50th Armored Division (United States)

On 1 September 1993, the 50th Armored Division was inactivated and its remaining brigades joined other divisions.[2] New Jersey's 50th Infantry Brigade, which took the Division's lineage, was made part of the 42nd Infantry Division. The 36th Infantry Brigade from Texas was reabsorbed into the 49th Armored Division. In the early 1990s further consolidation followed the fall of the Soviet Union, and the 26th Infantry Division disbanded, causing Vermont's 86th Brigade to join the 42nd Infantry Division and soon receive M1A2 Abrams main battle tanks. While under the 50th Armor Division, Vermont's 1-172nd and 2-172nd Armored Battalions of the 86th Brigade excelled at tank gunnery and field exercises, making the 86th Brigade the only Army National Guard unit to ever consistently accomplish Tank Table XIII, an honor it continued to earn even after the 50th AD disbanded. Due to further military consolidations, the 86th Brigade turned in its Abrams tanks in 2006 and ended its Armor designation just short of 40 years.

50th Armored Division 1989 (click to enlarge)

50th Division

1st Brigade

1-102 Armor

5-102 Armor

2-113 Infantry

3-113 Infantry

2nd Brigade

2-102 Armor

3-102 Armor

1-114 Infantry

2-114 Infantry

50th Aviation
1-150 Aviation

5-117 Cavalry

E/150 Aviation

DIVARTY

1-112 Field Art.

3-112 Field Art.

4-112 Field Art.

104 Engineer

250 Signal

550 Mil. Intel.

50 MP Co.

50 Chem. Co.

50th Armored Division key locations 1989 (without DISCOM):
Division/brigade headquarters Infantry Armor
Aviation Artillery Engineers Other units

At the end of the Cold War the division was a unit of the New Jersey Army National Guard, with a round-out brigade from the Texas Army National Guard. The division was organized according to the Army of Excellence table of organization and equipment:

• 50th Armored Division, Somerset, New Jersey
  • Headquarters & Headquarters Company
  • 1st Brigade, Woodbridge[3]
    • Headquarters & Headquarters Company
    • 1st Battalion, 102nd Armor, Phillipsburg[4][5][3]
    • 2nd Battalion, 113th Infantry Newark[6][3]
    • 3rd Battalion, 113th Infantry, Riverdale[6][3]
  • 2nd Brigade, Cherry Hill[3]
    • Headquarters & Headquarters Company
    • 2nd Battalion, 102nd Armor, West Orange[7][5][3]
    • 3rd Battalion, 102nd Armor Vineland[5][3]
    • 1st Battalion, 114th Infantry, Woodbury[8][9][3]
    • 2nd Battalion, 114th Infantry Long Branch[9][3]
  • 36th Brigade, Houston, Texas (Texas Army National Guard)[10][11][12]
    • Headquarters & Headquarters Company
    • 7th Battalion, 112th Armor Bryan, Texas[10]
    • 8th Battalion, 112th Armor, Dallas, Texas[10][13]
  • 50th Aviation Brigade, West Trenton[3]
    • Headquarters & Headquarters Company
    • 5th Squadron, 117th Cavalry (Reconnaissance), Westfield Army Airfield[14][3]
    • 1st Battalion, 150th Aviation (Attack), West Trenton[3]
    • Company D, 150th Aviation (Command Support), Burlington Army Airfield (Vermont Army National Guard)
    • Company E, 150th Aviation (Assault), New Castle Army Airfield (Delaware Army National Guard)
  • 50th Armored Division Artillery, Trenton[15][16][17]
    • Headquarters & Headquarters Battery
    • 1st Battalion, 112th Field Artillery Cherry Hill[3] (18 × M109A3 155mm self-propelled howitzers)[18][15][16][17][19]
    • 3rd Battalion, 112th Field Artillery, Morristown[3] (18 × M109A3 155mm self-propelled howitzers)[18][15][16][17][19]
    • 4th Battalion, 112th Field Artillery Lawrenceville (12 × M110A2 203mm self-propelled howitzers)[18][15][16][17][19]
    • 1st Battalion, 133rd Field Artillery Beaumont (Texas Army National Guard) (18 × M109A3 155mm self-propelled howitzers)[15][16][17][19][11]
    • Battery A, 197th Field Artillery (Target Acquisition) (New Hampshire Army National Guard)[20][15][16][17][19]
  • 50th Armored Division Support Command, East Orange[21][3]
    • Headquarters & Headquarters Company
    • 50th Support Battalion (Forward), Teaneck[3]
    • 150th Support Battalion (Forward), Jersey City[3]
    • 250th Support Battalion (Main), Sea Girt[22][3]
    • 536th Support Battalion (Forward) (Texas Army National Guard)
    • Company F, 150th Aviation (Aviation Intermediate Maintenance), Dover[3]
  • 3rd Battalion, 200th Air Defense Artillery (New Mexico Army National Guard)[23] (MIM-72 Chaparral, M163 Vulcan & FIM-92 Stinger)
  • 104th Engineer Battalion, Teaneck[24][3]
  • 250th Signal Battalion, Plainfield[25]
  • 550th Military Intelligence Battalion, Pedricktown[26][27]
  • 50th Military Police Company, Somerset[3][28]
  • 50th Chemical Company, Sea Girt[3]
  • 50th Armored Division Band, Jersey City[3]

The brigade's armor battalions were equipped with M60A3 TTS main battle tanks. M48A5 Patton tanks had been replaced by M60A3 TTS tanks by May 1987 and by the end of 1989 the National Guard fielded 3,072 M60A3 TTS.[29][30][31] The 410 M1 Abrams[29] tanks of the National Guard were issued to round-out units of army divisions.[32] The division's infantry battalions were equipped with M113 armored personnel carriers, of which the National Guard had 6,870 at the end of Fiscal Year 1987, with a further 1,411 due to be taken in service in 1988.[29] The standard helicopters of National Guard units were the AH-1S Cobra, of which the National Guard had approximately 350 by 1989,[33] the OH-58C Kiowa and the UH-1H Iroquois helicopters.[34] Cavalry Reconnaissance units fielded 19 × M60A3 TTS, 8 × AH-1S Cobra, 12 × OH-58C Kiowa and 1 × UH-1H Iroquois helicopters; attack battalions fielded 21 × AH-1S Cobra, 13 × OH-58C Kiowa and 3 × UH-1H Iroquois helicopters,[35] while the assault aviation company fielded 15 × UH-1H Iroquois helicopters and the command support aviation company UH-1 helicopters in various configurations.