2001
Special Medical Augmentation Response Team (SMART) activated. SMARTs are designed to provide highly focused assistance in one of more than 10 specialized areas, to include physicians, epidemiologists, scientists, and other health professionals.
Read More about SMARTs2001
Warfighter Refractive Eye Surgery Program initiated. Army surgical centers open to perform keratectomy and keratomileusis on a limited basis to qualified military applicants.
Jan.
"Army of One" becomes the new Army slogan, to replace the long-lived "Be All You Can Be," which lasted from 1980 to 2001.
Feb. 1
M1A2 system enhancement package upgrades scheduled to be performed on 240 M1A2 tanks by 2004.
Read More about the Abrams tank
June 12
FM 1, The Army, and FM 3-0, Operations, provide doctrinal foundation for Army Transformation.
June 14
Effective June 14, 2001, the first Army birthday in the new millennium, the black beret will become standard wear in Active and Reserve Components.
Read More about the Army Black BeretSept.
The Health Information Operations (HIO) program was established to identify emerging health threats and provide timely health information about those threats to service members, families and Army leaders, as well as to coordinate health information campaigns requiring a combined effort from CHPPM and other Army Medical Department and Department of Defense resources.
Sept.
The National Vaccine Health Center was opened at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C. The center was established to meet a congressional mandate for regional centers of excellence in vaccine safety and clinical immunology.
Sept. 11
Attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
View Video from the coverage of that Pentagon Attack
Sept. 11
"Liberation of Afghanistan" campaign streamer begins, dated Sept. 11 through Nov. 30, 2001.
Sept. 20
During a televised address to a joint session of congress, President George W. Bush remarks, "Our 'war on terror' begins with al Qaeda, but it does not end there. It will not end until every terrorist group of global reach has been found, stopped and defeated."
Sept.
Operation Solace was launched to battle the psychiatric problems that could be caused by the 9/11 attacks. Operation Solace is staffed by military behavioral health specialists such as psychiatrists, psychologists and social workers.
Oct.
Osama bin Laden is identified as being responsible for orchestrating the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States.
Oct. 7
Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) - Afghanistan (USA) begins.
Read More about Operation Enduring FreedomOct. 19
5th Special Forces Group is deployed to Afghanistan in a training and direct action force as part of OEF. The Group helped build a cohesive Northern Alliance of Afghan resistance fighters and then advised them how to fight and defeat the Taliban regime.
Read More about the 5th Special Forces Group
Nov.
Coalition forces enter Kabul, Afghanistan days after seizing the northern city of Mazar-e Sharif.
Dec.
The Battle of Tora Bora takes place, when the U.S. and its allies pursue Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda into the mountains of Afghanistan. Despite weeks of intense battle, bin Laden was not captured, and is believed to have escaped into Pakistan.
Dec. 1
"Consolidation I" campaign streamer begins, from Dec. 1, 2001 through Sept. 30, 2006.
Dec. 22
Self-admitted member of al-Qaeda, Richard Reid, tries to detonate a shoe bomb on American Airlines Flight 63.
Read More about the attempted bombing of American Airlines Flight 63