Background
You may not remember or know that in January 1971, D Troop 3/5, "Light Horse," was re-designated as C Troop 3rd Squadron, 17th Air Cavalry Regiment.
After January 31st that year all the men in the Troop were still Scavengers, Crusaders, Long Knives and War Wagons.
They were still Light Horse Troopers and they continued the traditions that were established by our predecessors in earlier years.
They wore their Tan Stetson hats and Yellow scarves. Some of us still carried sabers and most of us drank from the "Troop Cup."
The Troop flew the fight to the enemy and used the same time proven tactics as before.
When the Troop stood down in 1972 and the last guy left Vietnam, those traditions went with them too but they remained in the hearts and minds of a lot of us.
If one reviews the lineage of D Troop 3/5 they would see a number of unit designations for the group of soldiers that became D Troop, beginning with the pre-civil war 2nd Cavalry.
Just as D Troop is a descendent of the old 2nd Cavalry, so is C Troop 3/17. It was just a name change and re-designation.
The unit was deactivated in 1973.
The 3rd Squadron of 17th Cavalry Regiment was re-activated in 1988 and they honored us by adopting the name "Light Horse."
The 3/17th Cav Regiment included A,B,C and D Troops.
C Troop was still a descendant of D 3/5th.
They were the Cavalry Squadron of the 10th Mountain Division and served in many theaters and actions
until being reassigned to the 3rd Infantry Division and was stationed at Hunter Army Airfield in Savannah, GA.
The Squadron was deactivated in September 2015 and their OH-58 Kiowa Warrior helicopters were decommissioned.
It should be noted that some of the C Troopers wore grey Stetsons which was the color they incorrectly believed the Troop wore in Vietnam.
In a ceremony on October 7th, 2015 the 1st Attack Reconnaissance Battalion "Vipers", 3rd Aviation Regiment of the 3rd Infantry Division was deactivated.
During that ceremony the 3rd Squadron of the 17th Cavalry Regiment was reactivated.
That included A, B, C, and D Troops.
The soldiers of the "Vipers" became "Lighthorse" Cavalry Troopers
C Troop adopted the name of "Crazyhorse" a number of years ago.
The men of Crazyhorse traced their lineage and discovered they are descendants of D Troop 3/5 and contacted some us through the Light Horse website for more information.
The Troop staff intends to wear the tan colored Stetson hats that we wore back in the 60s and 70s and they hope to carry on some of our other traditions as well.
Crazyhorse considers themselves "The Bastard Cav."
The other Troops in the Regiment trace their history back to 1916, but C Troop's lineage goes back to "Jeff Davis' Own" 2nd Cavalry in 1860.
I think it is quite an honor to our D and C Troopers for the Squadron to carry on the Lighthorse name and
for C Troop to recognize their connection to us and want to carry on the traditions and attitudes we started over 45 years ago.
Former War Wagon pilot, George Bloodworth and I had the pleasure of attending the very impressive and quite moving re-designation ceremony at Hunter Army Airfield in Savannah, GA
George and I were escorted by CW-2 Williams. This is the entry to Squadron Headquarters.
We arrived at the Troop area. There was a lot of new signs and plenty of red and white paint.
It looked like the new Troopers were really getting into the Cavalry spirit.
A framed C Troop Guidon.
The ceremony was held on flight line. Many of us had been there when we attended the advanced phase of flight school or Cobra transition.
That's C Troop straight ahead.
The colors are posted. Note the black and white company guidons.
That's radar antenna on top of that Apache.
The colors are presented and they are accompanied by the 1st Bn, 3rd Aviation Regiment flag.
Note that the soldiers and command staff are wearing black berets.
The Battalion Sergeant Major gives the battalion flag to the Battalion CO on the left, Brigade CO is on the right,
The Battalion CO presents the flag to the Brigade CO.
The Battalion CO and Sgt Major folds and cases the flag.
The Battalion flag leaves the field.
The now "new" Lighthorse Squadron CO and Sergeant Major don their black Cav hats.
The Lighthorse Squadron CO and Sgt. Major face each other as the new Squadron flag and Troop guidons approach.
Cavalry Troop guidons proceed accompanied by the cased Lighthorse Squadron flag.
The cased Squadron flag stands behind the National Flag as the guidons are posted with their respective Troops.
The cased Squadron flag moves forward as the Squadron CO and Sgt Major face each other at "attention."
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