In 1962, the 194th Armored Brigade was assigned to the US Army's Combat Developments Command to test new materiel at Fort Ord, California. It assumed the mission of the tank battalion of the 5th Infantry Division previously there. The next change occurred in the mid-1960s amid Army-wide reductions to make resources available for the Vietnam War. In a personnel-saving action, the Combat Developments Command's 194th Armored Brigade at Fort Ord was replaced by a battalion-size combat team and reorganized at Fort Knox to support the Armor School in place of the 16th Armored Group. Under the new configuration, the brigade included one mechanized infantry and two armored battalions. The brigade was cannibalized to fill out CONUS-based III Corps units deploying to Saudi Arabia for Operation Deser