Country United States Type Air defense artillery | Branch United States Army Size Brigade | |
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Active 1918 – 46 1960's – 79 1988 – present Part of 32nd Army Air & Missile Defense Command | ||
The 31st Air Defense Artillery Brigade is an air defense artillery brigade of the United States Army based at Fort Sill, Oklahoma.
Contents
Organization
History
The 31st Air Defense Artillery Brigade was constituted on 1 January 1918, in the National Army as Headquarters, 31st Heavy Artillery Brigade, Coast Artillery Corps at Key West, Fla. but would see numerous name changes over the lifetime of the unit. The unit rapidly transitioned into World War I where the brigade earned four battle streamers for participation in the campaigns Aisne-Marne, Oise-Aisne, Meuse-Argonne, and Champagne 1918.
The unit was demobilized at Fort Lewis, Wash. 30 June 1921. The brigade was reconstituted 14 October 1936 in the regular Army as Headquarters, 31st Coast Artillery Brigade and was later designated as Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, 31st Coast Artillery Brigade. In November 1942 the brigade was activated as Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, 31st Anti-Aircraft Artillery Brigade as part of the coastal air defense stationed at Camp Haan, Cali. and was later deployed to the European Theater where it participated in and earned three more battle streamers for campaigns in Rome-Arno, Southern France, and the Rhineland. On 30 June 1946, the brigade was deactivated at Laned-Sebold, Germany. This unit would encounter numerous activations and inactivations over the years to come to include a 1946 inactivation in Germany, reactivation in 1948 at Fort Bliss, Tex. and in 1958 was reorganized as Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, 31st Artillery Brigade.
The unit would be inactivated in 1960 at McChord Air Force Base, Wash. and then reactivated in 1961 at Lockport Air Force Station, N.Y. In response to the Cuban Missile Crisis, the brigade formed with nine Hercules and Hawk battalions defending southern Florida from attack by Cuba and the Soviet Union. The brigade was designated under its present name on 15 March 1972, and after one final inactivation in 1979 at Homestead Air Force Base in Fla., the brigade would be reactivated again on 1 April 1988, at Fort Hood, Tex. to support III Corps. In February, 1996, the brigade once again received movement orders, this time to Fort Bliss, Tex. 31st ADA underwent a BRAC-directed move from Fort Bliss, Tex. to Fort Sill, Okla. in July 2008.
In August 2009, the brigade deployed approximately 50 Soldiers from the Headquarters Battery to Qatar for one year in support of Operation Enduring Freedom and returned its Soldiers home safely in July 2010. The brigade also deployed a battalion, 3rd Battalion 2nd Air Defense Artillery, to Southwest Asia in March 2010, returning them home safely in 2011. Currently, 31st has two units deployed worldwide in defense of our nation. 4th Battalion, 3rd Air Defense Artillery Regiment is deployed to Kuwait for a year to support our allies abroad, while 3-2 ADA has rewritten ADA history by deploying to Turkey, establishing two Patriot missile batteries to help defend the region from possible air and missile threats that may occur as a result of the ongoing civil war in Syria. The brigade consists of a Headquarters and Headquarters Battery; 3-2 ADA Battalion (Patriot), 4-3 ADA Battalion (Patriot), Fort Sill, Okla. and 5-5 ADA Battalion (AMD), Fort Lewis, Washington. On order, the 31st Air Defense Artillery Brigade deploys to a Theater of Operations in support of the 32nd AAMDC, conducts decisive air and missile defense operations, and redeploys.