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3rd Battalion (Assault), 4th Aviation Regiment
"Comanches"

The 3rd Battalion (Assault), 4th Aviation Regiment, "Commanches," was first constituted on 17 March 1980, as Company C, 4th Aviation Battalion, as an element of the 4th Infantry Division at Fort Carson, Colorado.

On 16 August 1987, the unit was reorganized and redesignated as Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 3rd Battalion, 4th Aviation, as an element of the 8th Infantry Division in Germany. As Army Aviation began restructuring the need for heavy divisions to have an air assault capability was identified. As the 4th Infantry Division lost its air cavalry component, it began to form its air assault battalion.

In 2004, the 4th Brigade (Aviation), 4th Infantry Division was reorganized and redesignated as Combat Aviation Brigade, 4th Infantry Division. This transformation was part of the reorganization of the 4th Infantry Division to the US Army's modular force structure. As part of this transformation, on 16 August 2004, D, E, F Troops, 1st Squadron, 10th Cavalry Regiment were reflagged as elements of the 3rd Battalion, 4th Aviation Regiment, which was activated and took the name the "Comanches." On 10 November 2004, A Company, 2nd Battalion, 4th Aviation, then known as the "Knighthawks," was reflagged to become A Company 3-4th Aviation, and changed their name to the "Tomahawks." In January 2005, B Company uncased their colors as the "Braves." In March 2005, E Company, the Battalion's forward support company, formed and took the name "Warpath." The final company stood up in April 2005, as C Company, the "Warriors."

The Battalion prepared for war in 2005 with trips to Fort Carson, Colorado; Fort Bliss, Texas; and the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, California. The unit successfully deployed to Iraq in December 2--5 in order to conduct full combat operations in Bagdad. There the 3rd Battalion, 4th Aviation Regiment, part of the Combat Aviation Aviation Brigade of the 4th Infantry Division, was operating out of Camp Taji, Iraq, in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

In July 2009, the remainder of the 4th Infantry Division, less the Combat Aviation Brigade, moved to join other elements of the Division at Fort Carson Colorado. Instead of joining them, the Combat Aviation, 4th Infantry Division, including 3-4th Aviation, prepared to deploy to Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom and the International Security Assistance Force. The Brigade and its units were expected to complete a move to Fort Carson, Colorado upon its return from Afghanistan.