2nd Battalion, 8th Infantry Regiment
"Fighting Eagles"

The 2nd Battalion, 8th Infantry Regiment was originally constituted on 5 July 1838, in the Regular Army as Company B, 8th Infantry, and organized at Detroit, Michigan. The unit served with the rest of the 8th Infantry in the Mexican-American War, participating in 8 campaigns: Palo Alto, Resaca de la Palma, Monterey, Vera Cruz, Cerro Gordo, Churubusco, Molino del Rey, Chapultepec. It then served with the Union Army in the American Civil War, participating in another 12 campaigns: Peninsula, Manassas, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Wildernessm Atlanta, Spotsylvania, Cold Harbor, Petersburg, Texas 1861. The unit was consolidated in May 1869 with Company B, 33rd Infantry, with the consolidated unit being designated as Company B, 8th Infantry.

Along with the rest of the 8th Infantry, the unit participated in 6 campaigns of the Indian Wars leading up to the turn of the century: Seminoles, Apaches, New Mexico 1858, New Mexico 1860, Montana 1872, Arizona 1876. It also deployed to Cuba during the Spanish-American War, participating in the Santiago campaign. In 1901 it was sent to the Philippines as part of the Luzon campaign to suppress the insurgency there.

The 8th Infantry as a whole was assigned on 17 December, 1917 to the 8th Division. The unit was awared a streamer without inscription for World War I. The 8th Infantry was subsequently relieved on 24 March 1923 from assignment to the 8th Division and reassigned to the 4th Division (later redesignated as the 4th Infantry Division).

With the 4th Infantry Division, the unit participated in 5 campaigns in the Second World War: Normandy (streamer with arrowhead indicating participation in the initial assault), Northern France, Rhineland, Ardennes-Alsace, and Central Europe. After the Second World War, Company B, 8th Infantry along with the rest of the Regiment was inactivated on 25 February, 1946, at Camp Butner, North Carolina.

Company B, 8th Infantry was reactivated on 15 July 1947, at Fort Ord, California and was inactivated on 1 April 1957 at Fort Lewis, Washington. It was concurrently relieved from assignment to the 4th Infantry Division. The unit was redesignated on 1 August 1957, as Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 2nd Battle Group, 8th Infantry and was assigned to the 8th Infantry Division. It was concurrently activated in Germany with its organic elements concurrently constituted and activated.

The Battle Group was relieved on 1 January 1959 from assignment to the 8th Infantry Division and reassigned to the 1st Infantry Division. The unit was reorganized and redesignated on 1 October, 1963 as the 2nd Battalion, 8th Infantry. It was concurrently relieved from assignment to the 1st Infantry Division and assigned to the 4th Infantry Division. The unit participated in 11 campaigns in Vietnam as an element of the 2nd Brigade, 4th Infantry Division: Counteroffensive Phase II, Counteroffensive, Phase III, Tet Counteroffensive, Counteroffensive Phase IV, Counteroffensive Phase V, Counteroffensive Phase VI, Tet 69/Counteroffensive, Summer-Fall 1969, Winter-Spring 1970, Sanctuary Counteroffensive, and Counteroffensive Phase VII. After returning from Vietnam, the unit was inactivated on 13 September, 1972, at Fort Carson, Colorado.

The Battalion was reactivated on 1 August 1984 at Fort Carson, Colorado. It was inactivated there on 15 December 1989 and was relieved from assignment to the 4th Infantry Division. It was reassigned on 16 December 1995 to the 2nd Armored Division and activated at Fort Hood, Texas. It was relieved on 16 January 1996 from assignment to the 2nd Armored Division and reassigned to the 4th Infantry Division.

In March 2003, the Battalion, along with the rest of 2nd Brigade, 4th Infantry Division, deployed to the Middle East in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. The Brigade moved up Highway 1 through Baghdad, Taji, and on to Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit, destroying resistance from Iraqi forces. The 2-8th Infantry, in conjuntion with other components of 2nd Brigade, 4th Infantry Division, secured and held multiple airfields and military complexes for later use by follow-on forces as far north as K2 Airfield near Bayji.

Following its return from Iraq, the Battalion was relieved on 16 December 2004 from assignment to the 4th Infantry Division and assigned to the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division. This reassignment was part of the transformation of the 4th Infantry Division to the US Army's new modular force structure. The Battalion was redesignated on 1 October 2005 as the 2nd Battalion, 8th Infantry Regiment.

As of 1 January 2006, the 2nd Battalion, 8th Infantry, an element of the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, was been operating out of Forward Operating base Kalsu, located in Iskanderyah, Iraq. The unit's mission, along with that of the 2nd Brigade Combat Team as a whole, was to train Iraqi Security Forces to conduct operations independent of coalition assistance.

Following its return from Iraq in late 2006, the 2nd Battalion, 8th Infantry moved from Fort Hood, Texas to Fort Carson, Colorado along with the rest of the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division. This was as part of larger realignment of US Army units.