229th / 229

*Note that we are not actual members of the 229th AHB, but for reference, here is it’s actual history

229th Assault Helicopter Battalion and 229th Aviation Battalion

The unit was constituted on 18 March 1964 in the Regular Army as the 229th Assault Helicopter Battalion, an element of the 11th Aviation Group, 11th Air Assault Division (Test) and activated on 19 March 1964 at Fort Benning, Georgia. It was redesignated on 1 July 1965 as the 229th Aviation Battalion, an element of the 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile), when the assets of the 11th Air Assault Division (Test) and the 2d Infantry Division were merged and reflagged as the 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile). The 229th Aviation Battalion (Assault Helicopter) took part in the Vietnam War and remained behind when the 11th Aviation Group departed with the bulk of the division, providing support to the 3d Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile) at Bien Hoa in June 1971. The following units were part of the 229th in Vietnam:

• Company A (Assault Helicopter), September 1965-August 1972, departed Vietnam
• Company B (Assault Helicopter), September 1965-August 1972, departed Vietnam
• Company C (Assault Helicopter), September 1965-August 1972, departed Vietnam
• Company D (Aerial Weapons), September 1965-August 1972, departed Vietnam
• 362d Aviation Company (Assault Support Helicopter), June 1971-August 1972, departed Vietnam
• Troop F, 9th Cavalry (Air Cavalry), June 1971-August 1972, transferred to the 12th Aviation Group

Troop F, 9th Cavalry was formed in Vietnam as Troop H, 16th Cavalry, a designation never approved by the Department of the Army. Properly * Troop F, 9th Cavalry, its true designation was not used in Vietnam until the May 1972 time frame. Many records of the period June 1971-May 1972 show this particular unit under its unauthorized designation.

The 229th departed Vietnam on 12 August 1972 and was inactivated ten days later at Fort Hood, Texas, where it was relieved from assignment to the 1st Cavalry Division. It was reactivated on 21 September 1978 at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, as an element of the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault). During much of the 1980s its Company D was based at Fort Rucker, Alabama. Concurrent with the redesignation of aviation units to a regimental system, the 229th was inactivated on 16 October 1987 at Fort Campbell, and relieved from assignment to the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault). Subsequently, the lineages of the lettered companies of the battalion were reorganized and redesignated as the HHCs of numbered battalions (i.e., Co A became HHC, 1st Bn, 229th Avn; Co B became HHC, 2d Bn, 229th Avn, etc.). Beyond Company D, new battalions of the 229th Aviation Regiment (such as the 8th Battalion) were activated with no prior history from the era of the 229th Aviation Battalion.

During the 1990-91 Gulf War, the 2d Battalion, 229th Aviation served with the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), the 4th Battalion, 229th Aviation with the 11th Aviation Brigade, the 5th Battalion, 229th Aviation with the ARCENT Aviation Brigade, reflagged as the Aviation Brigade, 2d Armored Division, and Company A, 5th Battalion, 229th Aviation with the 3d Armored Division.