5th Battalion 52d Air Defense Artillery

The 5th Battalion, 52nd Air Defense Artillery Regiment (United States) is an air defense artillery battalion in the United States Army based at Fort Bliss, Texas. Known as "five-five-deuce," the battalion motto is "We Build Warriors." The former motto was "One Team, One Fight!". The battalion is part of 11th Air Defense Artillery Brigade and the 32nd Army Air & Missile Defense Command (32nd AAMDC).

The battalion consists of a headquarters and headquarters battery (HHB), four Patriot missile batteries (A through D) and a maintenance company (Company E, formerly the 507th Maintenance Company). Each battery has six Patriot missile launchers in accordance with the Patriot PAC-3 configuration.

The battalion was split into three separate groups during Operation Iraqi Freedom. Batteries A, B, and E, along with the 507th Maintenance Company and HHB, 5-52d ADA, were assigned to 31st Air Defense Artillery Brigade, under Colonel Heidi Brown, the first female Patriot brigade commander, to provide air defense coverage for Coalition forces entering Iraq. Alpha, Bravo, Echo, and HHB batteries were provided security (prior to and during the invasion) by the Companies A and C of the 3d Battalion, 124th Infantry Regiment (Florida Army National Guard) from Kuwait to Baghdad. Batteries C and D were assigned to 32d AAMDC to provide air defense coverage for Kuwait.
Battery D, 5-52d ADA shot down the first Scud launched by Iraqi forces during the opening days of the invasion. Battery C, 5-52d ADA ended the war with the highest number of intercepted missiles totaling 3, battery C also shot down a British Tornado aircraft. During the invasion, Battery E was bombed by friendly aircraft outside of FARP shell, which created a 30-by-30-foot hole and damaged the radar system. A few days later, Battery E fired two PAC-3 missiles and shot down U.S. Navy F-18 pilot Nathan White outside of the Karbala (he avoided the first missile, but not the second one). He was found dead in one of the few lakes in Iraq. This friendly fire incident sidelined Battery E, allowing Batteries A and B, 5-52d ADA to be the first Patriot batteries in Baghdad, with Battery B preceding Battery A by a few hours.
The 507th Maintenance Company was ambushed during the rapid advance towards Baghdad. The unit made a wrong turn into Nasiriyah, northwest of Basra. The mistake was due to lack of rest, limited communications and human error according to a U.S. Army investigation. Several soldiers were killed and six were held as prisoners of war. Prior to invasion, 5-52d ADA had never conducted a bounding movement exercise to the extent Operation Iraqi Freedom required. In the summer of 2005, the 507th was inactivated and reflagged as Company E, 5-52d ADA, reflagged again later as Company F when the battalion received an Avenger battery that became Battery E, 5-52d ADA, during an Army-wide reorganization of Patriot battalions.

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