Welcome to 4th Cavalry Brigade

The 4th Cavalry Brigade, First Army Division East is a multi-component training Brigade.   Its mission is to Train Soldiers and Units for operations in support of the Combatant Commander's directives within the scope of the Unit's mission while deployed.   Although the Brigade Headquarters and two of the four subordinate Battalions are located at Fort Knox, Kentucky, the Saber Brigade's mission entails deploying trainers throughout the Continental United States and into the Central Command Area of Responsibility.   The vast majority of Soldiers assigned to the Brigade serve as Trainer/Mentors, with the primary mission to deploy to the training site and coach, teach,and mentor individual Soldiers and Units prior to and/or during Mobilization.   The Brigade is composed of World Class Trainers who train Units and Soldiers through World Class Training Events.

Composition

The Brigade is made up of Soldiers from the Active Component, the United States Army Reserve, the Army National Guard and from the Operation Warrior Trainer Program (from re-deploying Army National Guard and Army Reserve Units).   The four subordinate Battalions include a Cavalry Squadron, an Artillery Battalion and two Combat Service Support Battalions.   Almost all Military Occupation Specialties are represented in the Brigade.

The Brigade's Current Mission and What You Can Expect
Upon assignment to the Saber Brigade, all Officers and Non-Commissioned Officers attend a series of Certification Programs at Squadron, Brigade and Army level.   The Certification Programs are designed to ensure that a Saber Brigade Trainer/Mentor is truly World Class while performing his or her duties.

Currently the Brigade trains Provincial Reconstruction Teams (PRTs) deploying to Afghanistan.   This mission is tremendously important for our nation.   These PRTs are like no other unit in the Department of Defense.   They are led by an active duty Navy or Air Force Officer with an active Army Sergeant Major as the Senior Enlisted Advisor.   The staffs of the PRTs are made up of Navy or Air Force Officers and NCOs and a US Army Reserve Civil Affairs Detachment.
Each PRT also has a National Guard Security Force Platoon attached to it to provide the capability to move around their Province with organic security. Given this diverse make up of the unit and the uiqueness of the PRT mission, it is a distinct challenge to ensure our T/Ms are prepared to coach, teach and mentor these outfits.

A T/M can anticipate being deployed for up to 60 days in Afghanistan during his or her assignment to the Brigade as well as deploying, mainly to Camp Atterbury, Indiana (about 2 hours north of Fort Knox, KY) for two PRT densities a year.   Each PRT goes through a 72 day training model at Camp Atterbury under the command of First Army after which they deploy to Afghanistan.   Through our certification and sustainment training requirements, T/Ms can plan on being TDY for 120-180 days each calendar year which may include tours as Guest Trainers at the National Training Center or Joint Readiness Center, or training with the State Department at the Foreign Service Institute or deployments to Afghanistan to the Counter Insurgency Academy or as an "embed" with one of the deploying PRTs.

While this may seem daunting, if you aren't assigned to a deploying unit, there is no better place to be than in preparing those about to take their place on the field of battle.   The Saber Brigade plays a critical role by forming, training and deploying all US sourced PRTs to Afghanistan.   A Saber Brigade Soldier is the last trainer that these Sailors, Soldiers and Airmen have before facing combat and there is no greater or more important task than that of training them for the fight.

New Arrivals
Please take an opportunity to follow the links on this page to First Army, First Army Division East or the Squadron or Battalion to which you have assignment orders.   If you are on Facebook or Twitter, friend or follow the Brigade to keep abreast of activities in the Brigade as you look forward to arriving - the links are on the left.   Also look at the Fort Knox website and you'll see that Fort Knox is "on the move."   There are great changes afoot on post and the growth of the installation with the movement of US Army Accessions Command here portends improvements across the support services for Soldiers and their families.

Also, please read the welcome letters from the Brigade Commander, Colonel Pat Donahoe and the Command Sergeant Major, CSM Darrell Dixon.   If you haven't been contacted by your sponsor please email the Brigade Commander or CSM.

Commander's Welcome Letter             Command Sgt. Major's Welcome Letter