The 1st Infantry Division and Fort Riley said goodbye Thursday to the 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team.

The 4th IBCT cased it’s colors Thursday during a casing ceremony on the Calvary Parade Field on post. COL Peter Minalga, 4th IBCT Commander addressed the brigade for the final time during the ceremony. He said that their involvement in support of the nations national interests in the global war on terrorism was unparalleled.

“We were a brigade that was formed out of a necessity for combat,” said COL Minalga. “In our short nine year existence this brigade proved itself time and again, through multiple combat deployments, training exercises and a myriad of diverse mission sets.”

The brigade was activated on January 12th, 2006, and deployed twice to Iraq, once to Afghanistan, and just recently returned from the continent of Africa where the brigade served as the regionally aligned force.

Fort Riley will lose about 800 soldiers due to the inactivation of the brigade but the remaining soldiers in the brigade will be transferred to other units within the 1st Infantry Division.