1st Cavalry Division
"First Team"
1991-1999
Upon its return to the United States following Operation Desert Storm, the 1st Cavalry Division became the largest division in the Army, with the reactivation of its 3rd Brigade on 21 May 1991. Included in this brigade combat team (not to be confused with the modular brigade combat team) was the 3-41st Infantry, 1-67th Armor, 3-67th Armor, 1-3rd Field Artillery, and the 502nd Forward Support Battalion (which was reflagged as the 215th Foward Support Battalion).
October 1992 saw the activation of the Engineer Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division. Through the Army's "Engineer Restructuring Initiative," the nucleus of the Brigade was formed around the Division's historic 8th Engineer Battalion. The 20th Engineer Battalion was brought from Fort Campbell, Kentucky to join the Brigade and the 91st Engineer Battalion was activated to complete it. In November 1992, the unit designations for the Battalions remaining from the former "Tiger" Brigade of the 2nd Armored Division were returned to them prior to their reactivation at Fort Hood on 2 December 1992. This action was done to realign the historical designations of units to their parent divisions.
On 29 November 1992, the 1st Cavalry Division in turn regained the titles of its historical units: 3-41th Infantry was reflagged as 1-9th Cavalry; 1-67th Armor was reflagged as 3-8th Cavalry; and 1-3rd Field Artillery was reflagged as 2-82nd Field Artillery. On 16 December 1992, other 1st Cavalry Division units reflagged to accomplish the realignments for historical purposes. These changes included: 1-32nd Armor being reflagged as 2-12th Cavalry; 3-32nd Armor reflagged to 1-12th Cavalry; and Battery A, 333rd Field Artillery reflagged to Battery B, 26th Field Artillery. In August 1993, the reflagging actions were completed when the 2nd Armored Division's 4-6th Infantry was reflagged as the 2-7th Cavalry Regiment, which was assigned to the First Team's 3rd Brigade.
Following its reorganization, the 1st Cavalry Division became the Army's largest division and only armored contingency force, ready to deploy anywhere in the world on a moment's notice. After that, elements of the First Team returned to Kuwait no less than 3 times as part of a 10-year training agreement between the US and Kuwait and also in a crisis situation when Iraq infringed on Kuwaiti border rules.
Meanwhile, the National Training Center in Fort Irwin, California remained a mainstay of training for the Division, which deployed brigades there 3 times a year. There they had 1,000 square miles for maneuver training against the best trained opposing force in the world.
Division teaming began in 1998 as a pilot program, pairing the 49th Armored Division, Texas National Guard, with the 1st Cavalry Division headquartered at Fort Hood, Texas, and California's 40th Mechanized Division with the Army's 4th Mechanized Division, also headquartered at Fort Hood. This original division teaming was announced at the 1998 National Guard Association conference by then Army Chief of Staff Gen. Dennis J. Reimer. It was part of a program to integrate the active and reserve components, or AC/RC integration. Under division teaming, one division would have the lead in certain areas, and the divisions would share resources. When one division deployed, the other would mobilize to provide replacement operations, Reimer said during his conference speech. The Army's 1st Cavalry Division required additional personnel in order to mobilize to Bosnia in 1998. Had the Army already begun a pilot program matching active-duty divisions to Guard divisions, additional personnel could have come from the Guard.
The 1st Cavalry Division was selected to assume the mission of Task Force Eagle, conducting peace support operations in Bosnia-Herzegovina. On 16 April 1998, the decision to send the First Team on this unique and challenging mission was announced. Following 4 months of highly successful and intensive planning, training, and maintaining, First Team assumed the mission of ensuring peace and stability throughout Bosnia-Herzegovina. On 7 October 1998, the 1st Cavalry Division, under the command of Major General Kevin P. Byrnes, assumed authority of the Multi-National Division - North area of operations in Bosnia-Herzegovina from the 1st Armored Division.
The 1st Cavalry Division was the first CONUS based division to assume this mission. The Division's mission was to conduct operations to enforce the military provisions set forth by the Dayton Accords. The 1st Cavalry Division's soldiers served as America's ambassadors. Their day-to-day presence and commitment to the citizens of Bosnia-Herzegovina helped prove that a lasting and self-sustaining peace was possible. In order to conduct successful peace missions while in theater, soldiers were extensively trained on mine awareness, country and cultural customs nad checkpoint and convoy operations. Training was conducted on all levels including individual readiness training, leader/staff training, Operation Joint Forge Training and the Mission Rehearsal Exercise. 1st Cavalry Division soldiers were placed in position of responsibilities never before experienced. These responsibilities ranged form monitoring former warring factions to assisting in the return of displaced persons and refugees. The preparation for the deployment included preparing family members for the long separation. The 1st Cavalry Division's family and soldiers' readiness program set a new Army standard. The First Team set the conditions to build self-sufficiency in their families.
The Division expertly executed the Stabilization Force 4 and 5 (SFOR 4 and 5) missions in Bosnia-Herzegovina and set new standards for follow on units. The SFOR 4 deployment consisted of soldiers from 2-5th Cavalry, 1-8th Cavalry, 2-8th Cavalry, 1-82nd Field Artillery, 20th Engineer Battalion, A/4-5th Air Defense Artillery, 1/545th Military Police Company, 4th Brigade (Aviation) Headquarters, 2-227th Aviation, the Engineer Brigade Headquarters, 13th Signal Battalion, 312th Military Intelligence Battalion, and III Corps units to include elements from 13th Corps Support Command, 410th Military Police Company, 205th Military Intelligence Battalion, 15th Personnel Services Battalion, and 15th Finance Battalion. In 6 months, they conducted more than 11,000 day inspections and conducted combined missions with the Russians.
SFOR 5 consisted of soldiers from the 2nd Brigade Headquarters, 1-5th Cavalry, 1-12th Cavalry, 2-12th Cavalry, 3-82nd Field Artillery, 91st Engineer Battalion, C/4-5th Air Defense Artillery, 2/545th Military Police Company, 15th Finance Battalion, and 1-7th Cavalry. They conducted daily mounted presence patrols in their HMMWVs and occasionally, in armored vehicles, among the Bosniac, Serb and Croat populace. During the 6 months, squads and platoons conducted over 9,000 combat patrols and escorted over 1000 convoy movements over some of the most rugged terrain and austere conditions. The soldiers conducted hundreds of weapons storage site inspections, established vehicle checkpoints designed to monitor and control movement and often conducted searches for and seizures of illegal contraband and weapons. The pilots, crew chiefs and mechanics set a new Army benchmark for safety and the number of hours flown, over 17,000 flying hours. The engineers monitored the demining of more than 80,000 square meters of contested land and supervised the construction of 41 million dollars worth of base camp improvements.
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