JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, Wash. - The 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division held a brigade run, March 28, at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash. The run, held in order to build unit pride and cohesion, was to commemorate the Arrowhead Brigade's return to Fort Lewis, March 29, 1995. The brigade's return that day marked its reunion with 2nd Infantry Division, which began its long storied history with in 1917.
"The brigade has a long history stretching back to 1917 when they were first organized as the 1st Provisional Brigade on Aug. 11, 1917, in Syracuse, N.Y. After our redesignation as Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 3rd Brigade, we were assigned to 2nd Infantry Division with whom we valiantly fought alongside (during World War I)," said Pfc. Casey T. Kale, of Company A, 2nd Battalion, 3rd Infantry Regiment, who recited the brigade's historical inception and reunion.
Kale recounted how the soldiers of the Arrowhead Brigade went on to serve the people of South Korea and the United States during a 27-year tenure on the Korean peninsula serving with distinction before being deactivated in 1992.
"The significance of this is that from the beginning 3-2 SBCT have been largely inseparable," Kale said. "On Friday (March 29), 18 years ago, we were once again reunited (with the 2nd Infantry Division) to go forth and do great things, beginning with (the brigade's) transformation to the Army's First Stryker Brigade Combat Team - something which occurred 13 years ago next month."
Col. Hugh D. Bair, commander, 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, followed up by reminding the Arrowhead soldiers that "when you read history like this, we all joined to be part of something bigger than ourselves. So honor the history that you have and that you've joined through your conduct and through your actions at all times."
He then led the soldiers of the Arrowhead Brigade on their run with pride in their hearts and a new sense of who they are as a unit.