68th Armor Regiment - History of The Silver Lions

History of The Silver Lions

The 1st Battalion, 68th Armor Regiment, was the "only" Armor Battalion located on Fort Carson, with 48 M1A1 Abrams Main Battle Tanks, 32 Armored Personnel Carriers, Over 50 Tactical Wheeled vehicles, 5 Tracked Maintenance/Recovery vehicles and over 600 personnel, the "Silver Lion" Battalion was a large Self Reliant organization. 1–68 Armor had 4 Companies (Companies A, B, C & HHC) that when combined into a team made a well organized combat unit. There were 14 M1A1 Main Battle Tanks in each Line Company (Companies A, B, & C). The combined strength of the 14 M1A1's with all guns blazing made each company, theoretically, more powerful than a World War II Battleship. To Support the 3 line Companies there was Headquarters and Headquarters Company (HHC) which was the largest of the 4 Company's with over 300 personnel. Located in HHC were platoons of Cavalry Reconnaissance, Mortar, Maintenance, Headquarters, Signal, Supply, Intelligence, Cooks, Chemical, Administration and Medics for the Battalion.

Before the Force 21 Concept, 1st battalion 68th Armor had at the time 5 Company's that were headquarters and Headquarters Company, A, B, C & D Companies. On 13 April 2000, A Company was deactivated turning all 14 Tanks to the Mississippi National Guard. D Company was deactivated on 14 April 2000 and re-flagged A Company, leaving the Battalion with only 4 Companies instead of 5.