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"Brave Rifles"
 (Updated 7-7-08)
The 3d Armored Cavalry Regiment (ACR), stationed at
Fort Hood, Texas, is at present the only heavy Armored Cavalry Regiment in the
U.S. Army. The other two regiments that make up the "Lucky 16," the 2nd SCR and
11th ACR, have been organized as brigade combat teams. The regiment operates
independently over wide areas and is a highly mobile force that can conduct
reconnaissance, security, offensive, and defensive operations. It has over 320
armored vehicles (M1A1 Abrams tanks and M3A2 Bradley Fighting Vehicles) and
over 80 aircraft (including the AH-64 Apache Attack Helicopter). The regiment
has a total strength of over 4,700 soldiers. The 3rd ACR is part of the U.S.
Army's contingency force and can rapidly deploy in the event of emergency
situations around the world.
The 3d Armored Cavalry Regiment, whose nickname is the
"Brave Rifles," is currently deployed to Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi
Freedom. Their mission there is to conduct area security and counterinsurgency
operations, develop a credible and capable Iraqi Security Force, and enable
economic and political development in a secure and stable Iraq. The current
deployment began in the fall of 2007.
The Regiment's history began on May 19, 1846, when it
was formed as the "Regiment of Mounted Riflemen" at Jefferson Barracks,
Missouri. The Regiment was organized into the regular army for "establishing
military stations on route to Oregon" but the Mexican War diverted the Mounted
Riflemen from their original mission. As fate would have it, the Regiment lost
most of its horses in a storm at sea during the crossing to Mexico from New
Orleans. As a result the Regiment avoided the usual cavalry assignments of the
period such as chasing guerrillas and protecting supply lines. Instead the
Regiment fought as infantry in six campaigns during the Mexican War.
It was in the Mexican War that the 3rd Cavalry
Regiment earned their moniker of "Brave Rifles" and their motto of "Blood and
Steel." Legend has it that as the men of the Regiment lay bloodied and
exhausted from fierce fighting at Contreras, Mexico, the General of the Army,
Winfield Scott approached to order them into another tough fight. As General
Scott approached, each man stood at attention. The General was so overcome by
their display of valor that he removed his hat, bowed, and then proclaimed,
"Brave Rifles! Veterans! You have been baptized in fire and blood and have come
out steel!"
At the end of the Mexican War, the Regiment returned
to Jefferson Barracks, Missouri, and began the grueling 2,000 mile march to the
Oregon Territory to accomplish the mission for which it had originally been
organized - the establishment of military outposts on the route to Oregon. In
December of 1851, the regiment was ordered to Texas, and for the next four
years operated against the Indian tribes living in that area. In 1856, Indian
troubles in the New Mexico Territory required additional troops, and the
Regiment moved further west, marching through and also garrisoning in Fort
Bliss, Texas.
The beginning of the Civil War brought the
reorganization of the mounted arm of the United States Army. In August of 1861,
the Regiment of Mounted Riflemen was re-designated the 3rd United States
Cavalry Regiment. The 3rd Cavalry remained in New Mexico Territory as security
against hostile Indians and possible Confederate incursion. Confederate forces
out of Texas did start a campaign to take New Mexico and Colorado Territories
early in the war. They were defeated by Union forces that included the 3rd
Cavalry Regiment at the Battle of Glorieta Pass, near Santa Fe, in March of
1862. This defeat caused Confederate forces to withdraw back to Texas.
In December of 1862, the 3rd Cavalry Regiment moved to
Memphis, Tennessee to join the western theater of the war. During the Civil War
the 3rd Cavalry fought in Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama and North Carolina,
participating in the Chattanooga Campaign as part of the advance guard of
Sherman's Army. After the war, the 3rd Cavalry Regiment was again sent to New
Mexico to help settle the frontier and participate in the Indian Wars.
From 1866 until 1871 the 3rd U.S. Cavalry participated
in operations against the Apache in New Mexico and Arizona. In late 1871 the
Regiment was transferred north to the Department of the Platte, which covered
an area that covered the states of Wyoming, Montana, the Dakotas and Nebraska.
The Regiment participated in the Little Big Horn Campaign against the Sioux and
Cheyenne. On June 17, 1876, ten companies of the 3rd Cavalry fought in the
Battle of Rosebud Creek. This was the largest battle between the Army and the
Indians in the history of the American West. The final surrender of Geronimo to
elements of the 3rd Cavalry in 1886 signaled the end of the 3rd Cavalry
Regiment's participation in the Indian Wars.
In April of 1898, the 3rd United States Cavalry found
themselves assembled at Camp Thomas, Georgia as an element of a provisional
cavalry division, part of the army gathering for the invasion of Cuba and the
Spanish American War. During the Spanish-American War, the 3d Cavalry Regiment
participated in the attacks on San Juan and Kettle Hills, placing the first
American flag at the points of victory. After the war, the Regiment was ordered
to the Philippines, this time for garrison duty. At the outbreak of World War
I, the Regiment was transferred to Europe. Arriving in France in November 1917,
the Regiment was scattered, and its squadrons operated remount depots for the
duration of the war. In 1919, the Regiment returned from Europe and was
stationed throughout the Eastern United States. The Regiment executed a
garrison mission until the beginning of World War II. Although one historical
footnote is that in July of 1932, Major George S. Patton, under order of
Douglas MacArthur, led the 3d Cavalry against the Bonus Army during the
veteran's protest in Washington D.C.
During the Second World War, the Regiment was
re-designated the 3rd Cavalry Group (Mechanized). The Cavalry Group landed in
France in August 1944 and became the spearhead of the XX Corps. The Regiment
was the first unit of the 3rd Army to reach the Meuse and Moselle Rivers.
Troopers of the 3rd Cavalry Group were also the first elements of the 3rd Army
to enter Germany. The 3d Cavalry Group was the first military unit to cross the
Alps since Hannibal. The 3d Cavalry accounted for over 43,000 enemy troops
killed, wounded or captured. After World War II, the Regiment returned to the
United States and resumed its garrison activities. It was after WWII that the
3d Cavalry Group was re-designated the 3d Armored Cavalry Regiment, the name it
bears today.
During the Cold War the 3rd ACR was a major part of
American military readiness. The first time the 3d Cavalry served on the Iron
Curtain was in August, 1955, when it replaced the 2nd Cavalry as part of the
Army's Gyroscope plan that rotated entire units between Germany and the United
States. The Brave Rifles rotated home in February of 1958. In 1958 the Regiment
became part of the Strategic Army Corps, or STRAC, and received four streamers
for superior readiness and training. In November of 1961, the 3d Armored
Cavalry Regiment again deployed to Germany in response to the Soviet threat
during the Berlin Crisis. The regiment remained in Germany conducting border
operations until 1968 when it was re-deployed to Fort Lewis, Washington. In
July of 1972 the 3d ACR moved to Fort Bliss, Texas. Here they became a major
REFORGER unit and trained for the defense of West Germany in the event of a
Warsaw Pact invasion.
During this time, in Nuremberg, Germany, the 2nd and
11th Cavalry Regiments began a close working relationship resulting in a
tradition called the "Lucky 13." These two cavalry units trained together and
often confronted one another in exercises. Lucky 13 conferences were about war
and war fighting and included seminars on fielding new systems, maneuver
techniques, and training. When the 3rd Cavalry joined the 2nd and 11th in the
General Defense Plan of Europe, the regiments became known as the "Lucky 16."
Whenever two of the Lucky 16 Regiments are in the same location the Lucky 16
convenes.
On August 7, 1990, the Regiment was alerted to move
overseas in defense of Saudi Arabia. In September 1990, the Regiment arrived in
country as part of the XVIII Airborne Corps, and moved into defensive positions
south of the Kuwaiti border. On January 22, 1991, elements of I Troop engaged
in the first ground combat of the XVIII Airborne Corps. On February 22nd, F
Troop led the Regiment across the berm into Iraq. In 100 hours, the 3rd Armored
Cavalry Regiment moved over 300 kilometers, and left remnants of three Iraqi
Republican Guard Divisions in its wake. As quickly as they deployed, the
Regiment deployed back to the U.S. arriving April 5, 1991. In April of 1996,
the Regiment completed its move to its new home at Fort Carson, Colorado.
In August 1998, the Regiment was notified that it
would participate in the Bosnian peace-keeping mission as part of Stabilization
Force 7 (SFOR 7). When the 3d Armored Cavalry Regiment deployed, beginning in
February of 2000, it represented 75 percent of the American contribution to the
Multinational Division North (MND-N), part of Task Force Eagle, and constituted
the bulk of the American maneuver element. There were no major incidents or
violent demonstrations in the Brave Rifles area of responsibility during their
deployment. All nits came home to Fort Carson by October 7, 2000.
Beginning in August 2002, the Regiment began to
prepare for operations in the Central Command Area of Operations (CENTCOM AOR).
The preparations included a National Training Center rotation, Warfighter
exercises with III Corps and V Corps, intensive individual and collective
training, weapons qualification, and lane training at Fort Carson.
The 3d Armored Cavalry Regiment is now on their third
tour in Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom and the Global War on
Terror. In 2003, the Regiment was to invade Iraq from Turkey, but was forced to
enter Iraq from Kuwait after Turkey denied the United States permission to
launch an attack from its territory. This delayed the 3d Cavalry's entry into
the war. Once the Brave Rifles arrived in Iraq in late April 2003, it assumed
an economy of force mission to secure and stabilize the western province of Al
Anbar. This area had been by-passed during the advance to Baghdad, and the
Regiment had little intelligence on what would be found there. The Regimental
Area of Operations covered one third of the country, or about 140,000 square
kilometers. This was the largest single operational area of any unit, including
divisions, in the theater and it included the "Sunni Triangle", the part of
Iraq that Saddam Hussein, his family, and the senior leaders of the Ba'ath
Party called home. Al Anbar was home to 48 primary and 14 sub-tribes and it
shared a 900 kilometer western border with Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Syria. The
3d Armored Cavalry Regiment became the nucleus of a Regimental Combat Team
named Task Force Rifles. Task Force Rifles included 8,300 soldiers assigned.
During this tour 31 cavalry troopers and 18 soldiers of units attached lost
their lives. The 3d ACR rotated back to Fort Carson in March of 2004.
In less that eleven months after returning home, the
Brave Rifles deployed again to Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom III.
The lead elements of the Regiment arrived in February of 2005. The Regiment
served from South Baghdad province to Western Ninewa Province in Northwestern
Iraq. In September, 2005, the 3d Armored Cavalry Regiment conducted Operation
Restore Rights to defeat an insurgent stronghold in the city of Tal Afar. The
Third Armored Cavalry Regiment lost forty-four troopers during its deployment
that ended in late February, 2006.
In July 2005, the Army announced that the Regiment
would re-station to Fort Hood within months of returning from Operation Iraqi
Freedom. The 3d Armored Cavalry Regiment officially departed Fort Carson,
Colorado in July 2006.
In October of 2007, the 3rd ACR began its third tour
in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. The 1st and 3rd Squadrons are deployed
in the Ninawa Province: 1st Squadron in Qayarrah, and 3rd Squadron in Mosul.
The 2nd Squadron is currently attached to 4/2 ID and serving in the Diyala
Province. The 4th Squadron is serving in Baghdad.
The 3d Armored Cavalry Regiment celebrated its 162nd
birthday on May 19, 2008 from their deployed bases in Iraq. Under various names
the Regiment has seen action during ten major conflicts: the Indian Wars, the
Mexican-American War, the American Civil War, the Spanish-American War, the
Philippine-American War, World War I, World War II, the Persian Gulf War, SFOR
in Bosnia, and Operation Iraqi Freedom. Through it all the cavalry troopers
have lived their motto of "Blood and Steel" and each time earned the Regiment's
nickname of "Brave Rifles"!
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