187th Infantry Regiment (United States) - Wikipedia

Great history lesson. I didn't know the meaning of Rakkasans. My son is in the 3BCT at Ft Campbell. He is Air Assault but not Airborne qualified yet. He is looking forward to it. Thanks for sharing!

Damn some very destiguished history here.

I don't like the way the 101st restructured. The "Rakkasan" Brigade has an infiltrator of a "Curahee" Battalion. Back in the 80s it was simple, each brigade was made up of 3 Infantry Battalions and the support units were attached as needed. Fort Campbell had the 1st Brigade of 327th Infantry (Bastogne), 2nd Brigade of the 502nd Infantry (Strike Brigade), and 3rd Brigade of 187th Infantry (Rakkasans!). Then the Army restructured into Brigade Combat Teams (BCT)in about 2003 or so? These were made up of 5 battalions: 2 Infantry, 1 Calvary, 1 Support, and 1 Special Troops. So the 2nd Brigade, which was 1st, 2nd, 3rd Battalions of the 502nd Infantry (Strike Brigade), was restructured to the 1st and 2nd battalions of the 502nd Infantry, and the 3rd Bn was re-flagged as 1/75th Cavalry, and then the 2 support battalions. Apparently, they have restructured the BCTs again into 6 battalions (or at least the 101st has) , made up of 3 Infantry Bns, 1 Cav. Regiment, an Engineer Bn, and a Support Bn. So now 2nd BCT (Strike) is made up of 1st and 2nd Bns of the 502nd Infantry, 1st Bn/26th Infantry (Blue Spaders...WTF?), 1/75th Cav Reg, 39th Engineer Brigade, and 526th Brigade Support Bn. Why didn't they just rename the new Infantry bn. back to the 3/502nd? Likewise, 1st BCT (Bastogne) is the 1st and 2nd of 327th Infantry, 1st/506th Infantry (Currahees), and then their respective other 3 battalions. Finally, 3rd BCT (Rakkasans) is made up of 1st and 3rd of the 187th Infantry (Rakkasans), 2nd/506th Infantry (more Currahees), and then their other 3 battalions. You don't want to be Rakkasans with Currahees mixed in!