UNITED STATES ARMY

2nd ARMORED CAVALRY REGIMENT Cold War Organization  •  1988

In 1988 the 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment, nicknamed the Second Dragoons, was stationed in the Federal Republic of Germany with its headquarters at Nuremberg as part of US VII Corps. Effectively, an armored cavalry regiment was a large separate mechanized brigade with three armored cavalry squadrons and an air cavalry squadron. In some ways its organization anticipated the current UEx Armored Brigade Combat Team, the armored cavalry squadrons having some similarity to the ABCT's combined arms battalions (three troops with M3 cavalry reconnaissance vehicles and one troop with M1A1 tanks). Though the regiment had a battalion's worth of field artillery—24 155mm SP howitzers—there was no FA battalion as such. Instead, each armored cavalry squadron had an organic howitzer troop with eight guns. The air cavalry squadron had three air cavalry troops with OH-58C light observation helicopters for aerial reconnaissance, two with AH-1S attack helicopters and one with UH-60A helicopters for air assault. Organizational colors for regiments and battalions had a field in the primary branch color—yellow in the case of cavalry. Centered on the color was the organizational coat of arms over a scroll bearing the unit designation. Dimensions were 3 feet at the hoist by 4 feet on the fly with 2 1/2-inch fringe. For some branches, e.g. Field Artillery, the fringe was in the secondary branch color but for Cavalry (secondary branch color scarlet) it was yellow. Organizational colors were made of heavyweight rayon banner cloth with the insignia applied to appear properly on both sides of the flag. Campaign and unit decoration streamers awarded to regiments were always displayed with these colors. The organizational color was always carried or displayed with a National Color of the same material and dimensions. Guidons for troops of cavalry regiments and squadrons were horizontally divided, scarlet over white, with the regimental number and the troop letter or monogram on the scarlet and white stripes respectively. Squadron-affiliated troops additionally displayed the squadron number, horizontally centered toward the hoist. Dimensions were 20 inches at the hoist by 27 inches on the fly with a 10-inch fork. Older guidons made of cotton or wool bunting were still used if serviceable, but new ones were made of heavyweight rayon banner cloth. In the armored cavalry regiments, troops other than HQ, field artillery and ADA were lettered consecutively throughout the organization, skipping the letter J. Note: The 2nd ACR and other armored cavalry regiments acquired air defense artillery (ADA) assets at some time in the mid-1980s. This separate ADA battery was equipped with self-propelled Vulcan AA guns and Stinger surface-to-air missiles. This battery was an organic regimental asset, similar to the howitzer troops of the squadrons, and had a cavalry-pattern guidon. The separate combat engineer and chemical companies had branch-oriented guidons. Image Added December 2018 87th Chemical Company