HISTORY
Black Diamonds
92nd Engineer Battalion History
The 92nd Engineer Battalion was first constituted on 1 October 1933 in the Regular Army as the 51st Engineer Battalion. The unit was re-designated on 1 January 1938 as the 92nd Engineer Battalion and activated on 1 May 1941 at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri. The unit was reorganized and re-designated on 22 May 1942 as the 92nd Engineer Regiment. It was again re-designated on 1 August 1942 as the 92nd Engineer General Service Regiment. In 1942, the 92nd Engineers deployed to Italy, earning four campaign streamers during World War II: Naples-Foggia, for their efforts reconditioning the port. Rome-Arno, for their dismantling of tactical bridges, keeping roads passable for supply movements and building new fixed bridges. North Apennines, for the unit's successful repair of a 400-foot crater in a supply road that German demolitions had cut. Po Valley for maintaining a railhead for supply routes to the Po River. The four points of the black diamond on the unit crest represent these campaigns. During WWII, the Regiment became known as the "Can Do Regiment." After WWII, the Regiment was deactivated in Italy in April 1946, sent to Fort Bragg, NC, and re-designated the 92nd Engineer Battalion. The 92nd deployed in May 1967 during the Vietnam Conflict. The "Can Do Regiment" became known as the "Black Diamonds" for their distinctive unit crest. The 92nd received 14 of the 17 campaign streamers awarded in Vietnam, as well as, four Meritorious Unit Commendations and the Vietnamese Civil Action Honor Medal First Class.
Read more
In October 1990, the 92nd deployed to Southwest Asia for Operation Desert Shield. The Battalion was awarded campaign streamers for the defense of Saudi Arabia and the Liberation and Defense of Kuwait. The Battalion also received its fifth meritorious unit commendation. In 2001, A and B Companies deployed in support of Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF). Their mission was to provide runway repair, build a detainee holding cell, and upgrade living conditions in Uzbekistan, Bagram, and Kabul. In April 2003, the 92nd deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF). The Battalion worked from Tallil Airbase to develop living and logistics sustainment facilities along the main supply route. In January 2005, the Battalion deployed to Baghdad in support of OIF 04-06. The Battalion completed 276 construction missions, including the construction of an Iraqi tank gunnery range, numerous Battalion and brigade headquarters, SEA Huts, and the repair of over 100 IED craters. It was also in 2005 when Engineer Dive Detachments, now resident within the 92nd, started rotating nine-month CENTCOM deployments to secure Army ports and ships, providing hydrographic survey and operational dive support for US Forces and its allies. The CENTCOM dive commitment is sustained to this day. In October 2006, the Battalion deployed back to Iraq in support of OIF 06-08. During the deployment, the Black Diamonds completed 400 combat missions and 80 million dollars in construction projects, earning its eighth Meritorious Unit Commendation. In May of 2010, the Black Diamonds deployed to Afghanistan as part of the surge of 30,000 additional American Soldiers. The Battalion constructed new and upgraded existing combat outposts and forward operating bases in support of Coalition and Afghan units.
In 2011, the 530th Engineer Clearance Company Bloodhounds deployed to Afghanistan and from February to October 2013, the Battalion deployed in support of OEF 13, conducting retrograde operations and reducing the coalition footprint in Afghanistan as a part of the CENTCOM Material Recovery Element.
More recently, the 514th Fire Fighter Detachment deployed to Iraq in 2017 providing key airfield ground emergency support. In 2018, the 92nd deployed to Kuwait along with its parent brigade the 20th Engineer Brigade, as the first active-duty Engineer battalion to assume the Operation Spartan Shield battalion engineer role in over ten years. Supporting three named operations—Operation Freedom Sentinel, Operation Inherent Resolve, and Operation Spartan Shield—Task Force Black Diamond at its height conducted distributed operations throughout Kuwait as well as forward deployed to Syria, Jordan, UAE, Qatar, and Afghanistan completing over 150 missions.
Today, the Battalion consists of Headquarters and Headquarters Company (HHC); Forward Support Company (FSC); the 497th Multi-Role Bridge Company (MRBC); two Engineer Construction Companies (ECCs)—526th and 554th; two Armored Combat-Engineer Companies (CEC-As)—530th and 541st; three Engineer Dive Detachments (EDDs)—74th, 86th, and 511th; and the 514th Engineer Fire Detachment (EFD). The Black Diamonds stay ready to deploy and provide a wide-range of Engineer capabilities to warfighters CONUS and O-CONUS.