Division East, First US Army
"Train For Combat!"

The mission of Division East, First US Army is to mobilize, train, validate, and deploy Reserve Component units in accordance with combatant commander, Department of the Army and Forces Command Directives. As directed, Division East provides training to joint, interagency, combined and active Army Forces.

On 16 January 2006, First US Army's mission expanded to include the training, readiness oversight, and mobilization for all US Army Reserve and Army National Guard units within the continental United States and 2 US territories. First US Army assumed authority from Fifth US Army, which was transforming into US Army North (USARNORTH), assuming nationwide responsibility for homeland security. With its new role, First US Army developed 2 subordinate multi-component headquarters, one division to support the eastern United States and the other to support the western United States. Division East, First US Army Division East was activated on 7 March 2007, and was headquartered at Fort George G. Meade, Maryland.

Division East was established by Department of the Army Permanent Order 156-7 to provide training and readiness oversight and mobilization operations for an area of responsibility spanning 27 states and territories east of the Mississippi River. The Division's mission was to provide trained and ready forces to combatant commanders for worldwide military operations. The multi-component Division was a team of nearly 6,000 Active Duty, Reserve Component, National Guard Soldiers, and civilians, all working to man, equip, train, and deploy US Army and sister service forces. The Division's headquarters' workforce was comprised of more than 200 personnel culled from active component, Army Reserve, National Guard, Operation Warrior Trainers, individual mobilization augmentees, Department of the Army civilians and contractors.

At the time of its activation, the Division was organized into 9 brigades located throughout the eastern United States with 52 total subordinate battalions. Each of the Division's subordinate brigades was commanded by a Department of the Army central-select combat arms colonel, all seasoned professionals with extensive training expertise and combat experience. Division East operated 5 mobilization training centers located at Fort Bragg, North Carolina; Fort Stewart, Georgia; Camp Atterbury, Indiana; Camp Shelby, Mississippi; and Fort Dix, New Jersey.

Division East was responsible for training, providing readiness oversight, and validating mobilized Army Reserve and National Guard Soldiers (as well as members of the Navy and Air Force) for combat operations, to the highest standards possible. At the time of its activation, this included troops deploying to Iraq, Afghanistan, the Horn of Africa, the Sinai Peninsula, Guantanamo Bay, and Kosovo.

During 2011, Division East was to mobilize, train and deploy about 93,000 Soldiers, Sailors, and Airmen, as well as Department of State and Department of Agriculture professionals. About 88,000 Servicemembers were trained and deployed during 2010 as part of Division East's training program. The Division had trained units from every state and territory in the country and units made up of Soldiers from nearly every State in the country, the record being a brigade combat team composed of members of 44 States. The Division's units range in size from brigade combat teams of more than 4,000 Soldiers, to postal affairs detachments of just 9 Soldiers. The skills they were required to master range from basic weapons marksmanship and common Army Warrior Tasks, to synchronized command and control of all doctrinal warfighting functions and theater-wide-sustainment.