The 1st Cavalry Division ("First Team") is a combined arms division and is one of the most decorated combat divisions of the United States Army. It is based at Fort Hood, Texas. It was formed in 1921 and served during World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Persian Gulf War, with the Stabilization Force in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Iraq War, the War in Afghanistan as well as Operation Freedom's Sentinel and Operation Inherent Resolve. As of August 2026, the 1st Cavalry Division is subordinate to the III Armored Corps and is commanded by Brigadier General Ethan J. Diven.

The unit is unique in that it has served as a cavalry division, an infantry division, an air assault division and an armored division during its existence.

History Early history The history of the 1st Cavalry Division began in 1921, after the Army established a permanent cavalry division table of organization and equipment on 4 April 1921. It authorized a square division organization of 7,463 officers and men, organized as follows: Headquarters Element (34 men) Two Cavalry Brigades (2,803 men each) Field Artillery Battalion (790 men) Engineer Battalion (357 men) Division Quartermaster Trains Command (276 men) Special Troops Command (337 men) Ambulance Company (63 men)

On 20 August 1921, the War Department constituted the 1st and 2nd Cavalry Divisions in the Regular Army to meet partial mobilization requirements, authorizing the establishment of the 1st Cavalry Division under the new TO&E on 31 August 1921. Since the 1st Cavalry Division was to be organized from existing units, the division headquarters was activated on 13 September 1921, even though all of the division's subordinate units did not arrive until 1922.

The 1st Cavalry Division was allotted to the Eighth Corps Area and assigned to the Third Army. The division headquarters and 2nd Cavalry Brigade were located at Fort Bliss, Texas, while the 1st Cavalry Brigade was stationed at Camp Harry J. Jones in Douglas, Arizona. The headquarters facilities used by the 1st Cavalry Division were those previously vacated by the 8th Brigade when it was commanded by MG John J. Pershing in 1916, and the wartime 15th Cavalry Division, which had existed at Fort Bliss between 10 December 1917 and 12 May 1918.

The 1st, 7th, and 8th Cavalry Regiments had previously been assigned to the wartime 15th Cavalry Division until they were returned to the Eighth Corps Area troop list on 12 May 1918. The 1st Cavalry Regiment remained assigned until it was transferred to the 1st Cavalry Division on 20 August 1921. The 7th, 8th, and 10th Cavalry Regiments were transferred on 13 September 1921, although the assignment of the 10th Cavalry Regiment to the 1st Cavalry Division was controversial because the transfer violated the Jim Crow laws. This controversy continued until 18 December 1922, when the 5th Cavalry Regiment, then on the VIII Corps Area Troop List, swapped places with the 10th Cavalry Regiment.

In 1923, the 1st Cavalry Division held division maneuvers for the first time, intending to hold them annually thereafter. However, financial constraints made that impossible. Only in 1927, through the generosity of a few ranchers who provided free land, was the division able to conduct such exercises again. In 1928 Major General Herbert B. Crosby, Chief of Cavalry, faced with personnel cuts, reorganized the cavalry regiments, which in turn reduced the size of the 1st Cavalry Division. Crosby's goal was to decrease overhead while maintaining or increasing firepower in the regiments. After the reorganization, each cavalry regiment consisted of a headquarters and headquarters troop, a machine gun troop, a medical and chaplain element, and two squadrons, each with a headquarters element and two line troops. The cavalry brigades' machine gun squadrons were inactivated, while the responsibility for training and employing machine guns fell to the regimental commanders, as in the infantry.

At about the same time, Crosby cut the cavalry regiment, and the army staff, seeking to increase the usefulness of the wartime cavalry division, published new tables of organization for an even larger unit. The new structure increased the size of the signal troop (177), expanded the medical unit to a squadron (233), and endorsed Crosby's movement of the machine gun units from the brigades to the regiments (2x176). A divisional aviation section, an armored car squadron (278), and a tank company (155) were added, the field artillery battalion was expanded to a regiment (1,717), and divisional strength rose to 9,595.

Prelude to World War II With the arrival of the 1930s, serious work started on the testing and refining of new equipment and TO&Es for a mechanized and motorized army. To facilitate this, the 1st Cavalry Division traded the 1st Cavalry Regiment, which was in the process of being reorganized as a separate mechanized unit, for the 12th Cavalry Regiment from the 2nd Cavalry Division on 3 January 1933. Taking into account recommendations from the VIII Corps Area, the Army War College, and the Command and General Staff School, the board developed a new smaller triangular cavalry division, which the 1st Cavalry Division evaluated during maneuvers at Toyahvale, Texas, in 1938. Like the 1937 infantry division test, the maneuvers concentrated on the divisional cavalry regiments around which all other units were to be organized.

Following the test, a board of 1st Cavalry Division officers, headed by Brigadier General Kenyon A. Joyce, rejected the three-regiment division and recommended retention of the two-brigade (four-regiment) organization. The latter configuration allowed the division to deploy easily in two columns, which was accepted as standard cavalry tactics. However, the board advocated reorganizing the cavalry regiment along triangular lines, which would give it a headquarters and headquarters troop, a machine gun squadron with special weapons and machine gun troops, and three rifle squadrons, each with one machine gun and three rifle troops. No significant change was made in the field artillery, but the test showed that the engineering element should remain a squadron to provide the divisional elements greater mobility on the battlefield and that the special troops idea should be extended to include the division headquarters, signal, and ordnance troops; quartermaster, medical, engineer, reconnaissance, and observation squadrons; and a chemical warfare detachment. One headquarters would assume responsibility for the administration and disciplinary control of these forces.

Although the study did not lead to a general reorganization of the cavalry division, the wartime cavalry regiment was restructured, effective 1 December 1938, to consist of a headquarters and headquarters troop, machine gun and special weapons troops, and three squadrons of three rifle troops each. The special troops remained as structured in 1928, and no observation squadron or chemical detachment found a place in the division. With the paper changes in the cavalry divisions and other minor adjustments, the strength of a wartime divisional rose to 10,680.

In order to prepare for war service, 1st Cavalry Division participated in the following maneuvers: Toyahvale, TX Maneuvers – 7 October through 30 October 1939. Cravens-Pitkin Louisiana Maneuvers – 13 August through 24 August 1940. Second 3rd Army Louisiana Maneuvers – 10 August through 4 October 1941. VIII Corps Louisiana Maneuvers near Mansfield, LA – 27 July 1942 – 21 September 1942.

World War II Division organization

The division was composed of the following units:

1st Cavalry Division Headquarters and Headquarters Troop 1st Cavalry Brigade Headquarters and Headquarters Troop Weapons Troop (M3 37mm anti-tank guns and M4 mortar carriers) 5th Cavalry Regiment Headquarters and Service Troop 2× Rifle Squadrons each squadron consists of: 1× Headquarters, 3× Rifle troops Machine Gun Troop (M1919 .30-caliber machine guns) Special Weapons Troop (M2 .50-caliber machine guns and M1 81mm mortars) Medical Detachment 12th Cavalry Regiment same organization as 5th Cavalry Regiment 2nd Cavalry Brigade Headquarters and Headquarters Troop Weapons Troop (M3 37mm anti-tank guns and M4 mortar carriers) 7th Cavalry Regiment same organization as 5th Cavalry Regiment 8th Cavalry Regiment same organization as 5th Cavalry Regiment 1st Cavalry Division Artillery Headquarters and Headquarters Battery Medical Detachment 61st Field Artillery Battalion Headquarters and Headquarters Battery 3× Batteries (M1 75mm pack howitzers) Service Battery 62nd Field Artillery Battalion (left the division and deployed to Europe in 1942; replaced by the 99th Field Artillery Battalion) Headquarters and Headquarters Battery 3× Batteries (M2 105mm towed howitzers) Service Battery 82nd Field Artillery Battalion same organization as 61st Field Artillery Battalion 99th Field Artillery Battalion (joined the division in 1942) same organization as 62nd Field Artillery Battalion 271st Field Artillery Battalion (joined the division in October 1943) same organization as 62nd Field Artillery Battalion 91st Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron (Mechanized) (left the division and deployed to North Africa in 1942) Headquarters Detachment 2× Reconnaissance troops (Mechanized) (M3 scout cars) Armored Troop (M3 Stuart light tanks) Motorcycle Troop 1st Medical Squadron Headquarters Detachment Medical Collecting Troop Medical Clearing Troop Veterinary Troop 8th Engineer Squadron Headquarters and Service Troop 2× Combat engineer troops 16th Quartermaster Squadron Headquarters Troop 2× Quartermaster truck troops Quartermaster Pack Troop Quartermaster Light Maintenance Troop 1st Cavalry Anti-Tank Troop (M3 37mm Anti-Tank guns) 1st Signal Troop 27th Ordnance Company 302nd Reconnaissance Troop (joined the division after the 91st Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron left the division) 603rd Medium Tank Company 801st Counter Intelligence Corps Detachment

Training

With the attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941, the "great laboratory" phase for developing and testing organizations, about which Marshall wrote in the summer of 1941, closed, but the War Department still had not developed ideal infantry, cavalry, armored, and motorized divisions. In 1942 it again revised the divisions based on experiences gained during the great GHQ maneuvers of the previous year. As in the past, the reorganizations ranged from minor adjustments to wholesale changes.

1st Cavalry Division retained its square configuration after the 1941 maneuvers, but with modifications. The division lost its antitank troop, the brigades their weapons troops, and the regiments their machine gun and special weapons troops. These changes brought no decrease in divisional firepower, but placed most weapons within the cavalry troops. The number of .50-caliber machine guns was increased almost threefold. In the reconnaissance squadron, the motorcycle and armored car troops were eliminated, leaving the squadron with one support troop and three reconnaissance troops equipped with light tanks. These changes increased the division from 11,676 to 12,112 officers and enlisted men.

The last of the 1st Cavalry Division's mounted units permanently retired their horses and converted to infantry formations on 28 February 1943. However, a mounted special ceremonial unit known as the Horse Platoon – later, the Horse Cavalry Detachment – was established within the division in January 1972. Its ongoing purpose is to represent the traditions and heritage of the American horse cavalry at military ceremonies and public events.

1st Cavalry Division reported for its port call at Camp Stoneman, CA as follows: