{"id":15024,"date":"2021-05-26T01:32:17","date_gmt":"2021-05-26T01:32:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/uncategorized\/2021\/05\/26\/marine-corps-deactivates-its-final-active-duty-tank-battalion\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T20:09:54","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T20:09:54","slug":"marine-corps-deactivates-its-final-active-duty-tank-battalion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/news\/your-army\/2021\/05\/26\/marine-corps-deactivates-its-final-active-duty-tank-battalion\/","title":{"rendered":"Marine Corps deactivates its final active-duty tank battalion"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Marine Corps deactivated the historic 1st Tanks Battalion on Friday in a ceremony celebrating the storied unit\u2019s historic past and \u201ccomplicated relationship\u201d with the wider Marine Corps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The battalion was deactivated as part of Marine Corps Commandant Gen. David Berger\u2019s larger restructuring of the Corps. With the deactivation at the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms, California, the Marine Corps officially shut down its final battalion of active-duty tankers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even though the Corps\u2019 needs led to the deactivation of its tanks, the final commander of 1st Tanks said during the deactivation ceremony that he hopes the armored community will someday return and be ready to take on the mission \u2014 much like the first tankers did at the beginning of World War II.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy solemn hope is that, should the need for armor ever arise again, that spirit that has guided this battalion for the better part of a century, although asleep, will rise again and support that next generation of Marines just like it did on 1 November 1941,\u201d Lt. Col. Benjamin Adams said during the ceremony.<\/p>\n\n\n\t