After weeks of constant fighting, the Raider Brigade captured the International Airport, the primary strategic objective of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

The Brigade earned its reputation – Raiders First! – as the first unit to fight its way into Baghdad.

The brigade redeployed to Fort Stewart at summer’s end in 2003.

1st Brigade again deployed to Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom III in January of 2005.

The Brigade fought in the cities of Balad, Samarra, Tikrit, Ad Dawr and Bayji and the surrounding villages and desert. With all of its subordinate units under tactical control, the Brigade had ten battalions – about 6,500 personnel from Forts Stewart and Benning, Georgia; and National Guard soldiers from Hawaii, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

The Brigade then returned to Ft. Stewart in January of 2006. It immediately began recovery and re-set operations and was the first unit of the 3d Infantry Division to start training for another combat deployment. The Raider Brigade will again lead the Division in the defense of our country.

In January 2003, the 1st Brigade Combat Team arrived in Kuwait at the outset of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

In March of 2003, the 1st BCT was the first element of the 3d Infantry Division to cross the border into Iraq. The Raiders moved quickly north, fighting around the clock with regular and unconventional Iraqi troops.

After weeks of constant fighting, the Raider Brigade captured the International Airport, the primary strategic objective of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

The Brigade earned its reputation – Raiders First! – as the first unit to fight its way into Baghdad.

The brigade redeployed to Fort Stewart at summer’s end in 2003.

1st Brigade again deployed to Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom III in January of 2005.

The Brigade fought in the cities of Balad, Samarra, Tikrit, Ad Dawr and Bayji and the surrounding villages and desert. With all of its subordinate units under tactical control, the Brigade had ten battalions – about 6,500 personnel from Forts Stewart and Benning, Georgia; and National Guard soldiers from Hawaii, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

The Brigade then returned to Ft. Stewart in January of 2006. It immediately began recovery and re-set operations and was the first unit of the 3d Infantry Division to start training for another combat deployment.

In January 2007, the Raider Brigade Combat Team deployed to Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom V, making it the Army’s first brigade combat team to deploy to Iraq three times.

The brigade combat team served in Anbar Province, the largest province in Iraq, under the command and control of Multi-National Forces West, headquartered by the United States Marine Corps for 15 months.
The First Brigade Combat Team was a joint task force consisting of more than 8,000 Soldiers, Sailors, Marines and Airmen. The units came from all across the world including California, North Carolina, Colorado and Germany.

The brigade combat team assumed its area of operations in the central part of the Anbar Province, primarily concentrating its forces in and around the city of Ramadi, the capital of Anbar Province. No other brigade in Iraq covered a larger area than First Brigade.

The brigade combat team conducted nine brigade level operations and quickly transformed Ramadi from the second deadliest city in Iraq to its most passive in six weeks. The average number of daily attacks fell from 35 per day to less than one per day, as the city experienced nearly 300 violence-free days during the brigade’s deployment. Its friendship with the area tribes, mentorship of the Ramadi municipal government and partnership with 14,000 Iraqi police and army stabilized the area. President Bush acknowledged the brigade’s achievements, claiming that Anbar became the beacon of hope for Iraq.
http://www.stewart.army.mil/3didweb/1st%20BCT/1stBrigadehom.htm