1st Brigade Combat Team

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PV2 Urrutia Kevin 2nd Plt Company 03/19/2013 The mission of the 1st Brigade Combat Team, "Raider," is to, on order, deploy to anywhere in the world, conduct full spectrum operations in support of the combatant commander's objectives, and redeploys to Fort Carson, Colorado. The 1st Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division was first constituted on 19 November 1917, in the Regular Army as Headquarters Troop, 4th Division. It was organized at Fort Ethan Allen, Vermont on 16 December 1917. The unit participated in World War I and was involved in numerous campaigns including Aisne-Marne, St. Mihiel, Meuse-Argonne, Champagne, and Lorraine. On the 1 March 1921, Headquarters Troop, 4th Division was reorganized and redesignated, less Military…show more content…
Its state-of-the art digital communications equipment, night fighting gear, and doctrine were realistically evaluated in an Advanced War fighting Experiment against the NTC's vaunted Opposition Force (OPFOR). The AWE began on 15 March 1997. Training and Doctrine Command's (TRADOC) Joint Venture and Force XXI were the processes the Army used to create Army XXI, the force developed to be capable of victory in the following century. The 1st Brigade Combat Team (not to be confused with the modular brigade combat team) deployed with nearly 1,000 vehicles. There were 73 separate technology initiatives consisting of more than 5,000 new items: Appliqué, Precision Lightweight Global Positioning System, Enhanced Position Location Reporting System, Single Channel Ground and Airborne Radio System, Battle Command Information System, and 1,386 others. At the time of the AWE, the 1st Brigade Combat Team was indisputably the most digitized ground combat force in the United…show more content…
The 2 systems were "indivisible" partners. During the AWE, the tandem forced the OPFOR to change its operational patterns. They had to reorganize for force protection. They were 50 percent more defensive than they had ever been before according to the commander. The UAV used at the AWE was the Hunter, which was not expected to become part of the Army's inventory. The Hunter required too much manpower and a large operating field. The Outrider, a tactical UAV then in development, was expected to be more proficient and require less support resources. However, the Hunter helped prove the value of UAVs to ground combat units. The Javelin was a winner to the point that light infantrymen were being flown around in helicopters in Javelin packages to attack tanks. Only 2 of the advanced the AH-64 Apache Longbow helicopters were operational, but the ability to shoot from concealed, stand-off positions made it a deadly weapon. The OPFOR commander "lost" over 20 vehicles in the space of about 20 minutes and never saw what they were losing them to. Other systems that performed well were the mortar fire control system, which made mortar fire more accurate; armored and scout Humvees; and night vision equipment for individual
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