4th Engineer Battalion ( United States ) The 4th Engineer Battalion ( the Vanguard of the 4th Division ) is an engineer battalion of the United States Army . It is made up of combat engineer s . The unit saw action in the American Civil War , World War I , World War II , Vietnam War , and the Global War on Terrorism , to include Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom . The 4th Engineer Battalion is currently deployed in Afghanistan as Task Force Iron Fist in support of the War in Afghanistan . Formation and Early History . The battalion was organized 31 December 1861 in the Regular Army at Washington , D . C . , from new and existing companies of engineers as a provisional engineer battalion . The battalion participated in major campaigns and battles in the American Civil War to include : Peninsula Campaign ( March 1862 ) , Battle of Antietam ( September 1862 ) , Battle of Fredericksburg ( December 1862 ) , Battle of Chancellorsville ( April 1863 ) , Battle of the Wilderness ( May 1864 ) , Battle of Spotsylvania Court House ( May 1864 ) , Cold Harbor ( June 1864 ) , Siege of Petersburg ( June 1864 - March 1865 ) , and the Confederate surrender after the Battle of Appomattox Court House ( April 1865 ) . It was constituted 28 July 1866 as the Battalion of Engineers . The battalion also participated in the War with Spain at the Battle of Santiago in July 1898 and the Philippine Insurrection in 1899 . The battalion was then expanded 14 March - 7 June 1901 to form the 1st and 2nd Battalions of Engineers . The Great War and World War II . The 2nd Battalion of Engineers was further expanded , reorganized and redesignated during July 1916 as the 2nd Regiment of Engineers . The unit was expanded yet again during May and June 1917 to form the 2nd , 4th , and 5th Regiments of Engineers . The 4th Regiment of Engineers was redesignated as the 4th Engineers in August 1917 and was , thereafter , assigned to the 4th Division in January 1918 . The 4th Engineers deployed to France in support of the Western Front by participating in campaigns within the European theater . Such campaigns included : Aisne - Marne ( Summer 1918 ) , Battle of St . Mihiel ( September 1918 ) , Meuse - Argonne Offensive ( Fall of 1918 ) , and November 1918 in Alsace - Lorraine . After occupation service , the unit was inactivated in 1921 at Camp Lewis , Washington . Between 1927 and 1933 the unit was reassigned to support the 6th Division and six years later it was redesignated as the 4th Engineer Battalion activated ( less Company A , which activated 24 July 1922 at Fort Bragg , North Carolina ) 1 June 1940 at Fort Benning , Georgia . Reorganizations and redesignations led first as the 4th Engineer Motorized Battalion ( September 1942 ) then the 4th Engineer Combat Battalion ( August 1943 ) were formed . In January 1944 , the battalion arrived in England to prepare for deployment to Normandy , France . On June 6 , 1944 the battalion deployed to Normandy as part of Operation Overlord . After the Normandy invasion , the battalion continued across western Europe and participated in campaigns such as Northern France , the Rhineland , Ardennes - Alsace , and Central Europe . Soon after World War II ended , the unit was inactivated 19 February 1946 at Camp Butner , North Carolina . This did not last long however , with reactivation on 6 July 1948 at Fort Ord , California and subsequent redesignation as the 4th Engineer Battalion in June 1953 . Vietnam War . The 4th Engineer Battalion was activated for deployment in July 1966 to the Vietnam War from Fort Lewis , Washington as the vanguard of the 4th Infantry Division , and assigned to support the 1st Brigade 8th Infantry . Company A was sent to Pleiku , Vietnam via ship on the MST Gordan and later units on the Buckner , flying from SEATEC on 7 July 1966 , to Oakland Naval Shipyard , and then transported to , via San Diego to pick up 3500 Marines , then on to Japan , ( Sgt E - 6 and above in Japan , overnight some got passes ) , and then to Qui Nhon , we were able to secure a palette of beer , and mess food , and other misc supplies and trucked to Pleiku by our squad platoon of dump trucks . We were then airlifted to Pleiku Central Highlands , Camp Halloway Air Base , by Caribou Aircraft . Then the battalion was driven by rough terrain buses to Dragon Mountain and into a huge area of four square miles , in for personnel and heavy equipment , beached landed and then headed north up HWY 1 and convoyed to Tuy Hoa and built the 2nd Brigade of the 8th Infantry 4th ID Base Camp . The company was then assigned simultaneously , to operations ( latterite pit , hard clay like substance , used for road base ) , at Tuy Hoa , and 350 km back up to order to start securing and building up construction of base camp for the arrival of the 4th Infantry Division in August 1966 . This is the origin of it being named the " Vanguard of the 4th Division " . This base camp was named Camp Enari after the 1st officer , Lieutenant Enari , to be killed . Further operations . The CO A , 4th Engineer Battalion convoyed back down to Qui Nhon from Pleiku , then via LST transport Pleiku , Camp Enari , Hwy 1 , Qui Nhon , QL 6B , La Hai , and Phu Yen Province . There , it performed daily mine sweeps , repaired roads and bridges on Highways 1 , 14 & 19 through the Central Highlands . After it had completed these tasks , the unit returned to Dragon Mountain and Camp Enari . This task included mine - clearing and " jungle busting " with HD 16 Allis Chambers Bulldozers ( replaced by the D - 7E Caterpillar Bulldozers and M - 48 tanks equipped with blades . Later , the individual companies B , C , D , E , and F , of the battalion were assigned to ground operations in Tuy Hoa , Jackson Hole Vietnam , LZ Oasis , Dak To , DucCo , Plei Mie , Kontum , Ban Me Thuot , Ia Drang Valley , and Duc Pho . Various Landing Zones ( LZs ) were built by the 4th Engineers : LZ Marylou near Kontum , LZ Oasis , and LZ Jackson Hole , LZ Ducco , LZ Baldy , and others . Their operations there included activities concerning Tuy Hoa , La Hai , Polei Kleng , Bong Son and its enormous bridge , and the coastal town of Duc Pho ( LZ Montezuma ) . Captain Knutzen , a West Point graduate , led the unit through a one year tour with only one soldier reported as killed in action . The 4th Engineer Battalion participated in the intense combat of Tet 1968 . It is often said that engineers are really " infantrymen with additional picks and shovels . " This was certainly the case for the 4th Combat Engineers Battalion in Vietnam . Company A , 4th Engineer Battalion received two Presidential Unit Citations , 20 May 1967 Duc Co and Nove 19 – 23 1967 Dakto , they also received the Meritorious Unit Citation and Unit & Individual Vietnamese Gallantry Medals . They were shipped on the USMS Walker , from Oakland Terminal , to San Diego , to Kodak Japan , overnight stop , and landed at Qui Nohn , and in - country from , 7 July 1966 to 6 June 1967 . The colors were brought to their new home at Ft . Carson in 1971 , and remain there , with CO A being deactivated in 12 December 2004 . Withdrawal . Some personnel of A Company departed Vietnam 30 days early and the rest with the rest of the battalion to follow within weeks , on 15 December 1970 . The 4th Engineer Battalion was reflagged December 2004 , at Ft . Carson , Inactivated 15 December 2004 at Fort Carson , Colorado , and relieved from assignment to the 4th Infantry Division . " A Company " The Vanguard , with two Presidential Unit Citations , with Oak Leaf Cluster , was deactivated , with the other companies reflagged as B , C , D , and F BCT units and with F being deployed to Iraq . Modern Era . The 4th Engineer Battalion ' s Headquarters and Headquarters Company was reactivated 18 October 2006 at Fort Carson , Colorado . Additionally , the battalion consists of the 62nd Engineer Company ( Sapper ) , 576th Engineer Company ( Mobility Augmentation ) , 569th Engineer Company ( Mobility Augmentation ) , and a Forward Support Company . In February 2009 , the battalion deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom to Camp Liberty , Iraq . In early March , the battalion was reassigned to support Operation Enduring Freedom , and by late April , the entire battalion had arrived at Kandahar Airfield , Afghanistan . It was there that the battalion designated itself " Task Force THOR " and began route clearance operations across Regional Command South . The battalion supported Operation Enduring Freedom in RC - South for the next 10 months , redeploying to Fort Carson in February 2010 . The battalion ' s next involvement in the Global War on Terrorism resulted in the 62nd Engineer Company ( Sapper ) deployment in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom from August 2011 to December 2011 , while , simultaneously , the 576th Engineer Company ( Mobility Augmentation ) deployment in support of Operation Enduring Freedom from August 2011 to July 2012 . The 569th Engineer Company ( Mobility Augmentation ) deployed in support of Operation Enduring Freedom from February 2012 to February 2013 . Upon the 569th Engineer Company ' s return , the 62nd Engineer Company ( Sapper ) deployed to Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom in February 2013 and await redeployment scheduled around November 2013 . The battalion and its Forward Support Company recently deployed to Kandahar , Afghanistan located within Regional Command South in support of Operation Enduring Freedom in June 2013 and awaits redeployment scheduled in March 2014 . As of August 2013 , the 4th Engineer Battalion and its subsequent Engineer Companies , in support of both Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom , currently has 28 months of continuous service in OIF and OEF with a combined total of 37 months during that 28 month period due to having multiple Engineer Companies deployed at the same time . Also , as of August 2013 , the 4th Engineer Battalion has accrued more than 95 months of combined deployment time in support of the Global War on Terrorism from 2003 to 2013 . Peninsula Honors . Campaign participation credit . Antietam Santiago Streamer w / o inscription Aisne - Marne Normandy Counteroffensive , II * " Consolidation II " * " Liberation of Iraq " Belgian Fourragere 1940 Decorations . Presidential Unit Citation ( Army ) for HURTGEN FOREST 1944 Meritorious Unit Commendation ( Army ) for VIETNAM 1967 – 1968 Presidential Unit Citation ( Army ) for PLEIKU PROVINCE Valorous Unit Award for QUANG NGAI PROVINCE Valorous Unit Award , Streamer embroidered IRAQ 2003 - 2004