1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (SBCT)
"Lancers", "First to Strike"
The 1st Brigade, consists of the 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry, 1-24 Infantry, 3-21 Infantry, Co D (AT), 52nd Infantry, 2-8 Artillery, 25th FSB, 73rd Engineer Company , 184th Military Intelligence Company and 176th Signal Company.
The 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, and the 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division, both of which belong to I Corps at Fort Lewis, were identified in November 1999 as the first two brigades to make the transition into lighter, more mobile units capable of deploying within 96 hours. Each brigade combat team will function with about 3,700 soldiers.
The bulk of the brigades will be three mechanized infantry battalions and a reconnaissance intelligence, surveillance, and target acquisition squadron, otherwise known as a "RSTA." The four units will account for about 75 percent of a brigade combat team, which will not only be able to participate in major theater wars, but quickly provide regional stability to "hot spots" throughout the world, including those in urban terrain. The Army's new brigade combat teams may have less soldiers and a different look when all's said and done -- Lots of infantry, lots of mortars and lots of snipers -- but the units will be more than capable of doing the job they've been designed to do. The initial brigade combat teams will have a more robust and varied intelligence capability, from the military intelligence company down to the company level. This is not the brigade that finds the fight by bumping into it.
In December 1994 the Army announced the new designations for brigades in Alaska and Fort Lewis, WA. The 1st Brigade, 7th Infantry Division (Light), often called the 9th Infantry Regiment (Manchus), at Fort Lewis, was redesignated as the 1st Brigade of the 25th Infantry Division (Light). Thus the 25th Infantry Division (Light) consisted of a headquarters and two brigades at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii, and one brigade at Fort Lewis.
On 16 August 1995 the 1st Brigade was reassigned to Fort Lewis, Washington. This was the first time in the history of the 25th Division that a major organic component of the division was serving in the continental United States. It was composed of the 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry, the 5th Battalion, 20th Infantry, the 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry, the 2nd Battalion, 8th Field Artillery, and the 25th Forward Support Battalion.
On 16 September 2000 the 5th Battalion, 20th Infantry was reassigned to the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division at Fort Lewis. The 1st Brigade received a battalion to replace the 5-20th in the spring of 2002.
The 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division Brigade Combat Team deployed to Iraq in November 2003, and was scheduled to be redeployed in November 2004. It was replaced by another Fort Lewis Stryker brigade -- the 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division.
On June 1, 2006 at Ft Lewis, WA, a large Army reflagging ceremony occurred. The 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry’s colors were cased, the colors of the 2nd Cavalry Regiment were transferred, and the 4th Brigade, 2d Infantry Division colors were uncased. Two respected military units conducted a joint reflagging ceremony at Gray Army Airfield. The 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division deactivated to be reflagged as 2nd Cavalry Regiment; 2nd Cavalry Regiment, in turn, joined the 2nd Infantry Division, activating as the Indianhead Division's 4th Brigade. In its history that began in 1917, 2nd Inf. Div. has never included a 4th Bde. The former 2nd Cav. Regt. will begin a fresh set of traditions as a brand new Stryker brigade combat team in the Indianhead Division. The newly constituted 2nd Cav. Regt. completed a move to Germany in the summer of 2006.
