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CREST
103rd-Intelligence-Electronic-Warfare-Battalion
UNIT MISSION
103rd Intelligence and Electronic Warfare Battalion (Division) conducts multi-discipline intelligence analysis and PED in support of the Division G-2; multi-domain intelligence analysis and targeting support, PED, and collection in support of division multi-domain effects; and provides limited interrogation capability to the 3rd Infantry Division.
UNIT HISTORY
The 103rd Intelligence and Electronic Warfare (IEW) Battalion traces its earliest lineage to the activation of the 3rd Counterintelligence Corps Detachment on the 3rd of September 1944. Activated in France, the Detachment was immediately thrown into some of the fiercest battles on the Western Front where the unit took part in four major campaigns, including the famous Ardennes-Alsace offensive remembered for its decisive victory over the German Army at the Battle of the Bulge. The Detachment was deactivated two years later in the post-war drawdown but was reactivated in 1949 and saw significant combat throughout the Korean War, taking part in eight campaigns over the course of the war, including the Chinese Communist Force Intervention, and the Second and Third Korean Winters. In 1958, the Detachment was re-designated as the 3rd Military Intelligence Detachment before again being re-designated as the 3rd Military Intelligence Company in 1972. In 1974, the 3rd MI Company was assigned to the 3rd Infantry Division, the “Rock of the Marne” which was based in West Germany.
Read more: Dagger Battalion History
The 103rd IEW Battalion can additionally trace its lineage to the 3377th Signal Service Detachment, which was activated on the 15th of January 1946 on the island of Luzon in the Philippines. It was re-designated as the 50th Signal Service Detachment in 1947 and was again re-designated and converted into the 851st Communication Reconnaissance Detachment in October 1951. Utilized in the Korean War, the 851st took part in four campaigns throughout the war, including the First United Nations Counteroffensive. Following the conflict, the 851st was deactivated in 1956, before being reactivated briefly in 1956 for less than a year, at which point they were deactivated yet again. Re-designated as the 851st Army Security Agency Company and activated on July 1st, 1974, the new 851st was stationed in West Germany.
On the 16th of September 1981, the 103rd Military Intelligence Battalion (Combat Electronic Warfare Intelligence) was constituted in West Germany and assigned to the 3rd Infantry Division. Its companies were composed of the 3rd Military Intelligence Company and the 851st Security Agency Company, concurrently reorganized and re-designated as Companies A and B, respectively. In 1996, the 103rd joined 3ID in its relocation from Europe back to the United States, and set up in its new home of Fort Stewart, GA.
As a part of the 3rd Infantry Division, the 103rd participated in the first phase of Operation Iraqi Freedom, whose Company B was one of the first 3ID units to enter the theater in preparation for hostilities. By January 27th, 2003, the entirety of the 103rd was on the ground in the Middle East, largely collecting signals intelligence on Iraqi forces. The Battalion participated in a number of decisive operations against Saddam Hussein’s regime, including the seizure of Saddam International Airport and the follow-on operations to Fallujah.
Deactivated in 2004, the 103rd Intelligence and Electronic Warfare Battalion has since been reborn to meet the global security demands of the United States.