1st Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team

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On 28 July 1866, the United States Congress constituted the 8th Cavalry to engage in expeditions against various Indian tribes on the American frontier. Organized on 21 September 1866 at Camp Reynolds, Angel Island, California, the Regiment was formed under the leadership of experienced cavalry officers. John Irvin Gregg was its first colonel and Thomas Devin its first lieutenant colonel; the rest of its officer corps was comprised completely of Civil War veterans. Between 1867 and 1888, the Regiment participated in several hard-fought campaigns against Indian tribes throughout the frontier in Nevada, Oregon, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas. Two years after the capture of Geronimo, the 8th was transferred to South Dakota, Montana and North Dakota where it continued to pursue Apaches in several expeditions.

At the outbreak of the Spanish–American War in 1898, the 8th Regimental Headquarters and six troops went by rail to Camp A. G. Forse, Alabama and sailed from Savannah, Georgia for the island of Cuba for a four-year peacekeeping tour. 

In 1905, the regiment was ordered to the Philippines with the assignment of defending the islands from guerrilla activity while also patrolling supply and communications lines and sources of water on the islands of Luzon and Jolo. Returning to the United States briefly in 1907, but returning to the Philippines in 1910 for their second tour of duty. This time the troopers fought the rebellious tribesmen on the island of Mindanao and in the Sulu Archipelago. In the battle of Bansak Mountain in June 1913, members of the regiment joined other soldiers in a violent battle with hundreds of Moro warriors on Jolo.

Returning to the United States on 12 September 1915, the regiment was stationed at Fort Bliss, Texas as part of the 15th Cavalry Division. Responding to a border raid at Columbus, New Mexico by Pancho Villa, John J. Pershing's Punitive Expedition was launched into Mexico on 15 March 1916.

 

On 13 September 1921, the 1st Cavalry Division was formally activated at Fort Bliss, Texas, with the 8th Cavalry assigned to the new division. Serving as a horse cavalry regiment until 1942. The regiment arrived in Australia in 1943 and started an intense period of jungle warfare training to prepare for combat. From 9 March 1944 to 18 May 1944, the regiment fought on Los Negros and Manus Islands as part of the Admiralty Islands Campaign. 

 

 When fighting in Manila ceased on 3 March, the 8th Cavalry had participated in some of the fiercest urban combat of the war, rivaling the bloodbath at Stalingrad. Despite the carnage, the regiment was able to save Malacañang Palace, the Philippine equivalent of the White House, from destruction.

When North Korean forces crossed the 38th Parallel, the 1st Cavalry Division left Japan to defend the Pusan Perimeter on the southeast edge of Korea. The North Koreans were a mere 25 miles away when elements of the 1st Cavalry Division swept ashore to successfully carry out the first amphibious landing of the Korean War.

In late August 1950, the North Korean Army's "Great Natkong Offensive" plunged the 8th Cavalry into its first taste of Korean combat. With other South Korean (Republic of Korea) and United Nations forces, the regiment held the Pusan Perimeter against superior numbers of North Koreans.

On 1 November 1950 the Chinese attacked the 1st Battalion, 8th Cavalry, all along its line near Unsan. The entire 1st Cavalry Division would continue fighting both Chinese and North Korean forces for another year. By December 1951, the division, after 549 days of continuous fighting, began rotation back to Hokkaido, Japan. After the Korean War, the 8th Cavalry remained on duty in Japan and guarding the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) between North and South Korea.

In 1965, 1st Battalion 8th Cavalry (Airborne) began service in Vietnam. Known as the "Jumping Mustangs", the battalion participated in several campaigns against North Vietnamese Army and Viet Cong forces from 1965 to 1968. The most renowned of these engagements occurred during the bloody Tet Offensive of 1968; Operation Pegasus, which began 5 April 1968, saw the battalion come to the relief of beleaguered US Marines at Khe Sahn Combat Base. 

In 1986, the 1st Cavalry Division moved to Fort Hood, TX, arriving as an armored division. In September 1990, in response to Iraq's invasion of Kuwait, the division deployed to Saudi Arabia to prepare for combat operations as part of Operation Desert Shield. During Operation Desert Storm, the division protected the right flank of US VII Corps, attacking the Iraqi 20th Division along the Iraq-Kuwait border, facilitating General Schwarzkopf's "left hook" into the rear of Saddam Hussein's veteran Republican Guard divisions.

In 2004, the Mustangs deployed to Baghdad in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF I), participating in counterinsurgency operations against anti-coalition forces. While this first deployment ended in 2005, the Mustangs would return to Iraq as part of 2ABCT in 2006-2008, and again in 2011-2012; in this latter deployment, the Mustangs helped oversee the complete transfer of security responsibility to Iraqi Security Forces and the withdrawal of United States forces from Iraq.

In June 2013, the Mustangs deployed for the first time to Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom, tasked with counterinsurgency operations, assistance to Afghanistan National Security Forces, and overseeing the closure and retrograde of US military infrastructure throughout Regional Command-South.     

In June 2015, the Battalion deployed to the Republic of Korea for the first time since fighting in the Korean War in 1951.  Replacing 3-8 CAV, the unit participated for nine months in the first rotation of ABCTs to the peninsula.  Successfully deterring North Korean aggression during a period of tension that included DMZ incidents, a North Korean nuclear test, and the worst drought in a century.  Acting as the 2nd Infantry Division reserve, the Battalion stood ready to ‘Fight Tonight’ in support of US forces and our Korean partners.  

Staff Duty: 254-553-0210

Public Affairs: 254-553-7983