The 17th Cavalry Regiment is a United States Army Regimental System (USARS) parent regiment which is effectively part of the United States Army Aviation Branch.
It was established as a regiment of cavalry after the U.S. Pancho Villa Expedition into Mexico in mid-1916. The unit was constituted on 1 July 1916 in the Regular Army as the 17th Cavalry at Fort Bliss, Texas and originally inactivated 26 September 1921 at the Presidio of Monterey, California. Formerly a part of the 1950s Combat Arms Regimental System, it was reorganized as a part of the USARS in the 1980s. In the mid-2020s, the Regiment is found within the combat aviation brigades across the army, where the squadrons, now constituted as attack/reconnaissance helicopter squadrons, carry on its legacy, lineage, traditions, and fighting spirit.
History Formation The 17th Cavalry Regiment was organized under the provisions of the National Defense Act of 1916 at Fort Bliss, Texas on 30 June 1916 and constituted on 1 July 1916. Brigadier General John J. Pershing had taken his columns into Mexico only a short time before and the need of cavalry troops was pressing. Thirty-two officers and seven hundred and ninety-one veterans from the 1st, 3rd, 6th, 8th and 14th Cavalry Regiments were transferred as the nucleus of the new regiment. Many of these were recalled from the Mexican Punitive Expedition and since all were experienced troopers, little time was spent in whipping the organization into shape. The regimental commander, Colonel Willard A. Holbrook, assumed command on 9 July 1916, on which date the men from the 8th joined the 17th Cavalry Regiment. Colonel Holbrook held command until he was promoted to the rank of major general.
In honor of the cavalry regiments that contributed officers, men and experience to the formation of the 17th Cavalry Regiment, the regimental shield shares much from the coats of arm of those units. Orange is from the 1st Cavalry and was the official color that has historically represented dragoons. The color green was taken from the 3d Cavalry. Their uniforms contained green facings in honor of the 3d Cavalry's first engagement at Vera Cruz, and its contribution throughout the campaign of 1847 to the capture of Mexico City. The regiment chose the unicorn from the 6th Cavalry Regiment, which represents the knightly virtues and, in the rampant position, a symbol of fighting aggressiveness, combined with speed and alacrity. The demi-horse, in honor of cavalry mounts, was taken from the shield of the 8th Cavalry Regiment. The diagonal line, being the traditional military symbol of cavalry, came from the 14th Cavalry.
The first mounted formation of the regiment was held on 4 August 1916 and consisted of all fifteen troops and the wagons of the supply troop.
Arizona On 14 May 1917, over five weeks after the American entry into World War I, the regiment received orders for a change of station due to disturbances along the border of Arizona. By 17 May, the regiment loaded up on trains and traveled from El Paso to arrive at Douglas, Arizona, on the mid-afternoon of 18 May. The regiment established itself at Camp Harry J. Jones, Douglas, Arizona, with outposts near Naco, Arizona (30 miles west along the border), west of town near the C & A Copper Smelter, Forrest, Arizona, and Slaughter's Ranch (13 miles east).
Trouble began in the copper mining districts of Arizona as the Industrial Workers of the World union became unmanageable. On 5 July 1917 a provisional squadron, under the command of Lieutenant Colonel White, marched north to Globe, Arizona, for strike duty. Later that month, forest fires in Mormon Canyon (Turkey Creek) grew beyond the control of the forest rangers, prompting another call for assistance by the civil leaders; a detail of fifty men under Second Lieutenant Arthur S. Harrington was deployed to assist them. The regiment would remain in the Southwest until the end of World War I. After the Armistice with Germany was signed in November 1918, the regiment was under orders to move to Hawaii. Among the junior officers who served with the 17th Cavalry was First Lieutenant Lucian Truscott, later to become a four-star general officer.
Hawaii On 5 April 1919, the 17th Cavalry set sail from San Francisco on the USAT Sherman, bound for Honolulu and Schofield Barracks. The massive demobilization following the end of World War I, would leave the 17th Cavalry manning the garrison at Fort Shafter and Schofield Barracks until the fall of 1920. Still, the problem remained of covering approximately one hundred miles of rugged coast line with one regiment of cavalry to effectively repel any attempted landing of troops from transports and hold them off until the arrival of reinforcements. With the exception of the sector in and around the city of Honolulu and Pearl Harbor, the entire coast line of the island was left to the 17th Cavalry Regiment. The regiment developed an intricate system of shielded lights and telephone lines for command and control as well as reporting, with camps placed in locations that provided cover and concealment from the air or sea.
Postwar reorganization of the Army resulted in a reduction of the number of cavalry regiments from seventeen to fourteen, including inactivation of the 17th Cavalry. Lack of funds, reduced personnel authorization, and serious doubts that "the mounted combat of large bodies of cavalry is probably a thing of the past" contributed to the decision as well as a new regimental organization that was designed to reduce overhead, increase firepower, and retain mobility. Many storied cavalry units came dangerously close to being lost because of organizational changes, but a new policy of retaining units on the rolls of the Army in an inactive status was established, preserving unit designations and histories for future use rather than disbanding or re-designating them.
The 17th Cavalry left Schofield Barracks by truck for Honolulu on 16 September and embarked on the USAT Buford for Monterey, California. On 26 September, the 17th Cavalry was inactivated and the officers and men were transferred to the 11th Cavalry. From 1921 to 1927, the 17th Cavalry's "Active Associate" unit that would provide the personnel to reactivate it in the event of war was the 11th Cavalry. With the abandonment of the Active Associate program in 1926–27, the 17th Cavalry was allotted to the Ninth Corps Area on 28 February 1927, and organized by June 1927 as a "Regular Army Inactive" unit with Organized Reserve personnel from the 2nd Squadron, 323rd Cavalry. The regimental headquarters was established at Portland, Oregon, with the 1st Squadron organized at Corvallis, Oregon, and the 2nd Squadron organized at Seattle, Washington. The regiment conducted summer training at Fort Lewis, Washington, 1930–40. It was reorganized and redesignated the 17th Cavalry Regiment (Horse and Mechanized) (Corps Reconnaissance) on 1 July 1940, and inactivated in January 1941 at Portland by relief of Reserve personnel.
Vietnam Troop A, 17th Cavalry was reconstituted on 1 September 1957 in the Regular Army and consolidated with the 82d Airborne Reconnaissance Company and the consolidated unit designated as Troop A, 17th Cavalry, an element of the 82d Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, NC. It was reorganized and redesignated on 25 May 1964 as Headquarters and Headquarters Troop, 1st Squadron, 17th Cavalry (organic elements constituted 6 March 1964 and activated 25 May 1964). Troop B, 1st Squadron, 17th Cavalry was the ground reconnaissance element of the 3d Brigade, 82d Airborne Division in Vietnam. Troop A, 7th Squadron, 17th Air Cavalry Regiment arrived in Vietnam on 18 February 1968 and departed to Ft Bragg, NC, on 18 April 1972.
Troop B, 17th Cavalry was reconstituted on 25 April 1957 in the Regular Army and consolidated with the 101st Airborne Reconnaissance Troop and the consolidated unit designated as Troop B, 17th Cavalry, an element of the 101st Airborne Division. It was reorganized and redesignated on 3 February 1964 as Headquarters and Headquarters Troop, 2d Squadron, 17th Cavalry, and remained assigned to the 101st Airborne Division (organic elements concurrently constituted and activated as elements of the 101st Airborne Division) at Fort Campbell, KY. The 2d Squadron, 17th Cavalry was originally deployed to Vietnam on 12 December 1967 as the ground cavalry squadron of the 101st Airborne Division, but as the division changed to an airmobile mode the squadron was converted to an air cavalry status during the period December 1968 - June 1969. Troops A, B and C (airmobile aviation) thus joined the squadron in March 1969 to complete the conversion. The previous Troop A (ground reconnaissance) had been serving the 1st Brigade of the division since 29 July 1965. The entire squadron was involved in intense aerial combat during the Operation Lam Son 719 invasion of Laos, when the helicopters supported the Army of the Republic of Vietnam's drive and retreat directly. This action took place between February and April 1971. In 1970-71 the squadron raised provisional air cavalry Troops E and F. The squadron departed Vietnam on 8 February 1972.
In 1965 Troop A, 2d Squadron, 17th Cavalry, 1st Brigade, 101st Airborne Division was given a Valorous Unit Award for Operation Harrison Tuy Hoa Vietnam, Meritorious Unit Citation, and later after being employed for recon scout patrols in the Toumoroung battle to defend a Special Forces outpost and the Vietnamese company on the edge of complete destruction. Troop A deployed under the command of Captain Bill Carpenter, who called in napalm air strikes on his own position as it was being overrun. Departing from this battle, Troop A patrols were tasked to rescue and reinforce Lieutenant Colonel David Hackworth's Tiger Force (the battalion recon platoon of the 1st Battalion, 327th Infantry) of 45 soldiers who had been overrun and outnumbered 40 or more to 1. The 80 men of Troop A were at that time deployed in reconnaissance efforts along the Ho Chi Minh Trail and throughout the Dak To Province. Each of the 12 patrols rendezvoused with a chopper flight to fight their way in to rescue and re-enforce Tiger Force. The scout's radio frequency was changed to Tiger Force as it did every time the scouts were officially attached to another unit. Troop A was awarded the Presidential Unit Citation for heroism during this battle by President Lyndon B. Johnson. The unit was also awarded, as attached reinforcements under the command of Lieutenant Colonel David Hackworth, the South Vietnamese Presidential Citation. 8000 combat helicopter missions were flown during this three-week battle.