The 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment is the longest continuously serving unit in the US Army. It started out as the Second Regiment of Dragoons in May 1836. In 1861 its name was changed to the 2nd US Cavalry.
This unit was stationed as a border unit during the cold war period. This means that if the anticipated Warsaw Pact attack ever happened it would have been one of the first units in contact with the enemy. Some of you still may not realize the gravity of the situation. Let me explain it another way, our forces in Europe were severely outnumbered by the Russian Army and the rest of the Warsaw pact forces. Our military doctrine during that time was to train to fight outnumbered and live. That would have very difficult for this unit to do.
The unit was moved to Saudi Arabia and helped to spearhead the attack during Operation Desert Storm. After the Gulf War it was relocated to Fort Lewis Washington and converted to a light cavalry unit. The unit again saw action in Bosnia after which it was moved to Fort Polk Louisiana.
The unit again saw action in Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom and in 2006 was reflagged as the 4th Brigade 2nd ID. The 1st Brigade 25th ID then became the 2nd Cavalry Regiment (Stryker).
You can see that this unit has a deep and rich history. I could not do it justice in this short post. Posts like this are only one way to tell the story of your military service. Any cavalry unit can use a US Cavalry Ring to tell a lot about its history.
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