5th Battalion 52d Air Defense Artillery ( United States ) The 5th Battalion , 52nd Air Defense Artillery Regiment ( United States ) is an air defense artillery battalion in the United States Army based at Fort Bliss , Texas . Known as " five - five - deuce , " the battalion motto is " Fighting Freaks . " The former motto ' s were " One Team , One Fight ! " and " Fighting Deuce . " . The battalion is part of 11th Air Defense Artillery Brigade and the 32nd Army Air & Missile Defense Command ( 32nd AAMDC ) . The battalion consists of a headquarters and headquarters battery ( HHB ) , four Patriot missile batteries ( A through D ) and a maintenance company ( Company F , formerly the 507th Maintenance Company ) . Each battery has six Patriot missile launchers in accordance with the Patriot PAC - 3 configuration . History . Invasion of Iraq . The battalion was split into three separate groups during Operation Iraqi Freedom . Batteries A , B , and E , along with the 507th Maintenance Company and HHB , 5 - 52d ADA , were assigned to 31st Air Defense Artillery Brigade , under Colonel Heidi Brown , the first female Patriot brigade commander , to provide air defense coverage for Coalition forces entering Iraq . Alpha , Bravo , Echo , and HHB batteries were provided security ( prior to and during the invasion ) by the Companies A and C of the 3d Battalion , 124th Infantry Regiment ( Florida Army National Guard ) from Kuwait to Baghdad . Batteries C and D were assigned to 32d AAMDC to provide air defense coverage for Kuwait . < BR > Battery D , 5 - 52d ADA shot down the first Scud launched by Iraqi forces during the opening days of the invasion . Battery C , 5 - 52d ADA ended the war with the highest number of intercepted missiles totaling 3 , battery C also shot down a British Tornado aircraft . During the invasion , Battery E was bombed by friendly aircraft outside of FARP shell , which created a 30 - by - 30 - foot hole and damaged the radar system . A few days later , Battery E fired two PAC - 3 missiles and shot down U . S . Navy F - 18 pilot Nathan White outside of the Karbala ( he avoided the first missile , but not the second one ) . He was found dead in one of the few lakes in Iraq . This friendly fire incident sidelined Battery E , allowing Batteries A and B , 5 - 52d ADA to be the first Patriot batteries in Baghdad , with Battery B preceding Battery A by a few hours . < BR > The 507th Maintenance Company was ambushed during the rapid advance towards Baghdad . The unit made a wrong turn into Nasiriyah , northwest of Basra . The mistake was due to lack of rest , limited communications and human error according to a U . S . Army investigation . Several soldiers were killed and six were held as prisoners of war . Prior to invasion , 5 - 52d ADA had never conducted a bounding movement exercise to the extent Operation Iraqi Freedom required . In the summer of 2005 , the 507th was inactivated and reflagged as Company E , 5 - 52d ADA , reflagged again later as Company F when the battalion received an Avenger battery that became Battery E , 5 - 52d ADA , during an Army - wide reorganization of Patriot battalions . Lineage . Organized 6 July 1916 in the Regular Army at Fort Washington , Maryland , as the 1st Company , Fort Washington [ Maryland ] Reorganized and redesignated 6 July 1917 as Battery I , 8th Provisional Regiment , Coast Artillery Corps Reorganized and redesignated 5 February 1918 as Battery I , 53d Artillery ( Coast Artillery Corps ) Redesignated 15 July 1918 as Battery E , 52d Artillery ( Coast Artillery Corps ) Inactivated 16 May 1921 at Fort Eustis , Virginia Activated 18 August 1921 at Fort Eustis , Virginia Redesignated 1 July 1924 as Battery E , 52nd Coast Artillery Reorganized and redesignated 1 May 1943 as Battery A , 285th Coast Artillery Battalion Inactivated 5 May 1944 at Camp Breckinridge , Kentucky Disbanded 14 June 1944 Reconstituted 28 June 1950 in the Regular Army , consolidated with Battery A , 52d Field Artillery Battalion ( active ) ( see ANNEX ) , and consolidated unit designated as Battery A , 52d Field Artillery Battalion , an element of the 24th Infantry Division Inactivated 5 June 1958 and relieved from assignment to the 24th Infantry Division Withdrawn 18 May 1959 from the Regular Army and allotted to the Army Reserve ; concurrently redesignated as Headquarters and Headquarters Battery , 5th Automatic Weapons Battalion , 52d Artillery ( organic elements concurrently constituted ) Redesignated 1 December 1971 as the 5th Automatic Weapons Battalion , 52d Air Defense Artillery Redesignated 21 December 1975 as the 5th Battalion , 52d Air Defense Artillery ; concurrently withdrawn from the Army Reserve , allotted to the Regular Army , assigned to the 24th Infantry Division , and activated at Fort Stewart , Georgia Inactivated 16 November 1988 at Fort Stewart , Georgia , and relieved from assignment to the 24th Infantry Division Activated 16 September 1996 at Fort Bliss , Texas Annex . Constituted 1 October 1933 in the Regular Army as Battery A , 52d Field Artillery Redesignated 26 August 1941 as Battery A , 52d Field Artillery Battalion , an element of the 24th Infantry Division Activated 1 October 1941 at Schofield Barracks , Territory of Hawaii