5th Field Artillery Regiment

The 5th Field Artillery Regiment was constituted as part of the Regular Army in January 1907. Individual battalions have lineages that date back further. As of 2013, only 2 battalions are active.

Distinctive unit insignia
A gold color metal and enamel device 1 inch (2.54 cm) in diameter which is an adaptation of the crest and motto of the coat of arms.
 * Description

The crest is that of the Hamilton family (Alexander Hamilton being a former commander of one of the elements of the regiment). The distinctive unit insignia was originally approved for the 5th Field Artillery Regiment on 21 January 1924. It was redesignated for the 5th Field Artillery Battalion on 13 September 1944. The insignia was cancelled on 19 April 1960. It was reinstated and authorized for the 5th Field Artillery Regiment effective 1 September 1971.
 * Symbolism
 * Background

Coat of arms

 * Blazon
 * Shield: Gules the liberty bell Or between five arrows four point down in fess paleways and one in base fessways the latter broken Sable fimbriated Argent. On a chief embattled Vert fimbriated Argent a five-pointed mullet of the last (for the 12th Corps, Civil War).
 * Crest: On a wreath of the colors Or and Gules, on a mount an oak tree fructed of 13 acorns and penetrated transversely in the main stem by a frame saw Proper, the frame Or (For Alexander Hamilton).
 * Motto: FAITHFUL AND TRUE.


 * Symbolism
 * Shield: The shield is scarlet for Artillery. The Liberty Bell alludes to the Revolutionary War. The five arrows commemorate the Indian War campaign credit of old Company “F”, 4th Artillery. The broken arrow is indicative of the engagement near Vincennes, Indiana, 4 November 1791, in which all officers and two-thirds of the men of Bradford’s Company, Battalion of Artillery, were killed. The embattled partition line refers to the ramparts of Chapultapec and denotes service during the Mexican War. The star, the insignia of the 12th Corps in which batteries of the Regiment served, is representative of the Civil War.
 * Crest: The crest is that of the Hamilton family (Alexander Hamilton being a former commander of one of the elements of the regiment).
 * Background: The coat of arms was originally approved for the 5th Field Artillery Regiment on 4 June 1924. It was redesignated for the 5th Field Artillery Battalion on 13 September 1944. The insignia was cancelled on 19 April 1960. It was reinstated and authorized for the 5th Field Artillery Regiment effective 1 September 1971.

1st Battalion, 5th Field Artillery
1st Battalion, 5th Field Artillery is the oldest regular army unit on active duty.

Led first in the Revolutionary War by Captain Alexander Hamilton, the unit fought at Long Island, Trenton, Princeton, Brandywine, Germantown, Monmouth, Yorktown, and New York. After participating in the final victory at Yorktown, the unit was selected as the only Continental Army unit to remain on active duty status. Later the unit fought in the War of 1812; and in the Miami, Creek, Seminole, Little Big Horn and Pine Ridge Indian campaigns. The unit also participated multiple campaigns in the Mexican War.

Remaining loyal to the Union, "Hamilton's Own" fought valiantly in the Valley, Manassas, Antietam, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, and the Virginia 1861 Campaigns.

After earning a campaign streamer at Santiago, the 1st Battalion, 5th Field Artillery went to the Philippines and participated in the campaigns at Cavite, Luzon 1899, Samar 1900, and Samar 1901. An officer of the battalion, 1LT (later Brigadier General) Gruber composed the Caisson Song. The song that was the 1st Battalion, 5th Field Artillery's regimental march later became the Artillery and then the Army Song. The Battalion was assigned to the 1st Infantry Division and sent to France in 1917. The unit deployed as the 5th Field Artillery Regiment to fight at Montdidier-Noyon, Aisne-Marne, St. Mihiel, Meuse-Argonne, Lorraine 1917, Lorraine 1918, and Picardy. Remaining with the 1st Infantry Division, the Battalion participated in every major European campaign during World War II. Campaign credits earned were Algeria-French Morocco, Tunisia, Sicily, Normandy, Northern France, Rhineland, Ardennes-Alsace, and Central Europe.

In late 1965, the battalion was again deployed to Vietnam. During Operation Fishhook in October 1968, LTC Charles C. Rogers, the Battalion Commander, received the Medal of Honor for gallantry and leadership at Firebase Rita. The battalion won eleven campaign streamers for their actions in the Republic of Vietnam.

The 1st Battalion, 5th Field Artillery deployed in January 1991 for Operation Desert Shield and Desert Storm and became the first artillery unit in the division to be credited with destroying an Iraqi tank with a Copperhead projectile. "Hamilton's Own" also participated in the largest artillery raid ever conducted. The unit earned the Defense of Saudi Arabia and the Liberation and Defense of Kuwait streamers.

The 1st Battalion, 5th Field Artillery deployed in September 2003, for Operation Iraqi Freedom and returned to Fort Riley in September 2004. The battalion has continued the tradition of "Faithful and True" throughout its 224-year history participating in almost every major conflict and earning 60 campaign streamers and numerous unit citations for gallantry in battle. Today, "Hamilton's Own" proudly serves at Fort Riley, Kansas and provides Paladin fire support to the 1st Brigade Combat Team of the 1st Infantry Division.

In December 2005, the battalion's AN/TPQ-36 Firefinder Radar Section was deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom 4 & 5. The team was deployed to FOB McKynzy (Samarrah East Airfields) where they supported 1-8 Infantry, 4th ID out of Ft. Carson, CO. Some time later during the deployment the team of 7 were relocated to FOB Palawada, located near Balad east of LSA Anaconda. After a year's deployment the team returned home in late 2006 to support the battalion's mission of training MIT teams to deploy to various theaters of operations.

2nd Battalion, 5th Field Artillery
The mission of the 2nd Battalion, 5th Field Artillery, "Rock Hard," is to prepare for combat and, on order, deploy to a designated contingency area by air, land, and sea to provide fires in support of full spectrum operations.

The 2nd Battalion, 5th Field Artillery was first constituted in the Regular Army as a light artillery regiment in January 1907, and was organized in May 1907 from existing units at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, and the Philippines. Battery D, 5th Field Artillery was descended from Captain Alexander Hamilton's New York Provincial Company of Artillery organized in 1776. The 5th Artillery was therefore recognized as the only surviving Regular Army unit originating in the Revolutionary War. The regiment also accrued four Civil War battle streamers from existing units at the time of its formation.

The unit was reorganized and redesignated as Battery B, 5th Field Artillery. It was assigned to the 1st Expeditionary Division in June 1917 and departed for France in July 1917. During World War I the unit received credit for seven campaigns and was twice decorated with the French Croix de Guerre with two palms. After returning to the United States, the unit was inactivated at Camp Bragg, North Carolina, It was then reactivated at Madison Barracks, New York in December 1939. In October 1940, the unit was reorganized and redesignated as the Battery B, 5th Field Artillery Battalion. It departed for England in August 1942 in support of the 1st Infantry Division. During World War II, the 5th Field Artillery Battalion as a whole saw action in eight campaigns.

The unit was redesignated as Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, 2nd Howitzer Battalion, 5th Artillery on June 1958 and activated on 25 June in Germany as part of Operation Gyroscope, an Army experiment in rotating units from CONUS to OCONUS "in total". It was re-designated as 2nd Battalion, 5th Field Artillery on 25 June 1964. The battalion was assigned to 1st Infantry Division on 15 April 1983 at Fort Riley, Kansas (reflagging the existing 1st Battalion, 7th Field Artillery, DS to 2nd Brigade), and then moved to Neu Ulm, German as the DS FA BN for 3rd Brigade, 1st Infantry Division (aka 1st ID Forward). This movement occurred in June 1986 (trading places with 4th Battalion, 5th Field Artillery) as part of the U.S. Army's COHORT program experiment. In that study, 8 battalions (4 CONUS, 4 OCONUS) participated in a 3 year study to determine if the company level COHORT program could be extended to the battalion level. Unfortunately, the same company level issues of lack of upward mobility and increased unit friction served to end the COHORT program for good.

The battalion was inactivated and relieved from assignment to the 1st Infantry Division on 15 August 1991.

The battalion was reactivated at Ft Sill, Oklahoma on 16 April 1996. There it gained the distinction of having been the first battalion to equip with the M109A6 Paladin self-propelled howitzer.

In 2000, 2-5th Field Artillery executed a battery (+) deployment to Kuwait, in direct support of Task Force Garry Owen, led by the 3-7th Cavalry, an element of the 3rd Infantry Division. There 2-5th Field Artillery fired more than 1,700 projectiles. Another deployment to Fort Knox, Kentucky resulted in a second battery (+) deployment, firing more than 1,650 projectiles for the USMA's mounted maneuver training. Three detachments deployed to Fort Hood, Texas, to support Ulchi Focus Lens and the 1st Cavalry Warfighter exercise. At Fort Sill, Oklahoma, 2-5th Field Artillery executed six battery ARTEPs, a battalion ARTEP and two Janus/fire simulation TOC exercises.

In 2006, the 212th Field Artillery Brigade was reorganized and redesignated as the 214th Fires Brigade, a modular field artillery brigade. As part of the reorganization, 3rd Battalion, 13th Field Artillery was reassigned to the 75th Fires Brigade. In October 2006, the 2nd Battalion, 5th Field Artillery, previously serving with the 212th Field Artillery Brigade, was assigned to the 214th Fires Brigade.

Bravo Battery deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom in Feb 2010, currently serving on multiple FOBs across Iraq in support of Operation New Dawn.

3rd Battalion, 5th Field Artillery
3rd Battalion shares all of the lineage of the Regiment, and served in Germany in the 1980s.

4th Battalion, 5th Field Artillery
4th Battalion shares all of the lineage of the Regiment, and was first activated in Neu Ulm, Germany in 1983 (reflagging the former 2nd Battalion, 33rd FA) as part of the 1st Infantry Division (Forward). It served in a DS (direct support) role with the 3rd Brigade (equipped with M109A2/3 howitzers) until relieved in position by 2nd Battalion, 5ht FA, and then took over 2nd Battalion's mission of DS to 2nd Brigade at Fort Riley, KS.

4th Battalion earned the unofficial nickname 'Bore Busters' as a play on the name 'boar' after an officer in the unit killed an animal of the same name in Grafenwoehr, Germany training area in 1985. The boar had become a pest and had attacked several members of Service Battery who attempted to get it to leave the garbage cans alone. A boar's head with crossed cannons on a plaque was mounted in the Battalion HQs for many years.

The battalion deployed in January 1991 for Operation Desert Shield and Desert Storm DS to 2nd Brigade, noted for being the 1st unit on site to secure the surrender location in Safwan. The unit earned the Defense of Saudi Arabia and the Liberation and Defense of Kuwait streamers.

The battalion was redesignated in the 1990s - the exact date is needed.

5th Battalion, 5th Field Artillery
5th Battalion shares all of the lineage of the Regiment, and is believed to have been part of the NYARNG for some time.