10th Mountain Division Artillery

 

Mission

The 10th Mountain Division Artillery (DIVARTY), plans, prepares, executes and assesses combined-arms operations to provide close support and precision strikes for the division while employing joint and organic fires and capabilities to achieve distribution effects in support of commander’s operational and tactical objectives.

 

History

The 10th Mountain Division Artillery (DIVARTY) traces its lineage back to Fort Lewis, Washington. The 2nd Battalion, 99th Field Artillery (FA) Regiment (Pack) – later redesignated as the 98th FA Battalion (Pack) – was activated on June 1, 1940.

The Mountain Training Center (MTC) Artillery was activated at Camp Carson, Colorado, on Sept. 5, 1942. There, the previously activated 602nd FA Battalion (Pack) was soon joined by the 98th, 99th, and the 601st FA Battalions (Pack). The MTC Artillery and its battalions moved to Camp Hale, Colorado, on Nov. 16, 1942. By July 15, 1943, with the activation of the 10th Light Division (Alpine) Artillery, the previous battalions were replaced by the 604th, 605th, and 616th FA Battalions (Pack) and joined by the 727th Antiaircraft Artillery Machine Gun Battalion and the 576th Antitank Battery.

Training with the 75mm pack howitzer and a move to Camp Swift, Texas, preceded DIVARTY’s reorganization and redesignation as the 10th Mountain Division Artillery on Nov. 6, 1944. In January 1945, DIVARTY arrived in Italy, and after a brief reorganization, the unit was ready for combat. Beginning with the assault on Riva Ridge through the battles around Lake Garda, DIVARTY provided lethal fires that contributed to the destruction of five German divisions and the surrender of the German army in Italy. With the end of WWII, DIVARTY was inactivated on Nov. 30, 1945.

On July 1, 1948, the 10th Infantry Division Artillery was reactivated at Fort Riley, Kansas, as a training division. While DIVARTY remained unmanned, two of its battalions, the 25th and 35th FA Battalions, trained Soldiers in non-combat specialties. On June 15, 1954, DIVARTY was assigned personnel and prepared to rotate to Germany as part of Operation Gyroscope. With its three direct support battalions, the 25th, 35th, and 40th FA Battalions, along with the 85th FA Battalion (General Support) and the 43rd AAA Battalion, DIVARTY was ready to face the Communist threat.

Technological advances and doctrinal changes warranted a reorganization on July 1, 1957, transforming DIVARTY to consist of the 2nd Battalion, 7th FA, and 2nd Battalion, 9th FA, in the new Pentomic force structure. The 2-7 FA provided direct support to the division’s battle groups, while 2-9 FA provided a nuclear capability. By 1958, the division returned to the U.S., and the unit was inactivated on June 14, 1958.

DIVARTY was reactivated on May 2, 1987, after the division’s reactivation in February 1985. By September 1988, DIVARTY consisted of 1st Battalion and 2nd Battalion, 7th FA; 10th Target Acquisition Detachment, and Battery E. By the mid-1990s, DIVARTY had played large roles in operations in southern Florida, Somalia, and Haiti. 1996 saw an Armywide reflagging, replacing 1st Battalion and 2nd Battalion, 7th FA, with the 3rd Battalion, 6th FA, and the 2nd Battalion, 15th FA. By the new millennium, DIVARTY Soldiers had conducted additional operations in Honduras, Germany, the Sinai Peninsula, Bosnia, Kosovo, and Macedonia.

The terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, saw DIVARTY Soldiers deploying in October in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. In March 2003, they took part in Operation Iraqi Freedom in northern Iraq. Deployments by DIVARTY Soldiers continued worldwide until the unit was inactivated on Aug. 6, 2004, as part of the Modular Force restructuring. The 2-7 FA and 10th TAD inactivated as well, and the 4th Battalion, 25th FA, was activated.

DIVARTY’s inactivation shifted the responsibility of providing fires and maintaining the tradition of the field artillery in the 10th Mountain Division to the individual battalions as they joined their respective brigade combat teams: 3-6 FA (1st Brigade Combat Team), 2-15 FA (2nd Brigade Combat Team), 4-25 FA (3rd Brigade Combat Team), and on Jan. 16, 2005, the 5th Battalion, 25th FA (4th Brigade Combat Team). Armywide force reductions saw 4-25 FA inactivated on Aug. 14, 2014.

DIVARTY was reactivated on Oct. 16, 2015. It consists of Headquarters and Headquarters Battery with the primary role of providing force field artillery headquarters operations and division training and certification oversight of the division’s field artillery battalions.

In 2018, DIVARTY deployed in support of Operation Inherent Resolve, aiding in 10th Mountain Division's mission to help bring stability to Iraq after the completion of combat missions versus the Islamic State.