FORT DRUM — The 10th Combat Aviation Brigade, 10th Mountain Division has added an AH-64D Apache Longbow helicopter battalion.

The new battalion, the 1st Attack Reconnaissance Battalion, is made up of 430 soldiers and 24 helicopters and joined the 10th Mountain Division earlier this month in a ceremony at Hunter Army Airfield at Fort Stewart, Ga.

"This is the first Apache battalion the 10th Mountain will have in its ranks," said Lt. Col. Michael J. Slocum, commander of the new 1-10th battalion. "We are flying the Climb to Glory flag down here in Savannah."

The battalion formerly was the 3rd Battalion, 3rd Aviation Regiment of the 3rd Infantry Division at Fort Stewart. These soldiers will join the 10th Aviation Brigade on their deployment in October to Iraq, where they will fly missions for the 25th Infantry Division, Hawaii. The Tigersharks of the 1-10th will return to Fort Drum after the deployment in spring 2010.

In return, and as part of a larger Army transformation, soldiers from the 3rd Squadron, 17th Cavalry, 10th Aviation Brigade will go to Fort Stewart. The 3-17, whose members fly OH-58D Kiowa Warrior helicopters and just returned from a 15-month deployment, will go south this fall. The 400-plus soldiers and the 30 helicopters will become part of the 3rd Combat Aviation Brigade at Hunter Army Airfield.

The transfer has been under way for more than a year as part of an Army strategy to turn both the 3rd and 10th combat aviation brigades into medium-size brigades, with both Apache and Kiowa battalions. This will evenly distribute firepower among the aviation brigades.

"We've had elements of our battalion go on trainings with the 10th Aviation Brigade in the last few months," said Col. Slocum. "We had aviation task forces and had a little bit of Kiowa, Chinook and Apache involved to cross-pollinate and integrate each aviation player on the same sheet of music."

For Col. Slocum, being assigned to the 10th Mountain has come full circle. During his first duty assignment, from 1990 to 1993, he was with the 3-17 and deployed with the division to Somalia. For those unfamiliar with the area, representatives from Fort Drum traveled to Fort Stewart to introduce soldiers and families of the 1-10th to the north country earlier this summer.

"It was important for them to show that they cared," said Staff Sgt. Ontika R. Fudge, a human resources officer with the battalion. "They showed they wanted us there 100 percent."