4th BCT to inactivate next week at Fort Campbell

By Fort Campbell Public Affairs

FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. – Approximately 3,500 soldiers, families and veterans of the 4th Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) will gather for the inactivation of the brigade during the week of April 25 at Fort Campbell.

The 4th BCT is one of ten brigades across the Army to inactivate as part of the Army’s announcement to downsize in line with the 2014 National Defense Authorization Act. It is one of five BCTs to inactivate by the end of Fiscal Year 2014.

Schedule of events:
• 801st Brigade Support Battalion recognition ceremony, April 21, 9:30 a.m.

• 4th Brigade Special Troops Battalion recognition ceremony, April 21, 4 p.m.

• 4th Battalion, 320th Field Artillery Regiment recognition ceremony, April 22, 9:30 a.m.

• 1st Squadron, 61st Cavalry Regiment recognition ceremony, April 22, 4 p.m.

• 1st Battalion, 506th Infantry Regiment Change of Command ceremony, April 23, 4 p.m.

• 4th Brigade Combat Team Inactivation ceremony, April 25, 9:30 a.m.

The 4th BCT traces its history and lineage to the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, ‘Currahee’, made famous in the HBO mini-series “Band of Brothers”, where the unit fought in Normandy during the D-Day landings, Operation Market Garden in Bastogne, and captured Hitler’s “Eagle’s Nest” in Berchtesgaden, Germany.

For its actions in WWII the 506th received two Presidential Unit Citations. The Currahees also served in Vietnam for four years from 1967 to 1971, earning two Presidential Unit Citations, one for operations in the A Shau Valley, also known as ‘Hamburger Hill’.

The 506th Regiment was inactivated in 1984 and three years later reactivated at Camp Greaves in the Korean Demilitarized Zone where only 1st Battalion, 506th Infantry Regiment would serve. The Currahees served in Korea until late 2004 when they deployed in Support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

The 506th Infantry Regiment was reactivated on Sept. 15, 2005 at Fort Campbell as the 4th Brigade Combat Team, with the 506th providing regimental designation. The brigade deployed once to Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom and three times to Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.

While the 4th BCT is inactivating, the two infantry battalions, 1st Battalion and 2nd Battalion of the 506th Infantry Regiment, will realign under 1st and 3rd Brigade Combat Teams of the 101st Airborne Division respectively, maintaining the “Currahee” legacy.