the 2d Infantry Division. Shortly thereafter, the division exchanged colors with the 1st Cavalry Division. On 1 August 1965, the 1st Cavalry Division was sent to Vietnam. The battalion participated in 14 campaigns and received seven decorations during its 7 years of duty in Vietnam. Upon return from Vietnam, the 227th Aviation Battalion was inactivated on 19 November 1974 at Fort Hood, Texas. After a brief reactivation from 21 May 1978 until 30 September 1983, it was re-designated as 1st Battalion, 227th Aviation Regiment, the first divisional Apache Attack Helicopter Battalion to be formed. Upon re-designation, the 1–227th underwent an intensive 6-month unit training program and began to training for combat operations. The Gulf War & the 1990s On 29 September 1990, the battalion deployed overseas to Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, where the unit postured for combat in Operation Desert Shield. On 25 February 1991, with the onset of Operation Desert Storm, the battalion conducted a raid as a part of the 1st Cavalry Division's deception plan. The battalion would serve as the vanguard of the division's movement north to cut off retreating an Iraqi Republican Guard Division at Basra. On 7 March 1991, the battalion would return as part of the advance party back to Fort Hood, Texas. On 2 June 1998, after years of testing and preparation, 1st Battalion, 227th Aviation Regiment became the first Army Aviation Battalion to field the AH-64 Apache "Longbow". Global War on Terror 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 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,