Editing MGM-31 Pershing (section)

===Deployment===
[[Dwight D. Eisenhower|President Eisenhower]] viewed the Pershing missile when he visited Cape Canaveral on 11 February 1960,<ref name="uin1960-02-11"/> and at [[Fort Benning]] on 5 May 1960 as part of Project MAN (Modern Army Needs).<ref name="wss009"/><ref name="uin1960-5-5"/> [[John F. Kennedy|President Kennedy]] viewed Pershing three times: as part of the inaugural parade in 1961,<ref name="jfk1960-1-20"/><ref name="ap1960"/> at Fort Bragg on 12 October 1961,<ref name="loengard"/> and at [[White Sands Missile Range]] in 1963.<ref name="wsmr_1"/>

Plans were for the organization of ten missile battalions: one at [[Fort Sill]], one in Korea and eight in West Germany; this was eventually reduced to one battalion at Fort Sill and three in West Germany.<ref name="lemmer"/>

Each missile battalion organized at [[Fort Sill]] for deployment. The first tactical Pershing unit was the [[2nd Missile Battalion, 44th Artillery Regiment]], followed by the [[4th Missile Battalion, 41st Artillery Regiment]] deployed to [[Schwäbisch Gmünd]] and the [[1st Missile Battalion, 81st Artillery]] to McCully Barracks in [[Wackernheim]]. Each missile battalion had four launchers.

The [[2nd Missile Battalion, 79th Artillery Regiment]] formed for deployment to South Korea in February 1964. The deployment was placed on hold and the battalion supported the [[56th Artillery Group]] and the German Air Force missile wings when they launched missiles from White Sands Missile Range. The [[85th U.S. Army Field Artillery Detachment]] was organized in Fort Sill in November 1966 and attached to 2/79th Artillery. The deployment to Korea was canceled and the 2/79th Artillery was deactivated.

The Secretary of Defense assigned the Pershing weapon system to a [[Quick Reaction Alert]] (QRA) role in 1964 after a [[United States Department of Defense|DoD]] study showed that the Pershing would be superior to tactical aircraft for the QRA mission. The [[German Air Force]] began training at Fort Sill. Each missile battalion was then authorized six launchers.<ref name="mckenney"/> In 1965 this increased to eight launchers, two per firing battery. By 1965, three U.S. Army battalions and two German Air Force wings were operational in Germany. The [[579th Ordnance Company]] was tasked with maintenance and logistical general support for the Pershing artillery units in Germany.