Warriors in Peace Operations - Strategic Studies Institute - U.S. Army

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he was deadly serious. I was convinced at that point that what was happening at Dayton was going to cause the division to deploy. A few days later I got one of the biggest shocks of my career. At the end of the exercise, Colonel Fontenot asked me to sit down in his office and told me that if the division deployed, he had to leave one of the battalions in the brigade at home. He had decided it would be 2-67. He explained that his rationale was two fold. First, he needed a strong rear detachment commander for the brigade and for all the units who would not deploy. That rang a little hollow with me at the time. Secondly, I was going to change command next June, which was halfway through the deployment, and he wanted to keep the same battalion commanders the whole way through. So 4-67 Armor would deploy and 2-67 would stay at home. My first reaction was supportive, since I could see that he was having a very hard time telling me. I told him I understood, was not happy about the decision, but would do the best job I could and he could count on the battalion to do what was necessary to support the brigade. Later, after having thought about it, I went up to Colonel Fontenot’s office and asked to revisit the issue. I told him that I thought the battalion was the best, most ready outfit to deploy for this mission, and the fact I was leaving would not change that. The fact that I would be replaced was significant, but Dave Neidringhaus, the incoming commander, was a good man and would be as good as me in running the battalion. As I expected, it did not change his decision. One question I had at the time was whether my wife had an impact on the decision of which battalion would deploy. My wife is a professional woman who has been very successful in her own right as a computer systems analyst. It was no secret she was not particularly happy at having to give up her career for 2 years so I could command the battalion in Germany. She certainly did not fit into the stereotypical “commander’s wife” role, that is, someone who 88
volunteers with alacrity and gets tremendous personal rewards in supporting her husband’s unit and career. I would later find out there were really few commanders’ wives who did fit into the mold, but that is another story. Regardless, I had told Colonel Fontenot recently that my wife, Pat, was thinking about leaving Germany to go back to the United States to Kansas City to take a job in the spring, a little before my change of command. He had been pretty neutral in his reaction, basically saying he understood and that it was totally our decision. He mentioned I would have to get someone else to pick up the slack in leading the family support group. However, I had an uncomfortable feeling he was displeased and wondered whether Pat’s lack of commitment had influenced his decision to leave my battalion behind. I have never directly asked Colonel Fontenot whether that was the case. Very soon after returning from the Czech Republic, we deployed to Grafenwoehr for our normally scheduled tank gunnery rotation. However, things had developed at Dayton, and it was looking like there would be an agreement. It also was clear that the division was well on the way to deploying. The task organization had changed again, and it looked like I would deploy only one tank company, which would be attached to 3-5 Cav, the brigade’s infantry battalion. I would keep three behind, along with the battalion headquarters. 4-67 Armor would deploy its battalion headquarters but leave two tank companies behind. I never did figure out why 4-67 just did not deploy three companies, leaving my battalion intact, and I never met anyone on the division or brigade staff who had any insight as to why the division task organized that way. I chose A Company to deploy because the commander and 1SG were my most experienced pair, and the leadership within the company seemed to be most able to perform independently. I had the same difficulty with the other commanders that Colonel Fontenot had with me in explaining why they would not deploy. 89
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WARRIORS IN PEACE OPERATIONS Edited
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CONTENTS FOREWORD .................
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FOREWORD The Personal Experience Mo
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seldom practiced. The actual practi
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BATTALION COMMAND I assumed command
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all training, maintenance, and othe
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company training and log efforts, a
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the USAREUR staff was thought up an
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new times. Ops Center at the battal
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like the Jewish exodus wandering ar
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marvelous job of coordinating the e
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it. They did not want us there or n
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containers as well. I told him I un
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promptly chambered a round in his p
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techniques, we found the railhead a
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answer. He quickly made himself and
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Tacsat systems with two independent
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CHAPTER 3 THE BLUE FALCONS IN BOSNI
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monograph. My omission of such elem
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their advance around the safe haven
Page 41 and 42: unusual. In today’s environment,
Page 43 and 44: He also provided his timeline for J
Page 45 and 46: Within about an hour I was reminded
Page 47 and 48: eter. Even along these paths, I had
Page 49 and 50: for deployment. The pre-deployment
Page 51 and 52: a rehearsal for leaders, using a ve
Page 53 and 54: • Heavy weapons platoon from E Co
Page 55 and 56: The Blue Falcons exited the aircraf
Page 57 and 58: esponsibility for the base security
Page 59 and 60: sandbagged for force protection. Th
Page 61 and 62: Weather continued to deteriorate ov
Page 63 and 64: east-west roads crossing the Zone o
Page 65 and 66: needed from his forces. This coordi
Page 67 and 68: This COP was manned by a reinforced
Page 69 and 70: attalion commander was executing a
Page 71 and 72: creativity in accomplishing every a
Page 73 and 74: On February 11, TF 3-325 began coor
Page 75: their security. Hence, the title em
Page 88 and 89: deployed with the battalion to the
Page 90 and 91: at a confrontation going on at a ch
Page 94 and 95: As I reflected on the emotions I wa
Page 96 and 97: three times. The first time some ke
Page 98 and 99: pressure, intensity, and rigor of a
Page 100 and 101: gaining the sense of teamwork and s
Page 102 and 103: from 4-67, and now three tank plato
Page 104 and 105: Although the setup had changed in t
Page 106 and 107: trains per day to that point, thus
Page 108 and 109: soldier why there were differences
Page 110 and 111: One piece of frustrated cargo defin
Page 112 and 113: soldiers who deployed into an area
Page 114 and 115: support. After several false starts
Page 116 and 117: Group leaders, who were not paid pr
Page 118 and 119: Another lesson I learned was the ve
Page 120 and 121: We also developed a rotational gunn
Page 122 and 123: CHAPTER 5 COMMANDING A FIELD ARTILL
Page 124 and 125: Target Acquisition Battery (B/25 FA
Page 126 and 127: Rather than the anticipated three w
Page 128 and 129: DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY HEADQUARTERS
Page 130 and 131: usiness taking their husbands away
Page 132 and 133: transportation, shopping, and perso
Page 137 and 138: were required to carry these 12 rul
Page 139 and 140: The remaining combat elements of Ch
Page 141 and 142: As we departed Baumholder, I felt c
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140
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Figure 7. 1st Armored Division AOR.
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forcing Service Battery to expend a
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Zvornik to regain control of the se
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likely a key storage site for a mec
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deployment. When offered the opport
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was due to retire from the Russian
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equipment for turn-in both at Baumh
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assume the FSG advisor role for the
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assigned weapons. It was a great co
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This created a daily stop at every
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(at all times) and constant reporti
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CONCLUSION The opportunity for batt
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A. He did not countermand the major
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CHAPTER 6 THE 28TH TRANSPORTATION B
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deactivation of the 53rd Transporta
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factors allowing us to stay ahead o
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drivers could not operate a motor v
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tied up with A/DACGS, CSCs, EAGLE E
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heat I received from the families b
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260th TTD relied entirely on the 28
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When I split my battalion headquart
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no IG or congressional inquiries re
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unit home to Wuerzburg, Germany. Un
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Drivers were also beginning to show
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unnecessary wear and tear on his un
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mileage during my first year in com
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logistics operations in support of
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The 127th ASB is a Combat Service S
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along with a myriad of situations t
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the battalion movement was not sche
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INITIAL SUPPORT OPERATIONS, ISB Aft
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SUPPORT PLAN The aviation brigade w
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commander while assigned to the 1AD
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The ground/air refuel and supply fu
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Force protection became a necessary
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military. As early as 1993, some si
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command, because the National Comma
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soldiers up at 1130 for a formal se
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actions—all at the same time. Onc
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eing, load-bearing equipment (LBE)
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teams and had one team erect the EM
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was ours. Once we received this add
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hospital area and our consequent ab
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our soldiers in a U.S. facility, bu
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• Treated 19,899 Outpatients •
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and Steve Walker, commanders of the
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the unique tasks required for the u
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could do to change it now. The good
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THE SUBORDINATE REAR DETACHMENT COM
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to Grafenwoehr for deployment-speci
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Those were some of the major missio
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kept track of the classified inform
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considerable time updating the book
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Fortunately, we never had to deal w
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• Good rear detachment commanders
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AFTERWORD Dr. Douglas V. Johnson II
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Colin Powell’s philosophy—we we
show all

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