A convoy of 1,000 vehicles traveled from Miami to Panama City, Florida to be loaded on barges and shipped to Fort Polk for the National Guard Brigade training.

1st, 2nd, and 3rd Battalions deployed to the Persian Gulf in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom, and assumed a physical security mission in Kuwait and on the Jordan-Iraq border.

In late April 2003, the battalion was attached to the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment and deployed into Iraq by air and ground assault convoy.

During one of these sweeps through the outskirts of Ar Ramadi on 20 August 2003, members of the 1–124 Infantry captured Salem Musa Ijly.

During its deployment, the battalion captured 511 enemy combatants; recovered 2,399 small arms, 221 mortar tubes, 4,258 mortar round and 43 RPG launchers; captured, defused or engaged 715 improvised explosive devices; processed 7,422 detainees; and, disbursed more than $1.3 million in aid for repair or construction of numerous buildings, to include two hospitals, 67 schools and 52 mosques.

During their brief stay at the Jordanian Air Base, the unit conducted security operations, physical fitness training, and honed their combat skills.

In 2005, more than 2,400 soldiers from the 53rd Infantry Brigade deployed to Afghanistan as part of the international coalition's Joint Task Force Phoenix, where they helped train the Afghan National Army.

[3] In June 2006, Delta Company, 2nd Battalion, 124th Infantry deployed to Mosul, Iraq for a one-year tour conducting stability operations and combat patrols.

In a ceremony on 5 November 2016, the 1st Battalion, 167th Infantry Regiment of the Alabama Army National Guard was re-patched to denote its attachment to the 53rd IBCT.

[7] In August 2022, the Task Force Gator element of the 53rd IBCT returned home to Florida and demobilized back to traditional National Guard status.