Armor: April 5, 2003

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One of the U.S. Army units being rushed over to Iraqi is the 2nd Cavalry Regiment (ACR). This unit has been active in the army for over a century, scouting for Patton's 3rd Army during World War II and, although greatly outnumbered, defeating a Republican Guard division at the battle of 73 Easting during the 1991 Gulf War. What makes the 2nd ACR so useful now is that it has been reorganized during the 1990s into "light cavalry." Instead of armored vehicles, all it has is hummers (equipped with machine-gun and anti-tank missiles) and about sixty helicopters. The main purpose of this reorganization was to test new ideas for lighter, faster moving hi-tech strike forces. The unit has served as a peacekeeping force in Bosnia and is probably headed for the same kind of work in Iraq. Most of the training, and experimental operations, the 2nd ACR has been doing for the last few years has been in security and support missions.

 

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