2nd Brigade , 24th Infantry Division ( United States ) The 2nd Brigade , 101st Airborne Division was an infantry brigade of the United States Army . Before its most recent deactivation in 2006 , it was based at Fort Stewart , Georgia . It was a divisional brigade of the 24th Infantry Division . History . The brigade traces its lineage back to the 170th Infantry Brigade active as a part of the 85th Infantry Division . The 170th Infantry Brigade was active from 1921 to 1942 , when it was disbanded . In July , 2009 the Brigade was reactivated in Germany . Cold War . In January 1963 the 24th was reorganized as a mechanized infantry division under the Reorganization Objective Army Division ( ROAD ) TO & E , which replaced the Pentomic battle groups with conventionally sized battalions , organized in three combined arms brigades . The 169th Infantry Brigade , previously assigned to the 85th Infantry Division was redesignated the 1st Brigade , 24th Infantry Division . The 85th Division ' s 170th Infantry Brigade was redesignated the 2nd Brigade , 24th Infantry Division . The 190th Infantry Brigade , previously assigned to the 95th Infantry Division , became the 3rd Brigade , 24th Infantry Division . The division remained in Germany ( Augsburg , Munich ) until September 1968 when it redeployed 1st and 2nd Brigades Fort Riley , Kansas , as part of Exercise REFORGER ( Return of Forces to Germany ) while 3rd Brigade was maintained in Germany . As the Army withdrew from Vietnam and reduced its forces , the 24th Infantry Division and its three brigades were inactivated on 15 April 1970 at Fort Riley . In September 1975 the 24th Infantry Division was activated at Fort Stewart , Georgia , as part of the program to build a sixteen - division force . Because the Regular Army could not field a full division at Fort Stewart , the 24th had the 48th Infantry Brigade , Georgia Army National Guard , assigned to it as a round - out unit in place of 3rd Brigade . Targeted for a NATO role , the division was reorganized as a mechanized division in 1979 . Gulf War . When the United Nations decided to intervene in Kuwait in 1990 , the 24th , which was part of the Rapid Deployment Force , was one of the first units deployed to Southwest Asia . Some controversy erupted when the division ' s round - out unit , the 48th Infantry Brigade , was found to be unprepared for deployment . The brigade was replaced once the division was in Saudi Arabia with the regular Army 197th Infantry Brigade ( Mechanized ) . The division was assigned to XVIII Airborne Corps and , once the attack commenced , the division blocked the Euphrates River valley to cut off Iraqi forces in Kuwait . It then moved east with VII Corps , engaging several Iraqi Republican Guard divisions . At this time , the division ranks swelled to over 25 , 000 troops in 34 battalions . Iraqi forces defeated , the UN mandated that the US forces withdraw from Iraq , ending the Gulf War . Returning to the United States in the spring of 1991 , the 24th was reorganized with all its elements in the Regular Army , two brigades at Fort Stewart and the 3rd Brigade reactivated at Fort Benning , Georgia , replacing the 197th Infantry Brigade . In the fall of 1994 Iraq again menaced the Kuwaiti border , and two brigades from the division returned to Southwest Asia . As part of the Army ' s reduction to a ten - division force , the 24th Infantry Division was inactivated on 15 February 1996 , and reflagged to become the 3rd Infantry Division . Its three brigades were reflagged as 3rd Infantry Division brigades .