FORT PICKETT, Virginia –
More than 20 years after they were first unfurled, the colors of 2nd Squadron, 183rd Cavalry Regiment, 116th Mobile Brigade Combat Team were cased in a ceremony held Aug. 13, 2026, at Fort Pickett, Virginia. The ceremony marked the inactivation of the unit, which traces its lineage back through more than two centuries of Virginia military service.
“Though we case these colors today and the squadron’s name transitions into the history books, the spirit of this organization does not end here,” said Maj. Paul Marcinko, commander of 2nd Squadron, 183rd Cavalry Regiment. “It lives on in each of you as you take your leadership, your reconnaissance and security expertise, and your unwavering commitment to new units across the Guard. You carry the legacy of this squadron forward.”
Before the unit’s colors were cased, 17 troopers were called forward for induction into the Honorable Order of St. George. Presented through the U.S. Cavalry and Armor Association, the order recognizes outstanding service to the cavalry and armor community and honors those whose leadership and contributions strengthened the mounted force.
Once the newly knighted troopers returned to their formations, the squadron’s final command team, Sgt. Maj. Lawrence McGrogan and Marcinko, moved to stand beside and face their colors. Simultaneously, troop commanders and their first sergeants moved to bracket their own guidons. The colors were dipped as the unit’s history was read, and across the field, leaders carefully furled and secured the squadron colors and troop guidons that had represented their formation for more than two decades.
Among the leaders spread across the field was 1st Sgt. Jason Hobbs, first sergeant for Bravo Troop, 2nd Squadron, 183rd Cavalry Regiment. Hobbs spent the entirety of the troop’s two-decade history in its ranks, deploying four times and building a career that carried him from private first class to the troop’s senior enlisted leader.
“It sucks,” Hobbs said frankly, noting that it was hard to watch the unit’s infrastructure disappear. “But I enjoyed the organization and I enjoyed the people.”
For Hobbs, furling the Bravo Troop guidon marked the end of his own military career.
In the days before the squadron’s inactivation, Hobbs joined other leaders from the squadron in running the unit’s final Spur Ride, dubbed the “Last Ride.” Rooted in cavalry tradition, spur rides test the physical endurance, technical proficiency and cavalry knowledge of “shavetails,” troopers who have not yet earned their spurs. Conducted under the supervision of experienced spur holders, those who complete the ride earn their place among the ranks of spur holders.
With the unit’s inactivation pending, the troopers and cadre who supported and participated in the Last Ride primarily came from outside the squadron.
“We don’t have any troops anymore, so this is literally people coming back who love this organization to facilitate this event and make it happen,” said Maj. Candice Bowen, the squadron’s operations officer.
“It’s people who have passed through or at some point served in the CAV, or maybe deployed with the CAV at some point in time, or it’s people who just came out of basic training with a 19D [military occupational specialty] and are now sitting in an infantry unit and want to do something CAV-related before they flip to infantry,” Hobbs added.
Just after 7 a.m. on Aug. 10, Marcinko and McGrogan led a group of 18 shavetails across the finish line of the Spur Ride’s final ruck march, marking the end of the event. Waiting for them were experienced spur holders and former members of the squadron who had returned to take part in the Last Ride and welcome a new generation into the cavalry tradition. Among them was retired Brig. Gen. Walter Mercer, the squadron’s first commander, who returned to Fort Pickett to address the formation and reflect on the unit’s history and the Soldiers who will carry it forward.
“This unit has a reputation as being squared away, disciplined and professional, and you’re representing that,” Mercer said, speaking about the unique culture of the cavalry and the weight of the squadron’s inactivation. “Take what you learned from this experience, from your time in the CAV, from the spur ride […] and make that trickle down. Take that spirit from this unit and this spur ride to the units across the state and make them better.”
The shavetails then moved to the front-leaning rest position as their spur-holder sponsors were called forward and spurs were affixed to the backs of their boots. When they rose, they rose as spur holders — the very last to do so under the 2-183rd Cavalry colors.
The traditions carried out during the squadron’s final days were part of a cavalry legacy that stretches far beyond the unit’s modern formation.
With more than 200 years of lineage, the squadron’s campaign honors include service in the War of 1812, World War I and World War II. The unit’s direct institutional lineage began in 1946 as the Portsmouth-based 691st Antiaircraft Artillery Automatic Weapons Battalion. Following a series of redesignations, the unit was converted and reorganized as the 183rd Cavalry Regiment, with 2nd Squadron serving as the reconnaissance, surveillance and target acquisition squadron for what was then the 116th Brigade Combat Team. The squadron’s colors were first unfurled during a ceremony held Feb. 11, 2006, in Portsmouth.
The squadron deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2007 and returned to Iraq in 2011 as the headquarters of Task Force 183. At the time, the approximately 825-Soldier task force represented the largest single-unit mobilization of Virginia Army National Guard Soldiers since World War II. During the deployment, the task force conducted 181 convoy escort missions, traveled more than 50,000 miles and delivered more than 14 million gallons of fuel. The squadron answered the call again in 2021, when Bravo Troop deployed to the Horn of Africa in support of security force operations.
The squadron’s inactivation comes as part of the Army Transformation Initiative and ongoing changes to the Virginia Army National Guard’s force structure. In 2025, the 116th transitioned from an infantry brigade combat team to a mobile brigade combat team, the first in the Army National Guard to do so. The MBCT force structure includes three infantry battalions, each with a multipurpose company, as well as a newly formed multifunctional reconnaissance company. These formations will provide new homes for many of the squadron’s troopers, while others will continue their service in units across the state.
“We do not retire our history; we safeguard it,” Marcinko said, noting that it wasn’t a single day or a single individual who forged the squadron’s legacy. “It was built over decades, written in the dust of training centers at home and the sand of overseas deployments. It was earned in local communities during natural disasters when our neighbors called, and our troopers answered. It was forged in the cold early mornings on the rifle range, the long hours spent in the motor pool, and the quiet pride of earning your spurs on the trail.”