1st Armored Cavalry Troop
"Rapido"
The mission of the 1st Armored Cavalry Troop is to conduct armor operations in support to the AFP units in order to establish stability and security in NCRCOM AOR.
At the time when the Korean War was raging, the AFP was also engaged in a home front fight against a former tactical anti-Japanese ally - the Hukbalahap. Thus, a need for a cavalry unit was conceived.
On 1 March 1952, the postwar 1st Cavalry Squadron was organized under Colonel Jacobo Zobel with the prewar Cavalry Regiment personnel recalled from the different units to comprise this fledging organization.
The Squadron was transferred to the control of the Philippine Constabulary on 1 August 1957 to pursue peace and order functions and was finally deactivated in 1960. On 16 August 1963, the Armored Cavalry Troop, 1st Infantry Division was activated and on the same day, the 1st Reconnaissance Company was redesignated as the Tank Company, 1st Infantry Division. The existence of the latter was short-lived because on 1 August 1966, it was unfilled and its personnel and equipment were absorbed by the Armored Cavalry Troop.
The Armored Cavalry Troop was upgraded into a squadron size on 1 March 1971 with then First Lieutenant Victor U Garcia as its first Squadron Commander. On 1 April 1974, the Squadron was redesignated as the 1st Light Armor Battalion, 1st Infantry Division and other similar units were activated in other divisions and separate brigades of the Army.
Sometime between the consolidation of all the Philippine Armor units into the Philippine Army Light Armor Regiment on 16 August 1976 and the formation of the expanded Light Armor Division 11 September 2006, the 1st Armored Cavalry Troop was activated as reconnaissance and rapid reaction element.
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