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3d United States Infantry Regiment (The Old Guard)

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The 3d United States Infantry Regiment is an infantry regiment of the United States Army which serves as Escort to the President or Presidential Guard. Three battalions of the regiment are active today. The regiment is readily identified by the regimental nickname, The Old Guard (TOG for short). The regimental motto is Noli Me Tangere (Touch Me Not).

The 3d U.S. Infantry (The Old Guard) is the oldest active infantry regiment in the army, having been first organized as the First American Regiment in 1784.

1st Battalion

All but one company of the battalion are stationed at Ft. Myer, Virginia (Company 'A', the Commander in Chief's Guard, is stationed at nearby Ft. McNair, across the river in Southwest Washington, DC). The 1st Battalion, 3d U.S. Infantry Regiment (The Old Guard) is under the blanket of the Military District of Washington (MDW). The Old Guard has a twofold mission: a ceremonial mission and a combat mission, in which the regiment serves as part of the National Capital Region's defense.

  • HHC

    • Headquarters Platoon
    • Caisson Platoon
    • Presidential Salute Battery
  • Alpha Company

    • First Platoon
    • Second Platoon
    • Third Platoon
  • Bravo Company

    • Headquarters Platoon
    • First Platoon
    • Second Platoon
    • Third Platoon
  • Charlie Company

    • Headquarters Platoon
    • First Platoon
    • Second Platoon
    • Third Platoon
  • Delta Company

    • Headquarters Platoon
    • First Platoon
    • Second Platoon
    • Third Platoon
  • Hotel Company

    • Headquarters Platoon
    • First Platoon
    • Second Platoon
    • Third Platoon

Mission statement

The 3d U.S. Infantry Regiment's website lists its brigade combat team (BCT) mission statement as follows:

"3d US Infantry Regiment BCT conducts ceremonies in order to maintain the traditions of the US Army, showcase the Army to our nation’s citizens and the world, and to defend the dignity and honor of our fallen comrades. On order, 3d Infantry Regiment BCT protects federal property and / or reinforces civilian authorities in the NCR in order to limit the effects of attacks or disasters.

Ceremonial mission

The Old Guard is also known as "Escort to the President." The majority of the regiment is made up of "line platoons," which, among other duties, march in military parades. The Old Guard is the only unit in the US Army that has an Act of Congress specifically providing it with orders to march with fixed bayonets and it is the sole remaining regular combat field unit to issue the standard M14 rifle to the ranks. There are several casket teams and firing parties in the line platoons; these participate in military funerals. Among the ceremonial tasks and honors the regiment carries out, the following duties are also included, each of which is assigned to a Specialty Platoon: the guarding of the Tomb of the Unknowns in Arlington National Cemetery; The Continental Color Guard (or CCG - see also Color Guards); The Presidential Salute Guns Battery, which serves at all Full Honors General officer (and State) funerals, as well as at arrivals and departures of foreign dignitaries; the US Army Caisson Platoon, which provides horses and riders to pull caisson (the wagon that bears a casket) in military and state funerals, as well as caparisoned horses in Full Honors funerals. Also part of The Old Guard, are the US Army Drill Team, which performs around the nation & Old Guard Fife and Drum Corps, which plays traditional arrangements of marching music, dating back to the time of the Continental Army. The Old Guard Fife and Drum Corps marches in the Colonial red uniform -- to be "better seen through the smoke of battle"; the uniform also includes tri-corner hats and powdered wigs.

Combat readiness

The Old Guard, while performing primarily in a ceremonial role, is nonetheless an Infantry unit, which is required to maintain the same certifications of all Infantry units in the U.S. Army. In its combat role, the soldiers of The Old Guard train to standards as per their MOS (Military Occupational Specialty); these include: Rifle marksmanship; Nuclear, Biological and Chemical (NBC) warfare preparedness training; operations in area security: and control of civil disturbances. Most of this training takes place at Fort A. P. Hill, Virginia. The Old Guard provides the principal body of garrison troops in Washington, D.C.

In 2003, in the regiment's first deployment since the Vietnam War, the U.S. Army reported that the Old Guard's Bravo Company was deployed to the Horn of Africa, where it established a forward base in rural Ethiopia. The base and missions, intended primarily to train Ethiopian military personnel, were part of the Combined Joint Task Force - Horn of Africa (CJTF-HOA), a Global War on Terrorism operation. In 2007, the Army reported that the regiment's Delta company was deployed to Camp LeMonier, Djibouti as part of CJTF-HOA, supporting humanitarian missions and local military training in the region.

2d Battalion

Stationed at Ft.Lewis, Washington, the 2d Battalion, 3d U.S. Infantry Regiment, serves as one of three infantry battalions of the 3d Stryker Brigade Combat Team in the 2d Infantry Division ('Indian Head'). After a 31-year hiatus from service, the 2-3 was reactivated on 15 March 2001. 2-3 Infantry is part of the initial Stryker brigade combat team. Utilizing the new Stryker vehicle platform, this unit is part of the conversion to the Army's Future Force Unit of Action system.

  • HHC
  • A Company

    • Headquarters Platoon
    • First Platoon
    • Second Platoon
    • Third Platoon
  • B Company

    • Headquarters Platoon
    • First Platoon
    • Second Platoon
    • Third Platoon
  • C Company

    • Headquarters Platoon
    • First Platoon
    • Second Platoon
    • Third Platoon
  • D Company

    • Headquarters Platoon
    • First Platoon
    • Second Platoon
    • Third Platoon

3d Battalion

3d Battalion, 3d Infantry was deactivated on 25 August 1994. It was one of the three light infantry battalions that made up the Army Reserve's 205th Infantry Brigade (Light)(Separate), which in turn was the round-out brigade for the Regular Army's 6th Infantry Division (Light), based at Fort's Richardson and Wainwright, Alaska. The 205th Infantry Brigade was headquartered at Fort Snelling, Minnesota until it's deactivation.

4th Battalion

  • HHC

    • Headquarters Platoon
    • US Army Drill Team Platoon
  • E Co.

    • Continental Color Guard Platoon
    • Tomb of the Unknowns Platoon
  • 289th Military Police Company

    • SRT
    • 947th MP Detachment (K-9)

1898 Medal of Honor

Oscar Burkard of the U.S. Army Hospital Corps, attached to the 3d U.S. Infantry, received the Medal of Honor for his actions on October 5, 1898 in the Battle of Sugar Point at Leech Lake, Minnesota. It is listed by the U.S. Office of Medical History as the last Medal of Honor awarded in an Indian campaign.

Lineage

3d U.S. Infantry Honors

Campaign Participation Credit

War of 1812

  1. Canada
  2. Chippewa
  3. Lundy's Lane

Mexican-American War

  1. Palo Alto
  2. Resaca de la Palma
  3. Monterey
  4. Vera Cruz
  5. Cerro Gordo
  6. Contreras
  7. Churubusco
  8. Chapultepec

Civil War

  1. Bull Run
  2. Peninsula
  3. Manassas
  4. Antietam
  5. Fredericksburg
  6. Chancellorsville
  7. Gettysburg
  8. Appomattox
  9. Texas 1861
  10. Florida 1861
  11. Florida 1862
  12. Virginia 1863

Indian Wars

  1. Miami (Ohio 1794)
  2. Seminoles (1840-1843)
  3. Comanches (1868)
  4. New Mexico 1856
  5. New Mexico 1857
  6. New Mexico 1858
  7. New Mexico 1860
  8. Montana 1887

Spanish-American War

  1. Santiago

Philippine-American War

  1. Malolos
  2. San Isidro
  3. Luzon 1899
  4. Luzon 1900
  5. Jolo 1911

World War II

  1. American Theater, Streamer without inscription;
  2. Northern France

Vietnam

  1. Counteroffensive, Phase II
  2. Counteroffensive, Phase III
  3. Tet Counteroffensive
  4. Counteroffensive, Phase IV
  5. Counteroffensive, Phase V
  6. Counteroffensive, Phase VI
  7. Tet 69/Counteroffensive
  8. Summer-Fall 1969
  9. Winter-Spring 1970
  10. Sanctuary Counteroffensive
  11. Counteroffensive, Phase VII
  12. Consolidation I

Decorations

(Copied directly from the Regimental Website)

Notes

References



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Last updated on Wednesday March 12, 2008 at 20:01:48 PDT (GMT -0700)
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