48th Infantry Brigade (Enhanced) (Mechanized)
"Old Gray Bonnet"
The mission of the 48th Infantry Brigade (Separate) (Mechanized), is to mobilize, conduct post mobilization training, and deploy rapidly to a contingency area by air, sea, and land to conduct mobile combined offensive and defensive operations worldwide.
The 48th Infantry Brigade (Enhanced) (Mechanized) was originally organized on April 23, 1825, at Macon as the Macon Volunteers, Georgia Volunteer Militia. It mustered into Federal service on February 18, 1836, at Picolata, FL, as Captain Seymor's Company, 1st Battalion Georgia Volunteers.
The unit was mustered into Confederate service on April 20, 1861 at Macon, GA. It reorganized on April 11, 1872 at Macon, GA, as the Macon Volunteers. It was rdesignated on December 21, 1899, as Georgia State Troopers; and on October 1, 1905 as the Georgia National Guard.
The unit was drafted into Federal Service in August 1917 as Company B, 151st Machine Gun Battalion, an element of the 42nd Division. It demobilized in May 1919 at Camp Gordon, GA.
It was inducted into Federal service on September 16, 1940 at Macon, and was and redesignated on February 24, 1942 as the 30th Cavalry Reconnaissance Troop while remaining assigned to the 30th Infantry Division. It inactivated on November 17, 1945.
From 1945 to 1973, the Brigade underwent a series of redesignations culminating in its current form, the 48th Infantry Brigade. The unit was inducted into Federal service on November 30th, 1990 at Fort Stewart, GA. It demobilized on April 10, 1991 at Fort Stewart, GA.
More than 4,500 members of the unit were mobilized in 1990 to participate in Desert Storm. The unit successfully completed the most intensive training ever conducted at the Army's National Training Center in California, and was first and only National Guard combat brigade validated as combat ready for the Gulf War. The conflict ended before the brigade was employed in the Persian Gulf.
In June 1999, the 48th Infantry Brigade (Mechanized) became part of the newly re-flagged 24th Infantry Division.
Elements of the 48th Infantry Brigade deployed to Bosnia-Herzegovina for Stabilization Force (SFOR) Rotation 9 to provide support operations for Task Force Eagle (United States contingent to United Nations Operations in support of Dayton Peace Accord). The SFOR9 rotation was scheduled from April to October 2001. The Georgia units were mobilized under a Presidential Selective Reserve Call Up. While other National Guard units have participated in the Bosnia operations in the past, the 48th Infantry Brigade (Mechanized) will be among the first National Guard combat units of this size and capability to take over such a large and significant portion of this mission.
On April 20, 2006, at Ft. Stewart, GA, more than 4,000 members of the Georgia National Guard's 48th Infantry Brigade returned home after a year of combat operations in Iraq. The April 20th arrival marked the first of nearly a dozen flights over the subsuquent four weeks that brought the soldiers back to Georgia.
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