page_title: 1st Armored Division (United States)
section_title: Ready First
hierarchical_section_title: 1st Armored Division (United States) / History / Iraq / Ready First
caption_attribution_description: English: Tank in Ramadi
context_page_description: The 1st Armored Division, nicknamed "Old Ironsides," is a combined arms division of the United States Army. The division is part of III Corps and operates out of Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas. It was the first armored division of the United States' Army to see battle in World War II. Since World War II, the division has been involved in the Korean War, Cuban Missile Crisis, Persian Gulf War, Iraq, Afghanistan, and several other operations. The division has also received numerous awards and recognition.
context_section_description: The division's 1st Brigade deployed again to Iraq in January 2006 under the command of Colonel Sean B. MacFarland after months of intensive training in Grafenwöhr and Hohenfels, Germany. Many of the soldiers who fought with units like 1–36 Infantry ("Spartans"), 2–37 Armor ("Iron Dukes"), and 1–37 ("Bandits") during the invasion of Iraq returned for a second tour. Most of the 1st BCT was initially deployed to Northern Iraq in Nineveh province concentrating on the city of Tal' Afar. In May 2006, the main force of the 1st Brigade received orders to move south to the city of Ramadi in volatile Al Anbar Province.
  Since 2003, Al Anbar served as a base of operations for the Sunni insurgency and al Qaeda.  Ramadi, its capital, had neither a government nor a police force when the brigade arrived.  Most military strategists inside and outside of the Bush administration believed that the war in Anbar had already concluded unsuccessfully.  Al Qaeda in Iraq publicly announced Ramadi as the capital of their new caliphate and the city alone averaged more than twenty attacks per day; the province was statistically the most dangerous location in the country, and the insurgency enjoyed free rein throughout much of the province.
caption: 1st BCT employed tanks in the city of Ramadi to push out Al Qaeda in Iraq.
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