Since its creation in 1918, the division has experienced multiple cycles of activation, training, deployment and deactivation as well as substantial reorganizations and changes of mission.

The 26th Trench Mortar Battery was formed at Del Rio, Texas, in August 1918 and was assigned to the 173rd Field Artillery Brigade, but never ended up joining.

The division headquarters was organized on 18 August 1921 at the Federal Building in Syracuse, New York, and remained there until activated for World War II.

The 98th Division headquarters was called to duty for training as a unit on a number of occasions, usually for command post exercises (CPXs).

[5] The 98th was ordered into active military service on 15 September 1942 at Camp Breckinridge, Kentucky, filling its ranks primarily with soldiers from New York and New England.

The roughly 19,590 soldiers of the 98th arrived in Oahu, Hawaii, on 19 April 1944, and relieved the 33rd Infantry Division of responsibility for the defense of the Hawaiian Islands.

On 15 May 1945, the 98th was relieved of garrison duties by the 372nd Infantry Regiment, freeing them up to train for Operation Olympic, scheduled for 1 November 1945 as one of two planned invasions of Japan.

The changes of 1968 also ushered in the designation and training of Army Reserve Drill Sergeants, a significant and enduring innovation.

The demands of Operation Iraqi Freedom required an accelerated training schedule which crammed as many warfighting skills as possible into a forty-one-day period.

This was the 98th's first substantial exposure to the asymmetric battlefield, requiring training in counterinsurgency techniques and preparing to face an opponent who did not fight along traditional fronts.

The unit used its pool of drill sergeant and instructor expertise to train Iraqi soldiers and officers to prescribed standards under the constant threat of insurgent attack and under austere conditions.

Instruction and support teams spread out across all points in Iraq from Al Kasik in the north to as far south as Umm Qasr.

[8] The division also fielded soldiers to such other locations as Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, the Horn of Africa, Kuwait, Jordan and Afghanistan.

The blue and orange-gold colors are those of the Dutch House of Nassau, the earliest settlers of New York State.

On 8 September 2012, the Armed Forces Reserve Center at Fort Benning, Georgia, where the unit is located, was memorialized in honor of Chaplain (Lieutenant Colonel) Elmer W. Heindl who had served in the 98th.