2-20 Field Artillery Battalion

2d Battalion, 20th Field Artillery History

The Deep Strike Battalion was first constituted 1 July 1916 in the Regular Army as Battery B, 20th Field Artillery. During the First World War, the battalion participated in the St. Mihiel and Lorraine campaigns and provided devastating fires in support of the Allied Expeditionary forces and the 5th Infantry Division. Inactivated between the wor

ld wars, the battalion was reactivated in June of 1940 at Fort Benning, Georgia, as an element of the 4th Infantry Division. During the Second World War, the battalion participated in the Normandy landings, and provided devastating cannon fires in support of the allied campaigns across Europe. In 1957 the Battalion was assigned to the 1st Cavalry Division and activated in Korea. In 1965, the battalion was reorganized as an Aerial Rocket Artillery Battalion, equipped with Cobra Attack Helicopters. Deployed to Vietnam in support of the 1st Cavalry Division, the battalion earned the distinction of being the first ARA battalion to serve in combat. As the “Blue Max,” the battalion earned multiple honors for their actions in the Pleiku province, and the Tet counter-offensives. In 1972, the Battalion was relieved from assignment to the 1st Cavalry Division, assigned to the 4th Infantry Division, and activated at Fort Carson, Colorado. In 1976 the battalion was attached to 8th Infantry Division in Wiesbaden, Germany, where it would remain until it was deactivated in 1984, subsequently reactivated in 1987 and again deactivated in 1992. In September of 1998, 9-1 Field Artillery was reflagged as the 2d Battalion, 20th Field Artillery Battalion. In 2001 the battalion supported the Army’s testing and fielding of the M270A1 launcher and became the first M270A1 MLRS unit in the Army. In March of 2003 the Battalion deployed to Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom where they performed not only their traditional field artillery tasks, to include firing the Division’s first deep missile fires in combat, but also performed armed reconnaissance missions, joint security patrols, cordon and searches, raids, and a wide variety of civil military operations. In December of 2005, the Battalion deployed again to Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom 05-07. The battalion performed a myriad of missions to include firing GMLRS in support of I MEF and conducting security patrols in Baghdad. In June of 2008, the battalion deployed to Iraq for a third time as a part of the 41st Fires Brigade, the Rail Gunners, in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom 08-09. Reorganized as a maneuver battalion, the Deep Strike battalion conducted full spectrum counterinsurgency operations in Wasit Province in southeastern Iraq. In this capacity, the battalion set the conditions for the successful implementation of a strategic security agreement between the United States and the Government of Iraq by professionalizing the Iraqi security forces and promoting legitimate Iraqi governance. Among the battalion’s many achievements was the flawless ex*****on of provincial elections that demonstrated the capabilities of the Iraqi Security forces and that provided the Iraqi people with a legitimate provincial government. The battalion redeployed to Fort Hood in August 2009. In the summer of 2011, the Battalion supported West Point and trained hundreds of Cadets for the summer. The Battalion stands ready and willing!