With the exception of a few Armed Forces Expeditions, units of the 6th Cavalry Regiment have taken part in every single conflict involving the United States since it was organized in May 1861 along with the first two of its squadrons. Over 120 years would elapse before the “Fighting Sixth” would begin to see its pair of squadrons augmented with new elements. The first of these was 3rd Squadron, activated on 16 July 1986 after being designated as the first Army unit to receive the A4-64A Apache helicopter; it was created by the reactivation and reflagging of 7th Squadron, 17th Cavalry, which had been nicknamed “Heavy Cav” due to the unrivaled number of AH-1 Cobras it possessed.
5th Squadron was activated in 1987 and equipped with Apaches, then assigned to the 12th Aviation Brigade in Germany; it subsequently inactivated five years later on 15 June 1992. Hot on its heels came the activation of 7th Squadron, which was activated as U.S. Army Reserve Attack Helicopter Squadron; it fired the first combat shot during Operation Just Cause in 1989. (7th Squadron was inactivated and reflagged as 1st Squadron, 158th Aviation Regiment on 16 June 2008.)
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6th Cavalry Regiment Unit Crest (DUI)6th Squadron was activated in June 1990, and just recently (2017) was reassigned from the 10th Mountain Division to the 1st Infantry Division, replacing the 6th Cavalry Regiment’s 1st Squadron. The last squadron to join the Regiment, the 4th, was formed when the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment was inactivated in 2005 and the 4th Battalion, 2nd Aviation Regiment was reflagged as 4th Squadron, 6th Cavalry Regiment. The 4th Squadron was deployed as Task Force Saber from December 2016 to August 2017 in support of Operation Inherent Resolve.