1st Battalion, 320th Field Artillery (United States)

Infobox Military Unit
unit_name= 1st Battalion, 320th Field Artillery Regiment


caption=320th Field Artillery Regiment coat of arms
dates= 1917 -
country= United States
allegiance=
branch= Regular Army
type= Field Artillery
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size= Battalion
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garrison=Fort Campbell
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equipment=
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battles=World War I
World War II
Operation Urgent Fury
Operation Desert Storm
Operation Iraqi Freedom
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current_commander=LTC David W. Burwell
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identification_symbol_label=Distinctive Unit Insignia
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identification_symbol_2_label=The 1st Battalion, 320th Field Artillery Regiment is a U.S. Army field artillery unit currently assigned to the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault).

World War I

Its beginnings can be traced back to America’s entry into the First World War. As part of the nation’s mobilization, the unit was first formed and organized in August 1917 as Battery A, 320th Field Artillery. As part of the 82nd Division, the original Top Guns played a key role at Lorraine, St Mihiel, and the Meuse Argonne region in France. Following the Armistice, the 320th demobilized, only to be reconstituted in June 1921 as part of the United States Organized Reserves.

World War II

Once the United States entered the Second World War, the unit was eventually reorganized and redesignated as the 320th Glider Field Artillery Battalion. As part of the 82nd Airborne Division, the 320th fought in a number of hot spots. First, the 320th was part of the campaign in Sicily, acting in reserve. The unit first saw action at the Volturino River on the Italian mainland. The crucial Normandy invasion was the next stop for the 320th. Under difficult conditions, the unit helped make the invasion a success. As a result of the 320th’s actions during Operation Overlord, the unit was awarded the Presidential Unit Citation. The 320th next fought in Operation Market Garden and then went on to further distinguish itself in the Battle of the Bulge when the Germans attempted their last ditch offensive. The 320th then fought and played a role in the final push through the Rhineland to defeat Germany. Upon the war’s end the unit completed its duties in Europe as part of the post-war occupation in Berlin.

Post-WWII

After the war, the 320th went through a number of transitions. It was inactivated on 15 December 1948 and relieved from assignment to the 82nd Airborne Division on 14 December 1950. On 1 August 1951 it was reorganized and redesignated as the 320th Airborne Field Artillery Battalion, and activated at Fort Benning, Georgia. During the 1950s it served as the field artillery battalion of the separate 508th Airborne Regimental Combat Team. When the Army eliminated infantry regiments and battalions from division and entered the Pentomic era, the 320th was reorganized as a parent regiment under the Combat Arms Regiment System. The lineage of Battery A, 320th AFAB was reorganized and redesignated as Battery A, 320th Artillery, and assigned to the 11th Airborne Division in Germany by reflagging existing elements. (Additionally, the former Batteries B and C, 320th GFAB were reorganized and redesignated as Batteries B and C, 320th Artillery and served in the 11th.) All three batteries were inactivated and reflagged with different regimental numbers on 1 July 1958 in Germany when the 11th was inactivated and reflagged as the 24th Infantry Division.

The colors of Battery A were redesignated on 15 November 1962 as HHB, 1st Battalion (Airborne), 320th Artillery, and assigned to the 82d Airborne Division (organic elements concurrently constituted). The unit remained a part of the 82nd until 1986, during which time 1-320th participated in the invasion of Granada (Operation Urgent Fury).

On 2 October 1986 1-320th was relieved from assignment to the 82d Airborne Division and assigned to the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) when the Army reflagged combat unit colors worldwide. This resulted in all three field artillery battalions in the 82nd carrying the designation of the 319th Airborne Field Artillery Regiment and all in the 101st being reflagged as elements of the 320th Field Artillery Regiment. Prior to the reflagging, the 82nd had 1-319th, 1-320th, and 2-321st FA, while the 101st had 2-319th, 2-302th, and 3-321st FA.

The Gulf Wars

Top Guns next saw action in the Middle East from 1990 until 1991. As a part of the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), the battalion was part of the massive US force that drove the Iraqi Army from Kuwait.

The 1st Battalion, 320th Field Artillery Regiment (Top Guns) remains assigned to the 101st based at Fort Campbell, KY, and is currently deployed to Iraq.

The current commander is LTC David W. Burwell

Operation Iraqi Freedom V-VII

1st Battalion, 320th Field Artillery Regiment under the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) was ordered to deploy to the CENTCOM AOR in late September 2005. Upon completion of a JRTC Mission Rehearsal Exercise in April 2005, it began a 5 month intensive train up to prepare for the next deployment.

LTC Rafael Torres, Jr. took command of the unit on 17 March 2005 and immediately began to prepare for Iraq. The battalion conducted Table XII live fire exercises in June and then began the transition in training to motorized infantry tactics.

The battalion began deployment in August 2005 with the departure of CPT Tim Stephenson, the battalion's LNO, on the 16th. As the information about the AO and mission began to come in, the unit was able to more accurately focus their training for the next six weeks on those specific tasks. The rest of the battalion began deploying in late September and closed on Camp Taji the second week of October 2005. With the Iraqi National elections on the 15th of October, equipment was delayed in Kuwait until the 20th. The unit conducted a RIP/TOA (Relief In Place/Transfer of Authority) with 1-118th FA (Georgia Army National Guard) and the 70th Engineer Battalion (3rd Brigade, 1st Armored Division) and completed the TOA on the 26th. The 1-320th also detached a firing platoon from B Battery to 1-502 to conduct counter fire operations in Mahmudiyah. The battalion’s radar section deployed with the 4th BDE 101st, also to Mahmudiyah. While in Mahmudiyah, the Radar section acquired numerous AIF (Anti-Iraqi Forces) mortar and rocket fires resulting in the firing platoon conducting counter-fire missions shooting over 1400 rounds. The 1-320th also detached a MITT (Military Transition Team) team to work with an Iraqi Army Battalion in support of the Strike BDE at FOB Falcon.

Within AO Top Guns 1-320th controlled 4 permanent check points and patrolled 12 villages with populations ranging from 50 to over 1000 residents. During our 2 months at Camp Taji, 1-320th conducted over 820 patrols, 177 cordon and searches, and 1200 traffic control points. The battalion detained 105 suspected insurgents with approximately 40 being transferred to the Division Detainee Facility for prosecution and 30 percent imprisoned at Abu Ghraib. The patrol elements of the unit were also responsible for finding numerous weapons and ammo caches that resulted in approximately 580 mortar rounds, 430 artillery rounds, 17 tank rounds, 31 200 lb bombs, 8 mortar tubes, over 500 rifles and RPG launchers, and thousands of rounds of small arms ammunition. These numbers accounted for over 40 percent of the total cache finds for the 3rd BDE, 1st Armor Division.

While in Taji, the battalion suffered the loss of 6 soldiers due to enemy actions while on missions to secure its sector. Master Sergeant James F. Hayes, SSG James E. Estep, SGT Clarence L. Floyd, SPC Matthew J. Holley, SPC Alexis Roman-Cruz, and PFC Travis J. Grigg were killed in action. In late November, the battalion received orders for a follow on mission to assume the duties of the Area Defense Operations Cell (ADOC) at Camp Victory located in the Victory Base Complex surrounding the Baghdad International Airport. Between 22 and 27 December 2005, the battalion conducted numerous ground convoys to move all personnel and equipment the convert|60|mi|km to Baghdad with out incident or injury. The 1-320th conducted a RIP/TOA with the 2-299th IN (Hawaii Army National Guard) and completed the TOA on the 7th of January 2006. Our mission on Camp Victory required us to conduct patrols in three villages neighboring the camp in Baghdad, control entry access and patrol the Al Faw Palace, man 11 perimeter towers and 2 entry control points, and conduct inner perimeter patrols to ensure the security of the MNC-I and MNF-I Headquarters operation in the Al Faw Palace on Camp Victory.

While conducting operations as the ADOC on Camp Victory, the Top Guns distinguished themselves by providing exceptional security and CMO operations to the VBC and surrounding villages of Al Furat, Iraqi Family Village, and Airport Village. 1-320th completed over 200 force protection improvement projects on Camp Victory and conducted over $3 million in projects to improve the quality of life for our Iraqi neighbors. Meanwhile, at FOB Falcon, 16 soldiers of the "Top Guns" Battalion Military Transition Team (MiTT) were conducting continuous combat operations in support of 1-22 IN and 1-10 CAV in and around Southeast Baghdad.

In September 2006 the battalion redeployed to Fort Campbell, Kentucky without incident or loss of equipment and will once again begin an intensive train up to prepare for the next deployment.

When the 101st reorganized into a four-brigade division, a sister unit to 1-320th FA, the 4th Battalion, 320th FA, was activated on 16 September 2004. Tracing its lineage to the old Battery D, 320th GFAB of World War II fame, the unit was later active from 2 October 1986 to 17 March 2004 as HHB, 4th Battalion, 320th FA, a unit of the 193rd Infantry Brigade in Panama.