The 1-3 Brigade Special Troops Battalion, formed in April 2004 was the first unit to begin transformation to the Army's new modular concept. The Brigade Special Troops Battalion consists of the Headquarters and Headquarters Company from the former 11th Engineer Battalion, a Joint Network Node (JNN) Signal Company from the former 123rd Signal Battalion, a Military Intelligence Company from the former 103rd Military Intelligence Battalion, and a Military Police Platoon from the former 3rd Military Police Company.

Shortly after the 1-3 Brigade Special Troops Battalion was formed, they were deployed to the National Training Center for rotation 04-06/07. While at NTC 04-06/07, the 1-3 Brigade Special Troops Battalion supported the Raider Brigade by providing a secure and reliable data and voice network to facilitate command and control, information gathered from our MI assets, route security and a prisoner detainee facility provided from our MP Platoon, and engineer support provided from our attached Combat Heavy Engineer Platoon.

In January of 2005, 1-3 Brigade Special Troops Battalion deployed to Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom III, spending a year supporting the 42nd Infantry Division and the 101st Airborne with communications, military intelligence, military police and detention operations and serving as the main reconstruction effort for the entire Salah ad Din Province.

In January 2007, the Desert Cat Team deployed to Camp Ramadi, Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom V, conducting combat counterinsurgency operations in the brigade's area of operation. Missions ranged from providing 1st Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division communications over the entire area of operations, intelligence support to the brigade, internal security of Camp Ramadi as well as Al Mashura, and engineering assets and explosive ordinance device (EOD) security and support.

The Desert Cat Soldiers served 15 months in the volatile city of Ramadi performing sustainment and support operations. During their watch, the city transformed from what was once described as a 'lost cause' to one which went over 300 days without a significant insurgent attack. The Desert Cats were responsible for Mayoral support to a coalition camp of over 12,000 Soldiers, base defense operations cell activities, signal support to Camp Ramadi and flew over 3000 hours of UAV missions.

In April 2008, the Desert Cats redeployed after a successful tour in Iraq and continue to train and rebuild in order to support future combat operations.

Immediately after return from OIF V, the Battalion began an accelerated refit and reset program, and assumed a one-year mission as a constant Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and High Yield Explosive (CBRNE) Consequence Management Response Force (CCMRF) on 1 October 2008 with the rest of 1st Brigade Combat Team.