FORT HUACHUCA, Ariz. (KGUN) — The 10th Mountain Division has an unusual history for a US Army unit and a special place in the military that is likely part of the reason it was picked for border duty in Arizona.
Just before World War Two, the founder of the National Ski Patrol began working to convince the Army that the US needed arctic troops prepared to travel on skis and fight in the Mountains.
The Army formed its first Mountain Unit in 1941. Two years later the 10th Mountain Division was officially named. A US Army division is normally ten thousand to fifteen thousand soldiers, under the command of a Two-Star General.
Battles in Northern Italy tested the Division’s Mountain skills, with a series of successful fights against German divisions including close face-to-face combat using bayonets.
After World War Two ended the Army disbanded the Division, but recreated it as a training unit a few years later. It became a regular infantry division in the height of the Cold War, then disbanded again until 1985 when it was reformed in a new role, as a light infantry unit designed to be ready to deploy quickly anywhere in the World.
Since then the 10th Mountain has been the most deployed Division in the Army. It was among the first in and last out of Afghanistan.
It has been active in peacekeeping and humanitarian missions in places like Bosnia, Kosovo, Somalia and Haiti and it has done relief work in the United States, deploying to Florida to help in the aftermath of Hurricane Andrew.