2nd Battalion, 8th Field Artillery Regiment
"Automatic"
The mission of the 2nd Battalion, 8th Field Artillery, "Automatic," is to deploy as an early entry force and provide area security, indirect fires, non-lethal effects or other directed capabilities for the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infanty Division. The Battalion, based at Fort Wainwright, consisted of 3 howitzer batteries, a headquarters battery, and had the 176th Signal Company attached to it.
Prior to the reorganization of the 25th Infantry Division to the US Army's modular force structure, the 2nd Battalion, 8th Field Artillery had been stationed at Fort Lewis as part of the habitually attached units of the 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Light). Its mission was to deploy rapidly and fight anywhere in the world at any time, as the unit had done many times in the past with outstanding success.
At one time, 8th Field Artillery Regiment formed the largest field artillery regiment in the US Army with 8 active battalions. The spirit of the "Automatic Eighth" continued to live on in the soldiers of the 2nd Battalion, 8th Field Artillery Regiment, the only 8th Field Artillery unit on active service as of 2010.
The 2nd Battalion, 8th Field Artillery Regiment was first constituted on 1 July 1916 in the Regular Army as Battery B, 8th Field Artillery and organized on 7 July 1916 at Fort Bliss, Texas. The 8th Field Artillery as a whole was assigned on 6 December 1917 to the 7th Division. It was relieved on 1 March 1921 from assignment to the 7th Division and assigned to the Hawaiian Division (later redesignated as the 24th Infantry Division).
The unit was reorganized and redesignated on 1 October 1941 as Battery B, 8th Field Artillery Battalion, an element of the 25th Infantry Division.
Battery B, 8th Field Artillery Battalion was inactivated 1 February 1957 in Hawaii and relieved from assignment to the 25th Infantry Division. It was redesignated on 1 July 1957 as Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, 2nd Howitzer Battalion, 8th Artillery. It was assigned to the 7th Infantry Division ("Bayonet") and activated in Korea with organic elements concurrently constituted and activated.
The unit was further redesignated on 1 July 1963 as the 2nd Battalion, 8th Artillery. With the departure of the 7th Infantry Division from Korea on 27 March 1971, the unit moved to Fort Lewis, Washington where it was inactivated on 2 April 1971.
While inactive, the Battalion was redesignated 1 September 1971 as the 2nd Battalion, 8th Field Artillery. It was reactivated on 21 April 1975 at Fort Ord, California, assigned to the 7th Infantry Division. The Battalion served with distinction in direct support of the 1st Brigade, 7th Infantry Division (Light) which included battalions from the 17th ("Buffalos") and 31st ("Polar Bears") Infantry Regiments, and then later the 9th Infantry Regiment ("Manchus").
In December 1989, the Battalion turned in its M102 howitzers and became the first unit in the US Army to field the M119 howitzer (with a maximum range of 14,000 meters, or 19,000 with RAP). That same month, fire support elements deployed to Panama during Operation Just Cause as part of the 1st Brigade Combat Team (not to be confused with the modular Brigade Combat Team), 7th Infantry Division, then designated as the Division Readiness Brigade 2 (DRB-2) for the 25th Infantry Division. The brigade served as part of Task Force Atlantic until it redeployed in February 1991.
In April 1993, the unit moved from Fort Ord, California to Fort Lewis, Washington. On 9 August 1993, the 7th Infantry Division (Light) was inactivated at Fort Ord, California. 2-8th Field Artillery subsequently supported the 9th Regimental Combat Team. On 21 January 1995, the unit deployed to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba to support humanitarian operations conducted by Joint Task Group Bulkeley, JTF 160. Team Alpha, consisting of HHB and A Battery, operated Migrant Camp G. Team Bravo, consisting of B and C Batteries, operated Migrant Camp E. The Battalion re-deployed to Fort Lewis on 7 June 1995.
On 16 August 1995 the Battalion was formally relieved from assignment to the 7th Infantry Division and assigned to the 25th Infantry Division. On 24 August 1995, the 9th RCT was reflagged as the 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Light), consisting of 1-5th Infantry, 1-24th Infantry, and 5-20th Infantry, with the 25th Forward Support Battalion and 2-8th Field Artillery attached to it. 2nd Battalion, 8th Field Artillery was designated as the direct support artillery unit to the 1st Brigade. With the activation of the 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division at Fort Lewis, Washington this was the first time an element of the 25th Infantry Division had served in the Continental United States.
In 2002, the 2-8th Field Artillery began its transformation to join the Army's second Stryker Brigade Combat Team (SBCT) as part of the Army's transformation to a more rapidly deployable and lethal force to fight the global war on terrorism. As part of this reorganization, the 2nd Battalion, 8th Field Artillery was made organic to the 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division.
On 15 October 2004, the "Automatic" Battalion was again called to duty, this time as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom. The unit officially unfurled its Regimental and Battalion Colors at Forward Operating Base Endurance, northern Iraq on 2 November 2004. The 2-8th Field Artillery was part of the Army's second BCT, replacing the 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division in the northern city of Mosul and surrounding areas.
In 2006, as part of a round of reflaggings, the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division was inactivated and reflagged as the 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment. The 1st Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, along with its subordinate units, was subsequently reactivated at Fort Wainwright, Alaska.
|
NEWSLETTER
|
| Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list |
|
|
|
