In 1973, as the 1st Brigade's jump status was ending, a new unit with the designation of 3d Battalion (Airborne), 509th Infantry (bearing the lineage of the World War II-era Company C, 509th PIB) was activated to form an Airborne Battalion Combat Team (ABCT) from elements of the existing airborne forces within the brigade. After a brief training period at Rhine Kaserne Barracks in West Germany, the unit moved to Vicenza, Italy, as a separate Airborne Battalion Combat Team. Commanded by LTC Ward M. Lehardy, it was composed of a Headquarters and Headquarters Company (HHC), a Combat Support Company (CSC), three Airborne Rifle Companies, and Company D, a field artillery battery, the predecessor of what later became Battery D, 319th Field Artillery (towed 105mm) activated on 1 October 1988. The colors of 1-509th and 2-509th were reflagged as 2-28th and 2-87th. Shortly after its arrival in Italy, the 3d Battalion, 509th Infantry was reflagged as the 1st Battalion, 509th Infantry. In 1983, 1-509th in Italy was reflagged as the 4th Battalion (Airborne), 325th Infantry to align it with elements of the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg under an Army-wide combat arms battalion rotation program.