The 1st Armored Division is the oldest and most prestigious armored division in the United States Army. From its desert tank battles against Field Marshall Erwin Rommel's Afrika Korps, beach landing at Anzio to the end of the war in the Italian Alps. Maintaining a forward presence in the Cold War in Germany, its stunning victories in the Persian Gulf War to the Global War on Terrorism in Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom. In peace or war, the "Old Ironsides" Division has amassed a proud record of service to America. The current home of the Division is at Fort Bliss, Texas.
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On 14 July 2009 the Department of Defense announced that Headquarters 1st Armored Division and the 1st HBCT would return to Iraq in late 2009 in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. From December 2009 to December 2010 Soldiers of the 1st Armored Division headquarters spent a year in Iraq working the transition from a combat role, Operation Iraqi Freedom, and into an advise and assist role, Operation New Dawn.
Halfway through its tour, in the summer of 2010, the division began to dramatically cut its combat role in Iraq, in support of Secretary of Defense Robert Gates' the withdrawal of all U.S. ground forces designated for active combat operations. 1AD begean sending convoys of U.S. troops out of Iraq to Kuwait for the remainder of the deployment.
