MM1A1 Abrams tanks of the 1st Battalion, 77th Armor, 1st Infantry Division, cross the Savo River into Bosnia, October 20, 1996. They secured the withdrawal of the 1st Armored Division up to the end of the IFOR mandate on December 20. IFOR, the NATO implementation forces, had enforced the terms of the Dayton Peace Accord since 1995.

Soldiers from Company A, 1st Battalion, 18th Infantry, and the Danish Battalion of the Nordic-Polish Brigade [NORDPOL], patrol Brcko, Bosnia, February 7, 1997. SFOR stabilization forces included soldiers from Poland, Russia and Turkey, as well as the Nordic countries. They separated the former warring forces to keep the peace.

Spc. Shawn Seals, Company A, 9th Engineer Battalion, inspects M-72 machine guns he placed under the track of a combat engineer vehicle. SFOR smashed the weapons to help maintain the peace.

Pvt. Shannon G. Oxford, a medic with Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 2nd Battalion, 2nd Infantry, was the first female soldier to drive the M-577 Armored Personnel Carrier and was one of the first women attached to this combat infantry battalion. In addition to her medical duties, as primary operator of the armored ambulance, she did 30 minutes of maintenance at the motor pool each day.

At the Brcko Bridge, 100 soldiers with HMMWVs and a Bradley Infantry Fighting vehicle held a roadblock against a mob of 1,200 Bosnians that threw rocks and Molotov Cocktails on August 28, 1997. The rioters demanded that the soldiers leave town. The standoff lasted into the next day before the crowd dispersed.

Spc. Matthew McGalliard holds his rifle to the head of a motorist threatening to run through the roadblock commanded by Captain Mitchell Rambin, Company D, 1-41 Infantry, 1st Infantry Division, August 28, 1997. Hatred and civil unrest by Bosnian Serbs threatened the peace in Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Major General Grange and released POWs of the 1-4 Cavalry: Staff Sgt. Andrew Ramirez, Spc. Steven Gonzalez, and Staff Sgt. Christopher Stone, arriving at the airport in Ramscheid, Germany; May 6, 1999.

An M2 Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicle with KFOR in Kosovo. The Division’s mission in Kosovo with KFOR was to maintain peace and stability. The lead element, 1-26 Inf., arrived June 24, 1999. The main force, the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, Task Force Falcon, arrived July 4, 1999. Brigades rotated every six months. In May 2003 the 3rd Brigade Combat Team was the last 1st Infantry Division unit to leave Kosovo.

the balkans

1996-1997

In the late 1990s, the 1st Infantry Division took on the new challenge of peace-keeping under the sequential commands of Major Generals Montgomery Meigs, David Grange and John Abizaid. The Big Red One played a major role in the stabilization of war-torn Bosnia-Herzegovina. On November 10, 1996, the division took command of Task Force Eagle there. Its mission was to cover the safe withdrawal of the 1st Armor Division back to Germany and to enforce the Dayton Accords. The Big Red One, in turn, handed Task Force Eagle back to the returning 1st Armored Division on October 22, 1997.

1999-2000

In 1999, the 1st Infantry Division became part of Task Force Sabre in Macedonia, and then deployed to Kosovo as part of Task Force Falcon. There, the Division established Base Camps Monteith and Bondsteel, both named after 1st Infantry Division Medal of Honor recipients. In June 2000, the Big Red One handed over its responsibilities to the 1st Armored Division and returned to Germany.