A recently “stress-tested” Army armor brigade is headed to Europe this winter and a combat aviation brigade will deploy to the Middle East in the coming months, the Army announced.
The 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division will deploy to Europe. The “Raider” brigade will replace the 1st ABCT, 1st Cavalry Division.
“Raider is ready and willing to take on this vital mission,” Col. James Armstrong, brigade commander said in a statement. “We have trained hard, and we have no doubt in our ability to answer the nation’s call.”
Nearly the entire brigade of 3,500 soldiers from the Raider Brigade will deploy throughout January to various locations across Europe to support NATO allies, deter further aggression against NATO member states and train with host-nation forces, according to a 3rd ID release.
Armstrong spoke last week at the Maneuver Warfighter Conference at Fort Moore, Georgia, highlighting improved, more-demanding gunnery ranges that the brigade performed on this year in preparation for the deployment.
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The brigade conducted the Army’s first heavy Immediate Response Package since 2003 for their summer rotation at the National Training Center, Fort Irwin, California, Army Times previously reported.
For the same rotation, the 3rd ID also ran the Army’s first remote cybersecurity operations cell for an entire brigade from the division’s home station in Fort Stewart, Georgia, more than 2,300 miles away.
At the conference, Armstrong emphasized the brigade’s deployment of new equipment. It was the first such unit to deploy a full complement of the Armored Multi-Purpose Vehicle for its rotation.
The Army also announced the deployment of the 101st Combat Aviation Brigade, or CAB, out of Fort Campbell, Kentucky to U.S. Central Command. The announcement did not include the dates or duration of the CAB deployment.
The aviation brigade will replace the 10th Mountain Division CAB out of Fort Drum, New York.
The 1st Armored Division out of Fort Bliss, Texas, is sending its division headquarters to Europe to replace the 1st Cavalry Division headquarters, along with its division artillery, also replacing the 1st Cavalry’s division artillery.
The 1st Armored Division CAB will also deploy to Europe, replacing the 1st Cavalry Division CAB and the division’s sustainment brigade will replace the 1st Cavalry’s sustainment brigade.
The 3rd Expeditionary Sustainment Command out of Fort Liberty, North Carolina, will replace the 364th Expeditionary Sustainment Command in CENTCOM.
The Army announced a series of unit rotations now underway to South Korea, Europe and the Middle East this summer.
Those included the 1st Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division to CENTCOM, the 3rd ABCT, 1st Armored Division to Europe and the 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division to South Korea.
Todd South has written about crime, courts, government and the military for multiple publications since 2004 and was named a 2014 Pulitzer finalist for a co-written project on witness intimidation. Todd is a Marine veteran of the Iraq War.
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