Reflagging

4th ID Patch

4ID’s Cobras to become 1st Cav’s Long Knives
Ivy Division’s 4th BCT to reflag as First Team’s 4th BCT

By Spc. Creighton Holub
4th BCT PAO, 4th Inf. Div.
January 14, 2008

The 4th Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division is scheduled to become the 1st Cavalry Division’s 4th BCT in mid-March. The reflagging process involves three units that will shuffle their flags, guidons and unit historical items while their Soldiers will stay at their respective posts.

“We have proudly served in the 4th Infantry Division as steadfast and loyal Soldiers,” said Col. Philip Battaglia, the Cobra Brigade commander. “The unit is re-flagging after having contributed to the proud lineage and history of the Ivy Division. This brigade just went to war with the 4th Inf. Div., and when you think about the long and proud history of the division – including D-Day, World War II, Vietnam and Iraq – our Soldiers are very proud they contributed to the division’s legacy. Fortunately for this brigade, we are joining another division with an amazing history and proud traditions: The 1st Cavalry Division.”

The first of the three units to reflag will be Fort Bliss’ 4th BCT, 1st Cav., as it takes the colors of the currently inactive 4th BCT, 1st Armor Div. The Cobra Brigade will reflag as the 4th BCT, 1st Cav., this March. Finally, the 2nd BCT, 2nd Inf. Div., will reflag as the new 4th BCT, 4th Inf. Div., at Fort Carson, Colo.

While the Cobra Brigade’s unit designation and icons will move to new bases, the Soldiers and their equipment will remain at Fort Hood. “The reflagging process will be transparent,” said Lynda Nash, the Cobra Brigade’s Family Readiness Group support assistant. “One day your Soldier will be wearing a new shoulder patch.”

However, she added that the brigade’s Soldiers and Families will use different facilities such as the 1st Cavalry Readiness Center instead of the 4th Inf. Div. Readiness Center after the reflagging is complete.

The brigade’s subordinate battalions are also changing their unit designation when the switch from the Ivy Division to America’s First Team occurs. The unit currently known as the 1st Battalion, 12th Infantry Regiment will become the 2nd Bn., 7th Cav. Regt. The 3rd Bn., 67th Armor Regt., will reflag as the 2nd Bn., 12th Cav. Regt. The 704th Brigade Support Bn., will reflag into the 27th Brigade Support Bn. The 8th Squadron, 10th Cav. Regt., will become the 1st Squadron, 9th Cav. Regt. The “Strong and True” Soldiers in the 4th Special Troops Battalion will maintain their current naming structure as the 4th Special Troops Battalion, but they will also receive new distinctive unit insignias along with all the other Soldiers in the battalions and the brigade headquarters.

Every Cobra Brigade Soldier is scheduled to receive new 1st Cav. Div. patches. They will receive four camouflage Velcro patches, four unit crests for their berets and Class A uniforms and two Class A uniform patches.

The current Cobra Brigade will become known as the Long Knife Brigade after the switch.
“The traditions will also be different,” said Lonni Maddux, the FRG support assistant for 1-12 Inf. Regt. “But you won’t have to get a new identification card or move. Your children will go to the same schools. The only thing that will change is your Soldier’s uniform.”

(Editor’s Note from Bob: For those wondering about the current 4BCT subordinate units, I am pretty sure that when 2BCT of 2ID reflags to 4ID’s 4BCT out at Fort Carson they will pick up the designations of 1-12 IN, 3-67 AR, 704 BSB, and 8-10 CAV).

So why am I posting this article? Because it applies to us. I have a lot of mixed emotions and thoughts. The unit's themselves hold great history behind them but it's emotional for us on a personal level. Cobra Brigade is who we endured a deployment with, it's whom those we lost hold ties too and there is much love and pain included in all that mixture of feelings. As we get ready to switch out patches and move on (isn't that what the Army is all about anyway, constant change?) we will do so with sadness in our heart yet excitement to see what the future holds.

On a side note...I reaaaaaaaallly am not looking forward to switching out my normal sized 4th ID patch for the HUGE 1st Cav patch but we'll adjust, lol

1st Cavalry Patch

Oh and a p.s.s if you will...I do look forward to Kevin putting back on the Stetson...he looks super yummy in it!!