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84th Division (Institutional Training)

The 84th Division (Institutional Training) is headquartered in Milwaukee and has subordinate units and soldiers throughout the states of Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, Iowa, and Indiana. The 84th Division (Institutional Training) has 4,137 soldiers, in 43 subordinate commands. As an institutional training division, the 84th currently performs a variety of missions in support of the Army school system. Missions include providing basic combat training and infantry one station unit training to new soldiers and officer training to ROTC cadets. The division personnel also train active- and reserve-component servicemembers in combat-service, combat-service-support, health services and professional-development courses.

The Division currently has eight brigades. Three brigades conduct initial entry training while the remaining four school brigades train in a wide variety of subjects including; combat support MOS training, health services MOS training, and professional development training.

The 84th Division (Institutional Training) may not be heading to Kosovo, but unit members spent a weekend in June 2000 preparing others for deployment. Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 274th Regiment and 3rd Battalion, 334 Regiment, 2nd Brigade (Basic Combat Training), 84th Division (IT) taught basic soldier skills to members of the 432nd Civil Affairs Battalion and Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 308th Civil Affairs Brigade. Sixty 432nd Civil Affairs soldiers were preparing for a deployment to Kosovo. The soldiers departed late summer 2000 and served in Kosovo for approximately six months in Operation Joint Guardian. However, in order for the soldiers to fulfill their civil affairs mission, they must hone their basic soldier skills. And that is what the 84th Division soldiers helped the Green Bay, Wis.-based unit accomplish. These requirements included qualifying on the M-16 or M-9, completing a land-navigation course, passing common task and physical fitness testing, and performing water survival training. The 84th Division soldiers are experts at training these skills. What they did is essentially what they do at BCT (Basic Combat Training). The job of the 84th Division's 2nd Brigade is to teach basic combat skills to new soldiers. In 2000 the Oshkosh-based unit is took on that responsibility at Knox and members of 3rd Battalion, 334th Regiment helped them. To complete its mission, the Oshkosh unit must provide enough personnel to run a basic training unit for approximately three months. The unit does this by rotating personnel every 17 days, however, when the unit needs help filling positions, it relies on this year's support battalion, 3rd Battalion, 334th Regiment, which is what it did during the weekend exercise. The company that conducted basic rifle marksmanship training at Knox helped the civil affairs soldiers qualify on their M-16s. The soldiers that do the end-of-cycle testing tought common tasks. The prime mission of the 3rd Battalion, 334th Regiment is to provide instruction on basic infantry skills, whether it is in a BCT environment, or during a training exercise. They provided M-9 qualification, common-task training, land navigation and assisted the civil affairs unit with water survival training.

What was to be a test of the commander's alert notification October 18, turned out to be the real deal for 20 Army Reserve soldiers and their families from the 84th Division (Institutional Training). The soldiers, members of 1st Battalion, 334th Regiment, 7th Brigade (Reception), were called to active duty in support of Operation Noble Eagle in the wake of the attack on America on Sept. 11. Twenty soldiers, mostly drill sergeants, left Oshkosh, Wis. Oct. 20 for an undetermined period in support of Operation Noble Eagle. They were bound for Fort Benning, Ga. to train other soldiers in basic soldier skills. During annual training they process new recruits through the military entry stations in preparation for basic training. During this deployment, they processed into active duty Individual Ready Reserve soldiers, people who had previously been in the Army, but were not currently assigned to a unit.

The 84th Division has a history that reaches back to Abraham Lincoln and the Black Hawk Indian War of 1832. The Division patch is a symbol of that legacy and shows an ax splitting a log for a rail fence -- hence the nickname "The Railsplitters." The 84th is the famous "Lincoln Country" Division that traces its lineage back to the militia company in which Captain Abe Lincoln served in Wisconsin during the Blackhawk War of 1832. Lincoln volunteered to fight the Indians in 1832 and was mustered into an Illinois unit which trailed Chief Blackhawk as far as what is now Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin. Lincoln later spoke with pride on the floor of Congress about his military service.

Officially, the 84th Division was not formed until August 5, 1917, during World War I. At that time it was a combat infantry unit composed of men from the states of Wisconsin, Kentucky and Illinois. When men from Wisconsin, Illinois, and Kentucky were formed into a new Army Division (the 84th) in 1917, they chose as their nickname "The Railsplitters" harking back to Lincoln's company from the same region of 1832. The Division shoulder patch became the emblem familiar in Wisconsin today; a white axe embedded in a white log on a circle of Badger Cardinal. The new division trained for 13 months before it was sent to Europe. But instead of entering the fight as a unit, it was split up to provide replacement personnel for other units. Many individual members did become heroes during this period. The 84th served in France as a training center for replacements heading toward the Western Front during World War I, and then came home to be demobilized in 1919.

The Division was disbanded after World War I. It was not reactivated until, 1942, after the Japanese had attacked Pearl Harbor and the United States entered World War II. For 23 years, the 84th was merely a name on a sheet of paper until the unit was reactivated in October of 1942. On September 20, 1944, the 84th landed in England, trained for a month, then headed for the fighting on the European continent. On November 10, 1944, the Division landed in France and was rushed to the front in Belgium. It was the first unit to smash the northern section of Germany's dreaded Siegfreid Line. When the German Army began its last great counter-offensive, the 84th Division again blocked the path. In freezing cold and snow, General Von Rundstedt threw the German Army at the 84th again and again. But the Division held its ground in what became known as "The Battle of the Bulge". In November 1844, the 84th moved into Germany and entered combat as an infantry division. Its first mission was the capture of Geilkenkirchen, Germany as part of a larger offensive, north of Aachen. From there, the 84th moved on to capture Boeck and Linden in the face of heavy enemy resistance. The 84th remained in almost continuous action until it reached the Elbe River in April 1945 where it established contact with the Russians at Barlow in May. The 84th has never suffered from lack of battle honors. During World War II, the 84th Division earned 7 Distinguished Unit Citations, 12 Distinguished Service Crosses, 1 Distinguished Service Medal, 555 Silver Stars, 4 Legions of Merit, 27 soldier Medals, 2962 Bronze Stars, and 59 Air Medals.

After the war, the 84th Division came home to Wisconsin, as part of the U.S. Army Reserve. In January of 1946, the 84th Division came home just as it had come home 27 years before. However, this time, there was one big difference, it was no longer just a name on paper. The Division became an integral part of the nation's defense program, designated an Airborne Division, part of America's Ready Reserve. In 1947, it was designated as an Airborne Reserve command.

The Division continued as an Airborne Infantry division until 1952 when it was reorganized into a training division with three regiments - the 274th, 334th, and the 339th.

The Division developed skills in offensive and defensive tactics until 1959 when it was organized into a training division. The Division was then composed of 4 Brigades and a Training Group with over 3000 men and women throughout Wisconsin, with the Division headquarters in Milwaukee. Three of the brigades, the 1st Brigade, 3rd Brigade, and 4th Brigade, as well as the Training Group and Logistics Group were also stationed in Milwaukee. The 2nd Brigade had its headquarters in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin. The 5091st Reception Station, although not active to the Division, were assigned Battalions. Additionally, subordinate units of the Division were located in nine other Wisconsin cities.

On January 21, 1991, a portion of the 84th Division (TNG) was mobilized in support of Operation Desert Storm. More than 500 Railsplitters reported to Fort Sill, Oklahoma, along with equipment and weapons systems to provide refresher training to several thousand reactivated Individual Ready Reservists. On March 22, 1991, after achieving tremendous success, the Railsplitters returned home.

As the result of a reorganization in 1993, the 84th Division (TNG) merged with the 85th Division (TNG) and expanded its area of operation to include Wisconsin, Illinois, Missouri and Iowa. The 84th Division (Tng) provided refresher training in June 1994 for 41 Army Reservists who were deployed to the Sinai in 1995 as part of the U.S. contribution to the Multinational Force Observer (MFO) Sinai Peacekeeping Operations in Egypt from January through July 1995.

In April 1995 the Division become an Institutional Training division, again expanding its area of operation to include Wisconsin, Illinois Missouri, Iowa and Nebraska. A subsequent reorganization in August 1995 expanded the traditional missions of the Division (IT) units to include peacetime and mobilization school training of individual soldiers. The reorganization also shifted the command and control of U.S. Army Reserve Forces Schools from the former Army Reserve Commands to the Divisions (IT). The 84th Division assumed responsibility for 14 USARF Schools in Region E, comprised of Wisconsin, Michigan, Minnesota, Illinois, Indiana and Ohio.

Meanwhile, the training model which matches mission to unit and individual soldier qualification has been implemented. Selected units perform initial entry training missions augmenting active forces at Forts Jackson, Knox and Sill. Others perform skill level 1 and 2 training at Ft. McCoy, WI, while others have participated in counterpart training at Ft. Hood, TX. The quality of the 84th Divisions support has consistently exceeded active components expectations. Last year, 13 Army Achievement Medals by the active component counterparts, and numerous letters of commendation - to a force of only 43 soldiers - was awarded as a result of the 84th Division support to its mobilization station, Ft. Hood, TX.

During the 90's, the 84th Division has become an integral force at the U.S. Military Academy where soldiers wearing the Railsplitters patch regularly assist in training the best and brightest future officers of the Army. Both NCOs and Junior officers are sent by the 84th Division to train West Point Cadets in a variety of military subjects at the academy.