Troop C, 1-153 Cavalry





"Charlie Troop", 1st Squadron, 153rd Cavalry was reorganized in 2006-2007 from A Company, 3rd Battalion, 124th Infantry. The Tallahassee based company has official history dating back to about 1884. However, the company, like the 124th Infantry Regiment claims its roots back to the Civil War and Florida's 12 Infantry Regiments in the two Florida Brigades. For nearly all of the 100 plus years of the company's existence it has been an infantry unit. There were only six years where the unit was changed into a combat engineer company and then an armored scout troop before reverting to an infantry company. Today, Charlie Troop, is a dismounted reconnaissance troop and is still an infantry unit.

Post Civil War Reorganization and the Spanish-American War Volunteers (1884-1916)
The unit organized as the "Governor's Guards" around 1884; one company among 20 throughout the State Troops. From 1884 to 1892 the Florida Militia, called the Florida State Troops until 1909, rebuilt in the aftermath of the Civil War. Many of the leaders of the militia were veterans of the Civil War and fought in one of the two Florida Brigades, including The Adjutants General J.J. Dickison "The Swamp Fox of the Confederacy", David Lang, and Patrick Houston, and the Governor of Florida, E.A. Perry. In 1899, Florida was asked by the U.S. government to provide one regiment of 12 companies for service in the Spanish-American War. While many from Tallahassee volunteered and served, they did not serve as a company from Tallahassee. In fact, the 20 companies from around the state were consolidated, reorganized, and mustered into Federal service 20–25 May 1898 at Tampa as the 1st Florida Volunteer Infantry. The Florida regiment did not deploy overseas and eight of the companies were mustered out 3 December 1898 at Tampa and four companies mustered out 27 January 1899 at Huntsville, Alabama.

Mexican Border, the Great War, and the Buildup (1916-1939)
The Tallahassee unit, as part of the 2nd Florida Infantry Regiment mustered into federal service in June 1916 at Camp Foster, Florida and then deployed to the Texas-Mexico border in support of the Punitive Expedition against Pancho Villa. During their year of border service they used the time to drill and get ready for the Great War. Second Florida mustered out of federal service in March 1917.

The Tallahassee unit was drafted into federal service 5 August 1917 probably at Jacksonville. The Florida 1st and 2nd Regiments were consolidated, reorganized, and redesignated 1 October 1917 as the 124th Infantry and assigned to the 31st Division, as part of the mobilization for World War I. After the regiment arrived in France, the Division and subordinate units were split up into small groups and sent as replacements where needed. Since Florida Guardsmen did not fight under the designation of their regiment, campaign streamers and honors could not be given to the regiment. However, the regiment did receive the WWI streamer without inscription. Many Guardsmen volunteered to serve in the 1st, 2nd, 27th, 30th, 42nd, and 82nd Divisions in France. The regiment officially demobilized 14 January 1919 at Camp Gordon, Georgia.

Post War, the Regiment had a lot of experienced cadre to rebuild the 124th Infantry and prepare for state disasters and the Second World War.



World War II (1939-1946)
Company M, 124th Infantry, a heavy weapons company mobilized for training at Camp Blanding on 25 November 1940. From there they were sent to Fort Benning, Georgia, then to Columbia, South Carolina and from there to Camp Pickett, Virginia. As part of the 124th Regiment, they served as a training unit on Fort Benning, GA in 1941. They were reactivated in Australia and saw intense combat in New Guinea, and the Southern Philippines.

Company A, 3rd Battalion, 124th Infantry


Company A, 124th Infantry was reorganized in 1946 at the armory on Monroe Street, across from Lake Ella with 1LT Ralph C. Davis commanding. The Regiment's headquarters was in Jacksonville and they were part of the 48th Infantry Division. In 1955, a reorganization changed Company A, 3-124 Infantry into Headquarters Company, 124th Armored Rifle Battalion. The 124th A.R.B. received M-41 “Walker Bulldog” tanks and APCs; these tanks were pooled next to the armory on Monroe St.

Company C, 261st Engineers (Combat)
The Tallahassee unit became Company C, 261st Engineers (Combat) in 1963. The infantrymen only had one Annual Training as combat engineers before transforming again into Troop E, 153rd Cavalry.

Troop E, 153rd Cavalry
Troop E, 153rd Cavalry was first organized in 1964 as the mounted reconnaissance element of the 53rd Armored Brigade. The troop had tanks and armored personnel carriers (APCs).

Company A, 3rd Battalion, 124th Infantry
In 1968 a 3rd Infantry battalion was constituted and Troop E was disbanded. The Tallahassee company became Alpha Company, 3rd Battalion, 124th Infantry, 53rd Infantry Brigade and remained as such until 2006-2007. Company A was a light infantry company. They specialized in jungle fighting and made many rotations to Fort Sherman, Panama to conduct Annual Training. In 1992, Alpha Company, under the command of CPT Mike Canzoneri, deployed to Miami to assist victims of Hurricane Andrew.

Post 9/11 (2001-Present)
September 11 changed everything for the National Guard. Over the next decade the National Guard transformed from a strategic reserve to a fully operational force. Company A responded immediately after that 9/11 attacks and set up security at the armory and Tallahassee airport.

Iraq, 2003-2004
Company A was mobilized just prior to Christmas 2002 and moved up to Fort Stewart, GA for training. The battalion deployed to Kuwait in January and were part of the initial invasion of Iraq. They were attached to 108th Air Defense Artillery Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division, and 1st Marine Division during the invasion. When 3rd ID left, 3-124 Infantry was attached to 1st Armored Division. The battalion was assigned to downtown Baghdad and redeployed in 2004.

"Charlie Troop", 1st Squadron, 153rd Cavalry
In 2006-2007 the Army made its reorganizations among Brigades to transform them into Brigade Combat Teams (BCT), the brigade reconnaissance unit was only a single Troop; in the 53rd Infantry Brigade it was E Troop, 153rd Cavalry in Ocala. The 2006-2007 BCT reorganization disbanded E Troop altogether and converted the 3rd Battalion "Warrior", 124th Infantry into what is the 1st Squadron, 153rd Cavalry. Though E Troop and 1st Squadron share the same coat of arms, 1-153 Cavalry was constituted entirely from the infantrymen of 3-124 Infantry and so continue the 3rd Battalion's lineage.

Kuwait, 2010
Troop C deployed with its parent unit, the 1-153 Cavalry, part of the 53rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team in support of Operations Iraqi Freedom and New Dawn. In preparation for their 2010 deployment as a Security Force (SECFOR) company, the unit was filled with cross-leveled soldiers from other Florida units over the course of 2009. This had to be done in order to increase the scout troop from 80 to 130 soldiers. The infantry officers and sergeants formed a cadre that organized and trained the new soldiers to perform security missions; nearly all leadership positions continued to be held only be the infantrymen of C Troop. The squadron underwent intense pre-mobilization training at Camp Blanding, FL for the entire month of October 2009 where the dismounted scout troop learned to use HMMWVs to perform their mission.

They mobilized under Title 10 orders on 2 January 2010. The soldiers boarded buses that drove them from the Tallahassee armory to Panama City, Florida where they flew to Fort Hood, Texas for two months of mobilization training.

In the first week of March the troop arrived at Camp Buehring, Kuwait. C Troop was responsible for Quick Reaction Force (QRF) missions around Camps Buehring and Virginia and an Area Reaction Force mission (ARF) for northern Kuwait. The troop redeployed and demobilized at Fort Stewart, GA in December, 2010.















Unit Designation

 * "Governors Guards", Second Florida Regiment (1884-circa 1917)
 * Company B, 1st Florida Regiment of Infantry (year unknown-circa 1917)
 * Company M, 124 Infantry, 31st Infantry Division (1917-1946)
 * Company A, 124 Infantry, 48th Infantry Division (1946-1955)
 * Headquarters, 1st Armored Rifle Battalion, 124th Infantry, 48th Armored Division (1955-1963)
 * Company C, 261st Engineer Battalion (Combat), 260th Engineer Group (1963-1964)
 * Troop E, 153 Cavalry, 53rd Armored Brigade (1964-1968)
 * Company A, 3-124 Infantry, 53rd Infantry Brigade (1968-2006)
 * Troop C, 1-153 Cavalry, 53rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team (2007–present)