The 4th Infantry Division is the Army’s First
Digitized Division. Today, the 4th Infantry Division is the most lethal, modern,
and deployable heavy division in the world; it is prepared to conduct
full-spectrum combat operations. It is organized with five Brigade-sized
elements: three maneuver brigades, a combat aviation brigade, division
artillery, and division support command. The Division shares a long and
distinguished history that includes combat in three wars. It has earned
twenty-one campaign streamers with twenty Ironhorse soldiers receiving the
Congressional Medal of Honor.
The 4th Infantry Division nickname, the “Ivy Division,” comes from the design
of its shoulder patch: four green ivy leaves joined at the stem and opening at
the four corners. The word “Ivy” is a play on the roman numeral four, IV. Ivy
leaves are symbolic of tenacity and fidelity, the basis of the Division’s motto,
“Steadfast and Loyal”.
The 4th Infantry Division has a long and distinguished history that includes
combat in three wars. Twenty Ivy Division soldiers have been awarded the
Congressional Medal of Honor and 21campaign streamers adorn its colors.
The 4th Infantry Division is leading the United States Army into the 21st
century under the banner of Force XXI. They are busy developing and testing
state of the art digital communications equipment, night fighting gear, advanced
weaponry, and doctrine to prepare the Army for wars in the next century.
Recently, the division has adopted the nickname "Iron Horse" to better reflect
the power they posses.
The Division was formed in December 1917 and was commanded by Major General
George H. Cameron. Following the United States’ entry into World War I, the
Division embarked for Europe as part of the American Expeditionary Force.
The 4th Infantry Division went into action in the Aisne-Marne campaign in
July 1918, at which time its units were piecemealed and attached to several
French infantry divisions. Almost a month later, the Division was reunited for
the final days of the campaign.
During the next four months, the 4th Infantry Division saw action on the
front lines and as reserves. Suffering over 11,500 casualties in the final drive
for the Allied victory, the 4th Infantry Division was the only division to serve
in both the French and British sectors of the front.
The American people once again called upon the 4th Infantry Division to serve
in World War II. From staging areas in England, the Division trained for its
major role in Operation Overlord (D-Day), the amphibious invasion of Europe on
June 6th, 1944.
The Division’s 8th Infantry Regiment was the first Allied unit to assault
German forces on the Normandy Coast. It went ashore on Utah Beach and, for 26
days, pushed forward until reaching its objective and being relieved by the
101st Airborne Division. During this month long operation, the 4th Infantry
Division sustained over 5000 casualties.
Breaking out of the beachhead and expanding operations well into France, the
Division was given the honor of being the first American unit to participate in
the liberation of Paris. The Division quickly moved into the Hurtgen Forest and
fought what was to be its fiercest battle. The 4th Infantry Division held its
ground during the Battle of the Bulge; crossed the Rhine, then the Danube, and
finally ceased its advance at the Isar River in southern Germany.
Two decades passed before the Division would again see combat. When the 4th
Infantry Division arrived in Vietnam in September 1966, its brigades were
deployed to different locations. With the 1st Brigade near the South China Sea,
2nd Brigade in the central highlands, and the 3rd Brigade in the Mekong Delta,
the 4th Infantry Division took part in 11 major campaigns during its five years
in Vietnam.
The 4th Infantry Division returned from Vietnam in December of 1970 and
settled at Fort Carson, Colorado, where it reorganized as a mechanized unit and
remained for 25 years. It was during the Division’s time at Fort Carson that its
nickname transitioned from the “Ivy” Division to the “Ironhorse” Division. The
nickname, “Ironhorse,” remains today in recognition of the Division’s readiness
for contingency deployment worldwide. The 4th Infantry Division (Mechanized)
moved its colors to Fort Hood, Texas, in December 1995 to become the Army’s
first Force XXI division.
Since December 1995, the Division has been thoroughly involved in the
training, testing, and evaluation of 72 initiatives to include the Division
Capstone Exercise (DCX) I held at the National Training Center in Fort Irwin,
California in April 2001, and culminating in the DCX II held at Fort Hood in
October 2001.
Trained and ready, on 1 November 2001 the 4th Infantry Division (Mechanized)
enters a new era of service to the nation and assumes the Army’s mission of
Division Ready Brigade.
The 4th Infantry Division is the decisive element of III Corps, the nation’s
Counteroffensive Force, which forms the nucleus of the Army’s capability to
fight and win decisively over the next 15 to 20 years. The continued
modernization and recapitalization of the Counter Offensive Force is a critical
requirement – this force provides America’s war winning capability for the
nation while the Army transforms to the Objective Force.
Under the 10 division redesign from the Secretary of the Army, the 2nd
Armored Division at Fort Hood cased its division colors and was reflagged as the
4th Infantry Division in December 1995. A few months prior to that ceremony, the
2nd Armored Division was tagged as the Army's EXFOR, so at the reflagging event,
the new EXFOR flag was added to the division color guard. The 4th Infantry
Division is leading the Army as the "Digitization Division" in the Advanced
Warfighting Experiment (AWE). The division is constantly testing new equipment
and ways of fighting.
Division teaming began in 1998 as a pilot program, pairing the 49th with the
1st Cavalry Division headquartered at Fort Hood, Texas, and California's 40th
Mechanized Division with the Army's 4th Mechanized Division, also headquartered
at Fort Hood. This original division teaming was announced at the 1998 National
Guard Association conference by then Army Chief of Staff Gen. Dennis J. Reimer.
It was part of a program to integrate the active and reserve components, or
AC/RC integration. Under division teaming, one division would have the lead in
certain areas, and the divisions would share resources. When one division
deployed, the other would mobilize to provide replacement operations, Reimer
said during his conference speech. The Army's 1st Cavalry Division required
additional personnel in order to mobilize to Bosnia in 1998. Had the Army
already begun a pilot program matching active-duty divisions to Guard divisions,
additional personnel could have come from the Guard.
The 4th, based at Fort Hood, Texas, is the
Army's first digitized division. The new division will be smaller, on paper -
going from an authorization of nearly 16,700 to slightly over 15,000. Also,
there are 24% fewer combat platforms in the division, most of those reductions
occurring in the armor and infantry battalions. Although smaller in number of
personnel and vehicles, increased combat lethality, survivability and speed will
be achieved through information age technologies and logistic efficiencies
The maneuver brigades will have their own scouts - the Brigade
Reconnaissance Team (BRT.)
The maneuver battalions will be reduced to three companies with a total of
45 combat vehicles. Company organizations will remain the same.
The mortar platoon will be standardized at four 120mm mortars each.
The dismounts will be standardized at three squads of nine men in each
mechanized infantry platoon.
The Division Artillery’s Multiple Launch Rocket System battalion will have
three MLRS battery’s of nine launchers each.
The Engineer Brigade HHC will be replaced by a planning section at the
division level. An Engineer battalion will be habitually associated with each
of the three maneuver brigades.
Combat Service Support is centralized. They return to maneuver formations
in the form of Forward Support Companies (FSC) associated with maneuver
battalions and Forward Support Battalions (FSB) associated with the maneuver
brigades. Logistic resupply will be distribution based instead of supply
based.
There will be organic Reserve Component positions and organizations in the
Division. They will wear the same patch, train to the same level and be
accountable for the same mission requirements. They will be included in
Command and Control/Staff augmentation, signal, aviation, and medical
positions/units. The total number is expected to be around 500.
Some units, such as the Chemical Company and water purification units,
will be "passed back" or moved to Corps.
The April 2001 Division Capstone Exercise highlighted the Army's newest
battlefield technology in brigade-sized maneuvers against the National Training
Center's opposing force. The 4th had days of force-on-force maneuvers followed
by live-fire exercises. The Army's first digitized division will demonstrate
what combat forces linked by the internet can bring to the battlefield at the
Division Capstone Exercise 1-14 April 2001 at the National Training Center, Fort
Irwin, CA. A mechanized brigade from the 4th ID brought new M1A2 Abrams tanks
and other heavy equipment to the training event. The 4th ID aviation brigade and
its Apache Long Bow helicopters also participated. About 7,000 division soldiers
were involved in the exercise. The exercise removed the 4th ID from Army's
experimentation program.
The essence of FORCE XXI is the redesign of the Army at all echelons
organized around information and information technologies. One of the main
facets of FORCE XXI is the "digital" battlefield. In this digital battlefield,
warfighters and commanders will have greatly enhanced situational awareness and
will be empowered to react to the dynamic nature of the non-linear battlespace.
This development is evolutionary in that it utilizes many of the existing
military concepts, systems and lessons-learned. It is revolutionary in the sense
that it will provide new capabilities that increase the lethality and effective
range of weapons systems and even more, the ability of commander to be in the
right place at the right time to use these weapons and information systems to
their maximum potential.
When the 4th ID participated in the EXFOR Army Warfighting Experiment in
March 1997, the digital communications packages were installed as appliques on
the 1st Brigade's M1 Abrams tanks and Bradley Fighting Vehicles. Now the
division has M1A2 SEP (system enhancement program) tanks and M2A3 SEP Bradleys.
The vehicles have the Force XXI Battle Command Brigade and Below, or FBCB2,
digital command and control systems built in. FBCB2 is the empowering device in
these platforms that allows you to see where you are, see where the enemy is,
see where your buddies are. The Apache Long Bows are also equipped with FBCB2.
FBCB2 is a software program that drives the information gathering and
communications systems. While it is generations ahead of the applique versions,
it is constantly evolving. Later versions will only increase the decision-making
abilities of warfighters.
As of mid-November 2001, the aviation brigade had returned from a rotation at
the National Training Center (NTC) at Fort Irwin, CA. This rotation was unique
because the 4th Brigade served as the primary maneuver headquarters for an
armor-heavy task force, an artillery task force, an engineer task force, and its
own division cavalry squadron and attack helicopter heavy aviation task force.
Overall the rotation was successful and many useful lessons were learned. This
will lead to important improvements in tactics and aviation's role as a maneuver
force.
On January 20, 2003 press reports began to surface indicating that the entire
4th ID had been ordered to deploy to Southwest Asia in preperation for an attack
on Iraq. This deployment would include the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Brigades and would
total some 17,000 troops.
The 4th Infantry Division is the Army’s First
Digitized Division. Today, the 4th Infantry Division is the most lethal, modern,
and deployable heavy division in the world; it is prepared to conduct
full-spectrum combat operations. It is organized with five Brigade-sized
elements: three maneuver brigades, a combat aviation brigade, division
artillery, and division support command. The Division shares a long and
distinguished history that includes combat in three wars. It has earned
twenty-one campaign streamers with twenty Ironhorse soldiers receiving the
Congressional Medal of Honor. 
The 4th, based at Fort Hood, Texas, is the
Army's first digitized division. The new division will be smaller, on paper -
going from an authorization of nearly 16,700 to slightly over 15,000. Also,
there are 24% fewer combat platforms in the division, most of those reductions
occurring in the armor and infantry battalions. Although smaller in number of
personnel and vehicles, increased combat lethality, survivability and speed will
be achieved through information age technologies and logistic efficiencies