The 3rd Battalion, 29th Field Artillery is a unit of the 3rd Brigade Combat Team (3rd BCT) of the 4th Infantry Division, United States Army. The battalion is currently garrisoned at Fort Carson, Colorado (Colorado Springs).
Structure
The battalion consists of three firing batteries of M109A6 Paladin 155 mm self-propelled howitzers. Each firing battery consists of six guns, six field artillery ammunition supply vehicles (FAASVs, also referred to as CATs), two fire direction control (FDC) vehicles, and various support vehicles. Firing batteries are staffed with approximately 100 Soldiers, sub-divided into three platoons (1st, 2nd, and Headquarters).
The battalion also contains two non-firing batteries. The service battery consists of Palletized Loading System (PLS) resupply vehicles, fuelers, cooks, and logistics support services sections. The headquarters battery and headquarters element, collectively known as Headquarters and Headquarters Battery (HHB), consists of battalion command and staff, with supporting equipment and personnel in each of the staff sections (S1 – S6).
Lineage
The 3rd Battalion, 29th Field Artillery Regiment, was originally constituted on 5 July 1918 in the National Army as Battery C, 29th Field Artillery, an element of the 10th Division. It was organized on 11 August 1918 at Camp Funston, KS, where it demobilized on 4 February 1919.
It was reconstituted on 24 March 1923 in the Regular Army as Battery C, 29th Field Artillery Battalion, and activated on 1 August 1940 at Fort Benning, GA, as an element of the 4th Division (later redesignated as the 4th Infantry Division). It was reorganized and redesignated on 1 October 1940 as Battery C, 29th Field Artillery Battalion. The unit inactivated on 14 February 1946 at Camp Butner, NC.
It reactivated on 15 July 1947 at Fort Ord, CA, and inactivated on 1 April 1957 at Fort Lewis, WAn, and relieved from assignment to the 4th Infantry Division.
Redesignated on 30 April 1959 as Battery C, 29th Artillery, it was concurrently, withdrawn from the Regular Army, allotted to the Army Reserve, and assigned to the Second United States Army. It activated on 1 June 1959 at Westminster, MD. It was relieved on 1 January 1966 from assignment to the Second United States Army and assigned to the First United States Army.
The unit was redesignated on 1 September 1971 as Battery C, 29th Field Artillery, before inactivating on 16 September 1979 at Westminster, MD.
Withdrawn on 1 April 1984 from the Army Reserve and allotted to the Regular Army, it was concurrently redesignated as Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, 3rd Battalion, 29th Field Artillery, assigned to the 4th Infantry Division and activated at Fort Carson, CO, with its organic elements concurrently constituted and activated.
Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF 1) The 3/29th FA BN was deployed to Iraq in April 2003, under the command of Lt. Colonel Jeffrey Springman, as a part of the 4th Infantry Division invasion force. The battalion initially moved north into Kurdish controlled territory to establish a security presence in the area. They met little resistance during that initial push, however, and the brigade command began a reorganization of battalion Areas of Operation.
During that relative calm, the battalion detached its Alpha battery to take up a detainment facility guard position in the vicinity of Taji, Iraq, and the battalion was assigned a Multiple Launch Rocket platoon from 2nd Battalion 20th Field Artillery (MLRS) and elements of the Brigade Recon Team.
The Pacesetter battalion was soon ordered to move back south to support the ongoing operations to quell the insurgency in the vicinity of Samarra, with Bravo battery establishing a forward operating base (FOB) at the Samarra East Airfield. Its mission was to provide fires to coalition forces conducting sorties into Samarra, and to conduct patrols in the nearby towns and villages. Firebase Paladin was established to provide "calls-for-fire" support, and began providing operation forces with, initially, illumination fire. As the insurgent presence escalated, the battalion began conducting combat fires on reported enemy positions, as well as counter-battery fire to suppress mortar attacks on the FOB and surrounding area.