Quote:
Originally Posted by dragoon500ly
Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't the two extra tank battalions come about when the decision was made to de-activate the 50th AD?
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AFAIK the answer is no. I have the a lineage book of ARNG Armd/Cav Regts and the two extra Armd Bns seem to have been stood up in the late 1980's. I believe this was due to the attempt to reconfigure the ARNG Inf Divs to a "Medium" TO&E as described in Romjue's history of the 1980's Army that I posted on an earlier thread. As for the 50 Armd Div, I did read somewhere (of course I can't find it again !!) that one DOA plan was for it to fold in the 42 Inf Div which would alleviate that Div's recruiting problems (they were having a hard time forming a third Bde to replace the 27 Inf Bde which had become a RO Bde). So by the mid 90's (pre-fall of the Wall plans) 42 Inf Div would be Mech in NY/NJ/DE, 26 Inf Div would be Medium in MA/CT/VT and a new Armd Div would be formed somewhere in the South (I would guess utilizing TX's 36 Bde)