First organized as the 12th Aviation Group at Fort Benning, Georgia, on June 18, 1965, the unit immediately deployed to the Vietnam War, where it rapidly expanded into a massive combat command overseeing 11,000 personnel and 34 aviation units. After returning to the United States in 1973, the group redeployed to Wiesbaden, Germany, in 1979 to provide vital command and control for V Corps aviation assets, notably initiating the "Beirut Air Bridge" from Cyprus to support the U.S. Embassy in Lebanon from 1984 through 1998. Officially redesignated as the 12th Aviation Brigade in October 1987, the unit proved its rapid deployability during Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm in the Gulf War and subsequently supported crucial post-Cold War peacekeeping and humanitarian missions across Somalia, Bosnia, Hungary, Albania, and Kosovo before consolidating its forces at Giebelstadt Army Airfield in 2000.
Following the September 11 attacks, the brigade supported Operation Enduring Freedom through maritime interdiction operations and air traffic control in Afghanistan, and in March 2003, its helicopters made history as the first conventional aviation assets to cross the border during the invasion of Iraq. Designated officially as the 12th Combat Aviation Brigade (CAB) on August 6, 2006, the unit balanced high-intensity combat rotations in Iraq and Afghanistan with vital global humanitarian assistance, including disaster relief following the 2005 Pakistan earthquake and the 2012 Montenegro winter storm. Returning fully to Germany by 2013, the brigade halted a planned drawdown in 2015 to counter regional aggression, resulting in the critical assignment of the 1-3 Attack Battalion. Today, the 12th CAB is headquartered at Ansbach, Bavaria, with forces active across Katterbach, Grafenwoehr, and Wiesbaden Army Airfields.
WINGS OF VICTORY!