46th Engineer Battalion
46th Engineer Battalion (Combat) (Heavy)

The mission of the 46th Engineer Battalion is to, on order, deploy to command and control and to execute combat and general engineering in support of Army, Joint, and /or Coalition Forces. 46th Engineer Battalion is assigned to the 1st Maneuver Enhancement Brigade, part of the Joint Readiness Training Center (JRTC) at Fort Polk, Louisiana.

The 46th Engineer Battalion was first constituted on 7 December 1917 in the National Army as the 46th Engineers and organized between March and April 1918 at Camp Sheridan, Alabama. The unit was converted and redesignated on 18 September 1918 as the 46th Regiment, Transportation Corps. The unit was awarded a campaign streamer without inscription for service during the Great War.

After the Armistice, the Regiment was broken up on 12 November 1918 and its elements reorganized and redesignated. The Regimental Headquarters and Headquarters Company was disbanded entirely. Companies A, B, and C were redesignated on 12 December 1918 as the 29th, 30th, and 31st Companies, Transportation Corps, respectively. 29th Company, Transportation Corps was demobilized on 13 July 1919 at Camp Devens, Massachusetts, while 30th and 31st Companies, Transportation Corps were demobilized on 2 July and 11 July 1919, respectively, at Camp Gordon, Georgia.

The Regiment was reconstituted on 1 October 1933 in the Regular Army as the 46th Engineers and activated on 14 July 1941 at Camp Bowie, Texas. It was redesignated on 18 March 1943 as the 46th Engineer General Service Regiment and reorganized and redesignated on 22 April 1944 as the 46th Engineer Construction Battalion. The unit was deployed to the Pacific Theater of Operations, where it participated in 5 campaigns: East Indies, Papua, New Guinea, Leyte (awarded streamer with arrowhead for participation in the initial landings), and Luzon.

After the end of the Second World War, the unit was reorganized and redesignated on 15 June 1947 as Headquarters and Headquarters and Service Company, 46th Engineer Construction Battalion, with its organic elements concurrently absorbed. The Battalion was inactivated on 15 March 1950 in Japan.

The unit was redesignated on 22 September 1950 as the 46th Engineer Construction Battalion and activated at Fort Sill, Oklahoma with its organic elements concurrently reconstituted and activated. The Battalion was reorganized and redesignated on 23 November 1953 as the 46th Engineer Battalion.

In 1965, the Battalion deployed to the Republic of Vietnam and was subsequently credited with participation in 14 campaigns during the conflict in Southeast Asia: Defense, Counteroffensive, Counteroffensive Phase II, Counteroffensive Phase III, Tet Counteroffensive, Counteroffensive Phase IV, Counteroffensive Phase V, Counteroffensive Phase VI, Tet 69/Counteroffensive, Summer-Fall 1969, Winter-Spring 1970, Sanctuary Counteroffensive, Counteroffensive Phase VII, and Consolidation I. The unit redeployed from Vietnam in 1971.

The Battalion deployed to Southwest Asia in 1990-1991 in support of Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm. It was subsequently awarded campaign streamers for the Defense of Saudi Arabia and Liberation and Defense of Kuwait.

The Battalion was reorganized on 16 October 1999 as a multi-component unit. Company C was concurrently inactivated and the 890th Engineer Company (Tennessee Army National Guard) was reorganized and redesignated as Company C, 46th Engineer Battalion. That unit was had been awarded campaign streamers for participation in the Rhineland, Ardennes-Alsace, and Central Europe during the Second World War, and retained those honors after being absorbed into the Battalion.

By 2002, the Battalion had relocated to Fort Polk and was placed under the control of the Headquarters Command, Fort Polk, also known as the "Warrior Brigade." In 2005, this unit was inactivated and the Battalion was reassigned to the 1st Combat Support Brigade. In 2008, the 1st Combat Support Brigade was redesignated as the 1st Maneuver Enhancement Brigade, to which the Battalion remained assigned. By November 2011, the Battalion was said to consist of 6 companies and 2 detachments.