The 37th Engineer Battalion ("Eagle Battalion") is an airborne

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the limit ...

battalion in the United States Army, and currently subordinate to the 2d Brigade Combat Team, 82d Airborne Division, based at Fort Bragg,

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and ...

. The 37th Engineer Battalion was reactivated in the 82d Airborne Division as part of the United States Army new BCT 2020 concept in which each BCT's Special Troops Battalions would be inactivated and reactivated as Brigade Engineer Battalions. Prior to this, the battalion was a subordinate unit of the 20th Engineer Brigade assigned to

XVIII Airborne Corps The XVIII Airborne Corps is a corps of the United States Army that has been in existence since 1942 and saw extensive service during World War II. The corps is designed for rapid deployment anywhere in the world and is referred to as "America ...

. The battalion is notable in that it was the only

battalion A battalion is a military unit, typically consisting of 300 to 1,200 soldiers commanded by a lieutenant colonel, and subdivided into a number of companies (usually each commanded by a major or a captain). In some countries, battalions a ...

, of any kind, in the history of the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

to have entered combat as both an officially designated amphibious and airborne unit (though the Glider Infantry Regiments of the 11th Airborne Division conducted amphibious assaults in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

Unit History – World War I; World War II

The 37th Engineer Battalion was first activated on 16 January 1918, as 1st Battalion, 37th Engineer Regiment, whose primary function was

electrical Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter that has a property of electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described ...

and

mechanical engineering Mechanical engineering is the study of physical machines that may involve force and movement. It is an engineering branch that combines engineering physics and mathematics principles with materials science, to design, analyze, manufacture, an ...

. During

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, the battalion participated in the

Battle of Saint-Mihiel The Battle of Saint-Mihiel was a major World War I battle fought from 12–15 September 1918, involving the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) and 110,000 French troops under the command of General John J. Pershing of the United States against ...

and the Meuse-Argonne Offensive as a member of the American Expeditionary Force. Following the war, the 37th Engineer Regiment was inactivated in March 1919.Unit History, referenced at http://www.bragg.army.mil/37ENG/Battalion%20History/37TH%20Engineer%20Battalion%20History.htm Reactivated in January 1941, the regiment underwent mobilization and training in several locations, and was eventually broken up on 18 March 1943, into the 1106th Engineer Combat Group, the 209th Engineer Combat Battalion, and the 37th Engineer Combat Battalion (Amphibious). The 37th Engineer Combat Battalion was subsequently assigned to the 5th Engineer Special Brigade and participated in Operation Overlord, landing with the initial waves on Omaha Beach. For its performance, the battalion was awarded the Presidential Unit Citation and the French Croix de Guerre with Palm. After the Invasion of Normandy, the battalion spent several months on the beach unloading troops and equipment, clearing roads, and repairing port facilities. For this, the battalion received the Meritorious Unit Commendation. Later, the battalion was detached from the 5th Engineer Special Brigade and moved through

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

and the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

, supporting the Allied advance. The battalion entered Germany in March 1945, where it remained until its return to the United States in November of that same year. The following month, the battalion was again inactivated.

Timeline since World War II

28 October 1954 – redesignated as 37th Engineer Battalion (Combat). 17 December 1954 – activated in Germany. 31 December 1958 – inactivated. 16 August 1987 – reactivated at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, and assigned to the 20th Engineer Brigade. 13 October 1990 – deployed to

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...

(

Operation Desert Shield The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a Coalition of the Gulf War, 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Ba'athist Iraq, ...

;

Operation Desert Storm Operation or Operations may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * ''Operation'' (game), a battery-operated board game that challenges dexterity * Operation (music), a term used in musical set theory * ''Operations'' (magazine), Multi-Ma ...

). 27 September 1994 – deployed to Haiti (

Operation Uphold Democracy Operation Uphold Democracy was a military intervention designed to remove the military regime installed by the 1991 Haitian coup d'état that overthrew the elected President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. The operation was effectively authorized by t ...

). 11 May 2001 – elements attached to the 11th Engineer Battalion and deployed to Kosovo (

Operation Joint Guardian Operation or Operations may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * Operation (game), ''Operation'' (game), a battery-operated board game that challenges dexterity * Operation (music), a term used in musical set theory * Operations (magazine ...

) in support of the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault). 22 September 2002 – deployed 20 soldiers from Vertical and Light Equipment platoons to

Kuwait Kuwait (; ar, الكويت ', or ), officially the State of Kuwait ( ar, دولة الكويت '), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated in the northern edge of Eastern Arabia at the tip of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to the nort ...

( Operation Enduring Freedom) in support of the Combined Joint Task Force at

Camp Doha Camp Doha was the main U.S. Army base in Kuwait, and played a pivotal role in the U.S. military presence in the Middle East since the 1991 Gulf War and in the 2003 invasion of Iraq. The complex is located on a small peninsula on Kuwait Bay, west ...

. Redeployed to Fort Bragg on 22 March 2003. Deployed soldiers received Joint Service Medals and Joint Meritorious Unit Citations (permanent). 22 March 2003 – deployed to Northern Iraq ( Operation Iraqi Freedom) in support of the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault). For its actions in

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to the north, Iran to the east, the Persian Gulf and K ...

, the battalion received the Meritorious Unit Commendation (1st Oak Leaf Cluster). 10 March 2006 – deployed to

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

(Operation Enduring Freedom) in support of Combined/Joint Task Force 76,

10th Mountain Division The 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry) is a light infantry division in the United States Army based at Fort Drum, New York. Formerly designated as a mountain warfare unit, the division was the only one of its size in the US military to re ...

(Light Infantry) and formed Task Force Eagle, the first US, Joint and Coalition Engineer Task Force in the CJOA. In addition to standard engineer operations, the battalion repeatedly engaged

Taliban The Taliban (; ps, طالبان, ṭālibān, lit=students or 'seekers'), which also refers to itself by its state name, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a Deobandi Islamic fundamentalist, militant Islamist, jihadist, and Pasht ...

and other enemy forces and is credited with over 105 enemy killed. Redeployed to Fort Bragg on 11 March 2007. The Battalion lost First Sergeant Christopher C. Rafferty in support of (Operation Enduring Freedom). He was fatally injured while coordinating a response to a mortar strike July, 21st 2006 in Sharana, Afghanistan. The Battalion held a ceremony on Rafferty Field named in his honor after their redeployment back to Ft. Bragg. On 5 June 2009 – deployed to Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. The battalion served as an echelon above BCT unit assigned to the USF-I EN BDE, operating throughout Iraq with missions focused in northern and western Iraq primarily in support of the 1st BCT, 25th Infantry Division and the 3d BCT, 2d Infantry Division in Diyala, the 1st BCT, 82d Airborne Division in Al Anbar and the 3d Squadron, 4th Cavalry Regiment and 1st Battalion, 28th Infantry Regiment in Salah ad Din provinces. The battalion formed the basis of Joint Task Force Eagle Headquartered at Joint Base Balad and composed of over 1000 soldiers and airmen. JTF Eagle elements were also based at Forward Operating Bases Warhorse, Al Asad and Ramadi. The Joint Task Force included the 887th Engineer Company (Support),

Fort Campbell Fort Campbell is a United States Army installation located astride the Kentucky–Tennessee border between Hopkinsville, Kentucky and Clarksville, Tennessee (post address is located in Kentucky). Fort Campbell is home to the 101st Airborne Divi ...

, KY; 50th Engineer Company (Multi-Role, Bridge),

Fort Leonard Wood Fort Leonard Wood is a U.S. Army training installation located in the Missouri Ozarks. The main gate is located on the southern boundary of The City of St. Robert. The post was created in December 1940 and named in honor of General Leonard W ...

, MO; the 739th Engineer Company (Multi-Role, Bridge), Granite City, IL; Terrain Team, 70th Engineer Company (Topographic), Schofield Barracks, HI; Air Force Detachment 6 (TACON); Facilities Engineer Team 2 (DS); 732d Expeditionary Civil Engineer Squadron and 266th Military Police Company (OPCON), Manassas, VA. Joint Task Force Eagle's mission focused on partnering with Iraqi Army engineers, building capacity, IED defeat operations, construction, bridging, general engineering, and security. The colors of the 37th Engineer Battalion were inactivated again effective 16 September 2010 when the unit was reflagged as the 307th. The 37th Engineer Battalion was officially reactivated as part of the 2d Brigade Combat Team, 82d Airborne Division on 16 October 2013. This was accomplished by inactivating and reorganizing the Special Troops Battalion ("Green Falcons

2d BCT. A ceremony was held on 15 November 2013 at Fort Bragg, NC, to case the colors of the STB and to uncase the colors and activate the 37th Engineer Battalion ("Eagle Battalion").

Campaigns

* St. Mihiel * Meuse-Argonne * Normandy (with Arrowhead) * Northern France * Central Europe * Rhineland * Defense of Saudi Arabia * Liberation and Defense of Kuwait * Operation Iraqi Freedom "Liberation of Iraq" * Operation Enduring Freedom "Consolidation I" * Operation Iraqi Freedom "National Resolution" * Operation Inherent Resolve

References

{{Reflist 037 037

Unit History – World War I; World War II

Timeline since World War II

Campaigns

See also

References