The 14th Cavalry Regiment is a cavalry regiment of the United States Army. It has two squadrons that provide reconnaissance, surveillance, and target acquisition for Stryker brigade combat teams. Constituted in 1901, it has served in conflicts from the Philippine–American War to the Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan.
History
The 14th Cavalry was constituted 2 February 1901, by War Department General Order Number 14. The unit was organized at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, 5 March 1901.
Philippines campaign
The 14th was stationed in the Philippines from 1903 to 1906 during the insurgency campaigns. Upon successful completion of that campaign in 1906, the regiment then returned home to the United States and took up garrisons in the Pacific Northwest, where it assumed peacetime duties. The regiment was re-deployed to the Philippines in 1909, although this time it was only engaged in garrison duties and training.
Mexican campaign
In 1912, the regiment was called for service in the Mexican campaign. On the night of 5–6 May 1916, a detachment of nine troopers guarding Glenn Springs, Texas came under attack by a band of about 70 Villistas in the Glenn Springs raid, and three privates, William Cohen, Stephen J. Coloe, and Lawrence K. Rogers, were killed on American soil. The unit then joined General John J. Pershing's expeditionary forces in the Mexican Punitive Expedition against Pancho Villa and his forces during the summer of 1916, chasing bandits throughout the Mexican plains. The regiment then returned to Texas, where it began the task of patrolling the border until 1918, when it was called into service in Europe. The Treaty of Versailles was signed before the regiment could cross the Atlantic and the regiment resumed its border patrol mission.
In 1920, the 14th Cavalry Regiment was moved to Iowa, and for approximately the next two decades served in a peacetime capacity.
World War II
On 15 July 1942, the regiment was inactivated, with its personnel and equipment being transferred to the newly activated 14th Armored Regiment, 9th Armored Division. On 12 July 1943, the regiment was reactivated as the 14th Cavalry Group at Fort Lewis, Washington. On 28 August 1944, the 14th Cavalry Group sailed for Europe, where it landed on Omaha Beach on 30 September and pressed east. On 18 October, the unit's two squadrons were temporarily detached; the 18th Squadron to the 2nd Infantry Division, and the 32nd Squadron to the 83rd Infantry Division.
Battle of the Bulge
The unit regained its autonomy on 12 December 1944 during the latter stages of World War II and began guarding the Losheim Gap in Belgium. On 16 December, the 14th Cavalry Group received the full brunt of the German winter counteroffensive in the Battle of the Bulge. After two days of savage fighting, the unit reassembled at Vielsalm, Belgium and was attached to the 7th Armored Division.
On 23 December, the unit secured the southern flank of the perimeter, which allowed friendly troops to withdraw to safety. On 25 December, the unit was reequipped, attached to the XVIII Airborne Corps and moved back into the Bulge to push back the German Army. After the bloody and brutal fight in the Ardennes Forest, the regiment was assigned to the 3rd U.S. Army, and ended the war near the Austrian border.
Cold War
After World War II, the group was reorganized as the 14th Constabulary Regiment and served as a police unit until 1948, when it was again reorganized as the 14th Armored Cavalry Regiment and served until 1972 as such on "Freedoms Frontier" at Fulda, Bad Kissingen and Bad Hersfeld, Germany, performing reconnaissance and border duties for NATO until its colors were cased and it was replaced by the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment.
2000s
Iraq
The regiment was reactivated on 15 September 2000 as the U.S. Army's first reconnaissance, surveillance and target acquisition squadron in the Stryker brigade combat team. From August 2001 to May 2003 1st Squadron as a part of the Army's first Stryker Brigade Combat Team tested various medium weight combat vehicles eventually certifying the 8 wheeled, 20 ton Stryker vehicle during the first ever US Army unit to complete back-to-back Combat Training Center rotations. After training at the National Training Center in March 2003, 1st Squadron loaded its complete complement of tactical vehicles on Navy LSVs in San Diego and discharged them two days later in Beaumont, Tx. A tactical roadmarch then brought the Squadron to its next rotation at the Joint Readiness Training Center, Fort Polk, LA. Upon completion the Squadron (and its Brigade) was certified for combat deployment.