The Engineer Brigade

Sapper

The Headquarters and Headquarters Detachment was provisionally organized on 28 April 1992 at Fort Hood, Texas, as part of the Engineer Restructure Initiative which called for the establishment of an Engineer Brigade to support the 1st Cavalry Division.  The brigade’s first task was to relocate the 20th Engineer Battalion from Fort Campbell, Kentucky, to Fort Hood, Texas, and restructure it from a Corps wheeled t a division Mechanized unit.  The next task was to downsize the 8th Engineer Battalion and to establish the 91st Engineer Battalion.  With these arduous tasks completed, the Engineer Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division activated on 16 October 1992.

In January 1993, the Brigade Headquarters was alerted to prepare for deployment to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, as the Army Forces Headquarters, to set up an operate a refugee camp expected to house 20,000 Haitian refugees.  With a change in Presidential Policy, the impending exodus did not occur and the Brigade’s advance party returned home.

In July 1994, the Engineer Brigade was alerted for wild land fire fighting in the western United States.  The Engineer Brigade Headquarters, along with portions of the 20th and 91st Engineer Battalions, deployed to Boise, Idaho on 3 August.  The mission of the Brigade Headquarters was to provide command and control, logistics and administrative support, and provide direct interface with the National Interagency Fire Center and Sixth U.S. Army.

From 1994 to 1998, the Engineer Brigade participated in a multitude of field training exercises including MEFTX-77, a joint Marine Corps FTX at Twenty-Nine Palms, California; CASCADE PEAK, at Fort Lewis, Washington; ROVING SANDS at Fort Bliss, Texas; and numerous 1st Cavalry Division and III Corps Command Post Training Exercises.  During this time frame, HHD also deployed individual Soldiers to Somalia, Ethiopia, Sought Florida, the National Training Center, and National Guard and Army Reserve Training Centers throughout the United States.

From August 1998 through August 199, the detachment deployed 43 Soldiers in support of Operation JOINT GUARD as part of Stabilization Forces IV and V in Bosnia.  In April 2000, the Engineer Brigade assumed the role of RSOI Command and Control for all 1st Cavalry Division Ready Brigade units.

In March 2004, the Engineer Brigade Headquarters deployed to Baghdad, Iraq in support of Operation IRAQI FREEDOM II and assumed control for an engineer group headquarters, two combat heavy battalions, one corps wheeled battalion, a utilities detachment, and two specialized detection dog teams.  The mission for the headquarters was to provide command and control, logistics and administrative support through5 the brigade and to provide engineering expertise and support to the entire division.  In addition, the Brigade Headquarters pioneered the Government Support Team, 1st Cavalry Division, providing guidance and support to the government of Iraq, specifically in the city of Baghdad, coordinating with the Iraqi ministries and government officials on all reconstruction matters and in all areas of governance and city management.

On 24 May 2005, as a part of the reorganization of the Division, the Engineer Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division was inactivated at Fort Hood, Texas and the personnel of the 8th, 20th and 91st Engineer Battalions were distributed and placed under the direct control of each Brigade Combat Team in the division.

Lineage of the Engineer Brigade

16 October 1991; Constituted in the Regular Army as Headquarters and Headquarters Detachment, Engineer Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division

28 April 1992; Provisionally organized under the Engineer Restructure Initiative of the U.S. Army as Headquarters and Headquarters Detachment, Engineer Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division.

16 October 1992; Headquarters and Headquarters Detachment, Engineer Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division activated at Fort Hood, Texas.

24 May 2005; Headquarters and Headquarters Detachment, Engineer Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division inactivated at Fort Hood, Texas.