REGIMENTAL TURBULENCE

In the mid 1980s the Army decided to move to a unit replacement system whereby soldiers would spend the majority of their army careers rotating between the elements of a regiment located in the United States and overseas. In order to set up the proper alignment of like units, old historic long-term assignments of regiments in certain divisions were terminated. The 3rd Squadron, 4th Cavalry which had served with the 25th Infantry Division since 1957 was inactivated on 16 March 1987, because under the unit replacement system, 4th Cavalry elements would only be assigned to heavy divisions and the 25th had been reorganized as a light division. The 4th Squadron was reactivated in 1986 and was assigned to the 3rd Infantry Division (Mechanized) in Germany. Loud complaints over the inactivation of the 3rd Squadron by senior Army leaders, who had served with the squadron, led to the army inactivating the 4th Squadron and replacing it with the 3rd Squadron in 1989. Troop E, 4th Cavalry was inactivated on 5 June 1984 when the decision was made to remove combat arms from the Army Reserve.

Meanwhile the 2nd Squadron which had been inactivated in Germany in 1972, after serving both in the 4th Armored Division and then in the 1st Armored Division, was reactivated with the 24th Infantry Division (Mechanized) at Fort Stewart, Georgia in January 1987.