cavalry Division "Sky-troopers" moved to relieve the besieged Marine Base at Khe Sann.
In May 1970, the First Team was "First into Cambodia," hitting what was previously a Communist sanctuary. Troopers deprived the enemy of much needed supplies and ammunition, scattering the enemy forces. The Division's Vietnam service ended in 1972 when its last brigade began withdrawing. The 1st Cavalry Division had been the first division to go, and the last to leave. General Creighton Abrams, while commander of all US Forces in southeast Asia, said of the 1st Cavalry Division, "The big yellow patch does something to an individual that makes him a better soldier, a better team member, and a better American than he otherwise would have been."
The bulk of the 1st Cavalry Division returned to the United States on 5 May 1971, where it was reorganized as the first Triple Capability (TRICAP) Division. This TRICAP designation stemmed from its organization, consisting of an armored brigade, a mechanized infantry brigade, an airmobile brigade, and support troops tailored to assist the combat elements of the division.
In January 1975, the 1st Cavalry Division was once again reorganized, becoming the Army's newest armored division. After completing the reorganization, the unit successfully completed field testing of TACFIRE, a computerized system to increase the effectiveness of artillery. The Division also received the mission in September 1978, for testing the Division Restructure (DRS) concept, used to determine the most effective use of manpower and weapons systems for the battlefields of the future.
After fielding the M1 Abrams main battle tank in 1980, force modernization continued to be a major division focus. The First Team became the "First" division to field the AH-64A Apache attack helicopter, M2 Bradley Fighting Vehicle, the High Mobility Multi-Purpose Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV), and the Multiple Launch Rocket System.
The Division's first National Training Center (NTC) rotation in September 1982, kicked off a long on-going series of tough, realistic desert battles. The first units were the 1st Brigade's 2-7th Cavalry, and 3-10th Cavalry. The Division went on to conducts 3 NTC rotations a year. During exercise REFORGER (Return of Forces to Germany) '83, the First Team became the first unit to train as a division-size element in Northern Europe.
All the training, modernization, planning, and operations culminated in REFORGER '83, when the First Team deployed nearly 9,000 soldiers to Holland, drew propositioned equipment, moved to a staging area and conducted Exercise Certain Strike on the plains of Northern Germany. The success of the exercise proved that the Division was fully capable of performing its wartime mission. This was the first US deployment to Holland and Northern Germany since the Second World War.
On 16 October 1987, the First Team became the first division to field and train with Mobile Subscriber Equipment (MSE), the military version of a cellular telephone system. The system became fully operational on 25 October 1988. In January of 1989, the 1st Cavalry Division's 2nd Brigade amassed a series of firsts during its NTC rotation. This was the first combined use of the AH-64A Apache, M2 Bradley, and MSE. In addition, the First Teams' Apaches launched the first HELLFIRE anti-armor missiles ever fired at the NTC. One of the missiles was guided to it's target by the new OH-58D Kiowa Warrior observation helicopter.
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