The 1st Security Force Assistance Brigade was established in October 2017 at Fort Benning, Georgia, the first of six brigades under the Security Force Assistance Command, a Division-level Command element. It was officially activated at a ceremony held at the National Infantry Museum at Fort Benning on 8 February 2018.
Deployed to Afghanistan later that same month, the Brigade executed hundreds of ongoing advisory missions and facilitated operations with over fifteen brigades and thirty battalions from the Afghan National Amy and Regional training facilities, and several Afghan Divisional and Corps Headquarters.
Returning to the U.S. in November 2018, the Brigade’s next mission involved a half-dozen of the Brigade’s Engineering Advisor Teams being sent to assist with the testing of secure communications between NATO and its allies and partners in an Exercise dubbed “Allied Spirit X” that was managed by the German 1st Panzer Division in April 2019. That summer, two of the Brigade’s Combat Advisor Teams became the first to ever take part in a four-week training program at the U.S. Military Academy called Cadet Field Training.
Designed on the Infantry and Armored Brigade Combat Team mode, Security Force Assistance Brigades comprise some 500 Senior Officers and Noncommissioned Officers with the expertise to train and advise foreign security forces, from small units up to large organizations such as defense or internal affairs ministries.
The Brigades are designed to enhance the readiness of the Total Army by reducing and in some cases eliminating the need for existing Brigade Combat Teams to carry our security force assistance operations. They also serve as the catalyst to enable the rapid expansion of Army force in the event of contingency operation.