page_title: 1st Battalion, 227th Aviation Regiment (United States)
section_title: Global War on Terror
hierarchical_section_title: 1st Battalion, 227th Aviation Regiment (United States) / History / Global War on Terror
caption_attribution_description: English: LTC Dan Ball on March 29th 2003 U.S. ARMY TACTICAL ASSEMBLY AREA VICKSBURG, Iraq
context_page_description: The 1st Battalion, 227th Aviation Regiment is an attack helicopter battalion of the Combat Aviation Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division. The battalion is an AH-64 Apache battalion based at Fort Hood, Texas.
context_section_description: With the onset of Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF), the 1st Battalion, 227th Aviation Regiment, under the command of LTC Dan Ball, arrived at Camp Udari, Kuwait, on 14 February 2003, and was attached to Task Force 11th Aviation Regiment operating under the command of the U.S. Army V Corps. 
   
   In the early hours of 24 March 2003, Apache Longbows of the 1st Battalion, 227th Aviation, 1st Cavalry Division, engaged units of Iraq's Republican Guard Medina Division between the cities of Karbala and Al Hillah, about 96 kilometers (60 mi) south of Baghdad. 
   A majority of the battalion's helicopters sustained extensive battle damage, but only one went down.  Both pilots survived and were captured, later being rescued by US Marines after the fall of Baghdad.  On 21 May 2003, the battalion redeployed to Fort Hood.
  
  First Battalion, 227th Aviation Regiment has deployed to Iraq three more times in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. From April 2004 to April 2005, under the command of LTC Ron Lewis
  , the battalion returned to Iraq as part of OIF II, and helped set up Camp Taji for aviation operations. In October 2006 the battalion once again deployed to Camp Taji under the command of LTC Christopher E. Walach, for a 15-month deployment in support of OIF 06-08. The battalion again deployed to camp Taji, under the command of LTC Charles Dalcourt,  from April 2009 to April 2010 in support of OIF 09-10.
  After a 6-month reset, the battalion task-organized into a full-spectrum task force and began deployment preparations for deployment to Afghanistan.  In January 2011, the task force deployed to Fort Carson, Colorado, for High Altitude Mountain Environmental Training (HAMET), to better prepare the aircrews for the extreme altitudes of Afghanistan's Paktika Province.  In May 2011, the task force deployed to FOB Sharana, Paktika, Afghanistan where it conducted full-spectrum aviation operations throughout the Paktika, Paktia, Ghazni and Khost provinces in support of Regional Command (East).  In July 2011, the Task Force made history when one of their AH-64Ds became the first AH-64D to exceed 10,000 operational flying hours.  After a year at Sharana, First Attack redeployed to Fort Hood with the 1st ACB.  In July 2012, the unit changed command, with LTC Phillip Baker assuming command of the Battalion.  They re-organized as an Apache-pure attack Battalion on 15 July 2012 and are currently conducting regeneration and training operations for future deployment contingencies.
caption: LTC Dan Ball on 29 March 2003 U.S. ARMY TACTICAL ASSEMBLY AREA VICKSBURG, Iraq
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