The 1st Aviation Brigade commands four distinctly different battalions, each with a unique mission – the 1st Battalion, 13th Aviation Regiment; the 1st Battalion, 145th Aviation Regiment; 1st Battalion, 210th Aviation Regiment; and the 2nd Battalion, 13th Aviation Regiment, the former Unmanned Aircraft Systems Training Battalion at Fort Huachuca, Arizona.

The 1st Aviation Brigade traces its origins to the Vietnam War. In April 1965 the U.S. Army Aviation Brigade (Provisional) was activated with the existing 13th, 14th, 52nd, and 145th Aviation Battalions,[3] already in South Vietnam, reporting to it. In August 1965 it became the 12th Aviation Group, which then doubled in size and was used to form the 1st Aviation Brigade in March 1966.[4] Dunstan, in Vietnam Choppers writes that the numerous independent aviation companies deployed during the war's early years had become difficult to move between sectors because they had developed 'individual means of operating in conjunction with the formations they supported.'[5] Thus the brigade was formed to achieve standardization.