Airborne: A Guided Tour of an Airborne Task Force

Perhaps the most exciting and amazing part of all that we have shown you thus far in this book is that it is done by people. Not robots or computers, but people. Those people have to want to do this job for the President and other national leaders to have the option of putting a military unit into the air towards a crisis area within eighteen hours. However, people do want to do this job. In fact, they line up for the opportunity. To be part of America’s own fire brigade, soldiers will go to extraordinary lengths. Even to the point of living just eighteen weeks at a time. However, just what is it like to live in the cycle? Well, to find out, I took the time to follow Colonel Petreaus and his 1st Brigade troopers through one complete eighteen-week cycle in the summer of 1996. During this cycle, they did a wide variety of things and had a number of different adventures. I’ll try to distill them down and show you some of the high points, as well as some of the unique training opportunities that are provided to make the 82nd Airborne Division “America’s Honor Guard.”

Prequel: DRB-1 (May 31st to July 26th, 1996)

For an 82nd Airborne brigade, a rotation cycle really starts when the unit comes off a DRB-1 status. For Colonel Petraeus and his 1st Brigade, this happened on July 26th, 1996, when they completed the DRB-1 rotation that they started the previous May 31st. They had gone onto DRB-1 just after finishing up Royal Dragon, which had been their final preparation to get sharp before the alert rotation. During this period a number of significant events took place, the biggest of which was the return of the 3rd Battalion of the 504th (3/504) Parachute Infantry Regiment (PIR) from the desert of the Sinai. One of the interesting jobs that periodically needs to be done by the units of XVIII Airborne Corps is to provide forces for peacekeeping duty in the Sinai.[53] This is done in conjunction with similar units from other nations, and the duty lasts for six months. In 1996, the 82nd supplied the peacekeeping effort with the services of the 3/504. However, by July, their tour of duty completed, the 3/504 was ready to come home. On July 7th, 1996, the first of three contingents from the 3/504 began their journey home. The two other contingents came home on July 15th and 22nd respectively. During their deployment the 3/504 had an outstanding record of achievement. So much so that the unit was put in for an Army Superior Unit Award, which is being processed as this book goes to press.

In addition, the troopers of the 3/504 got to show their mettle by winning the Multi-National Force Skills Competition trophy for their rotation. This is a series of scored combat-skills drills. Winning is a really big deal within the peacekeeping community, and the 3/504 was only the second U.S. unit to do so since 1982. The 3/504th command team of Lieutenant Colonel Tom Snukis and Sergeant Major Dave Draughn had done an outstanding job of holding up the U.S. end of the peacekeeping effort, and had good reason to be proud of their troopers and themselves.

Having all three of his battalions back home was a great relief for “Devil-6,” since he was already doing a DRB-1 cycle with only two battalions. To accommodate this, the 1st Brigade had split the DRB-1 cycle in half, with the 3/504th being the DRF for the first three weeks, and the 3/504 taking the duty for the final three. Now, some folks might say that this was an unfair burden for the brigade to have to bear given the importance of their mission. Colonel Petraeus, in his role as “Devil-6” (the 1st Brigade/504th PIR commanding officer), would just tell you that it is one of the many challenges that the airborne provides its officers. Along with getting the 3/504 started home, the 1st Brigade stood their alert quietly and coolly, with very little in the way of alert activity. Earlier in 1996 there had been several “tickles” that had resulted in contingency plans very nearly being executed, but these had passed without the need to deploy any of the forces from the 82nd. For 1st Brigade, this DRB-1 cycle passed without incident.

Time Off: DRB-3 (July 26th to September 13th, 1996)

On Friday, July 26th, 1996, the 1st Brigade handed off the DRB-1 duties to the troopers of the 2nd Brigade. This done, everyone headed home for a touch of leave and some time with their families. However, within a week or two, everyone got down to work. Like any unit in the airborne, there were new paratroops to bring into the brigade, and it was time for others to move on. For some, the DRB-3 period was an opportunity to attend Pathfinder or Jumpmaster School, or to attend some other service course. These schools are essential to a soldier if they are to move up the ladder to higher rank and responsibility.

In addition to these happenings, there was the whole process of refresher training for the units of the brigade. The constant movement in and out of the brigade means that basic weapons and airborne skills need to be constantly reinforced if the troopers are to stay combat ready. The training is also vital to the process of integrating new personnel into the various units of the brigade. It was essential that this be completed prior to the 1st Brigade going onto DRB-2 status, since the brigade would be heavily involved in advanced combat training during this period. In particular, they would make a rotation to the world’s finest infantry training center, the JRTC at Fort Polk, Louisiana. There also is the requirement to be ready to follow the DRB-1 brigade into action, should world events dictate that. By Friday, the 13th of September, 1996, the Devil Brigade had finished its “rest” period, and was ready to head into the “work-up” phase of their eighteen-week rotation. It would be an eventful month and a half.

Getting Ready: DRB-2 (September 13th to November 1st, 1996)

The start of the DRB-2 phase of 1st Brigade’s rotation was the start of an exciting period for Colonel Petreaus and his troopers. Almost immediately, they were faced with the upcoming deployment to Fort Polk for their JRTC training rotation, which was scheduled to begin in early October. This is a huge undertaking, given that a trip to the JRTC is costly, both in dollars and time. However, I think you will find when I describe their time at Fort Polk that it was time well spent. However, there were other places to go as well. As I told you earlier, there are other parts to an airborne task force than just the paratroops. Without airlift units ready with skilled aircrews and maintenance personnel, as well as the proper aircraft, there cannot be any “air” in airborne. So follow me south on a visit to the future of American airlift: the 437th Airlift Wing at Charleston AFB, South Carolina.

Charleston AFB, South Carolina, Saturday, September 14th, 1996

There is no more beautiful Southern town in the U.S. than Charleston, South Carolina. Out of this famous river and seaport town came the beginning of the rebellion that became the American Civil War, our nation’s bloodiest conflict. Charleston has paid a high price for this independent streak over the years. In 1865, General Sherman’s army burned the town to embers as payback for starting the conflict by firing at Fort Sumter. The city was again wrecked 124 years later, when Hurricane Hugo paid a visit, destroying much of the downtown section of the scenic port. Today, Charleston has recovered from both disasters, and is poised to leap into the 21st century with a whole new group of industries popping up around the former stronghold of the Confederacy. While many of the old textile mills have gone offshore, new factories for things like BMW automobiles and Robert Bosch ignition systems have more than made up the slack. This is a city on the move, and you can feel the excitement as soon as you arrive.

Inland from the city is the Charleston International Airport, which is a dual civilian/military facility. On one side is a wonderful new civilian terminal, and on the other is the home of the C-17 Globemaster III, America’s newest transport aircraft. Charleston AFB itself is not a new facility. The original base dates back to World War II. However, the steady patronage of Congressional leaders like Mendell Rivers and the immortal Strom Thurmond have kept the facilities at Charleston state-of-the-art, looking as good as new. The base has also seen its share of history. Back in the 1970s the first active unit of C-5A Galaxy heavy transports was based here. Today, the 437th Airlift Wing (AW) is doing the same thing with a new heavy airlifter, the C-17A Globemaster III. As I mentioned in the previous chapter, the wing is currently equipped with two squadrons each of C-17As and C-141Bs. Commanded by Brigadier General Steven A. Roser, the wing is also co-resident with the 315th AW. Commanded by Colonel James D. Bankers, the 315th is what is known as a “Reserve Associate” unit. This means that they share the base’s aircraft and work in concert with the 437th on a daily basis, providing additional flight crews and ground personnel. In fact, the 315th flies almost a third of the missions out of Charleston AFB. It is, however, the 437th that I came to see and fly with. At the invitation of the Air Force, I had originally planned to fly a five-day mission around the Pacific to get to know how the C-17 and the 437th works. However, world events took a hand in changing my itinerary.

For the third straight year, Saddam Hussein had again flexed his military muscle, this time supporting a particular Kurdish sect against a rival faction. In addition, the Iraqi air defense systems had gotten somewhat active. Strikes by sea- and air-launched cruise missiles had damaged part of the air defense systems, but the rest remained intact after the strikes. Once again, U.S. forces made the annual pilgrimage back to Kuwait to show their fangs against the Iraqis. For this reason, the trans-Pacific mission I was to fly on was canceled, and the mission reprogrammed to take personnel and equipment for the 49th Fighter Wing (flying the F-117S Nighthawk, also known as the Stealth Fighter) from Holloman AFB in New Mexico to Kuwait. However, other opportunities for me rapidly presented themselves. The follow-on deployment of ground personnel and equipment from the 1st Armored Cavalry Division to Kuwait wound up being delayed several days, and I managed to get in several fascinating flights with the crews of the 437th.

You might wonder why the 437th would continue flying training missions when there was a very real possibility of this crisis erupting into a shooting war. Well, their view is that no matter what happens, they still have a shortage of qualified C-17 flight crews, and their job is to get them ready as quickly as possible. The Globemaster community is growing so fast, and is flying operational missions so frequently, that qualified mission and aircraft commanders are in high demand. This is particularly challenging, since the C-17 Schoolhouse unit has moved to Altus AFB in Oklahoma, taking some of the best C-17 flight crews away as instructors. So life and training goes on at Charleston, the will of Saddam and other global thugs notwithstanding.

My first chance to fly came on Saturday, September 14th, when I was invited to join a training qualification flight for several new aircraft commanders from the 437th’s 17th Airlift Squadron (AS). The flight would be commanded by one of the 437th’s instructor pilots, Major Tim Higa. The two command pilot trainees, Captains Eric Bresnahan and Doug Slipko, would alternate in the front seats with Major Higa. The loadmaster duties would be handled by Senior Airman Christina Vagnini, a young woman working at night on her nursing degree. We would be joined by John Gresham (with his ubiquitous camera and notebook), as well as 2nd Lieutenant Christa Baker, one of Charleston AFB’s Public Affairs Officers. This mission would allow the trainee pilots to practice low-level navigation, as well as short-field takeoff and landing techniques.

About 1700/5:00 PM, Christa, John, and I presented ourselves on the ramp in front of Aircraft 930600, also known as P-16. This is a nearly new (Fiscal Year 1993 [FY-93]) C-17A. However, don’t get the idea that the 437th is babying these birds. P-16 already had over 1,750 flight hours before we arrived, and would acquire more before the night was out. As we got aboard, Christina gave us a quick tour of the aircraft as well as a safety briefing. Then we headed upstairs to the flight deck to get ready to take off. Major Higa took the copilot’s (right) seat, while Eric took the pilot’s (left) spot. Christa and I took the two jump seats behind the flight crew, while John and Doug sat in the rear-facing passenger seats in the crew rest area, and Christina took her seat at the loadmaster station downstairs. After less than a half hour of preflight checks, Eric and Tim started the four engines and completed the preflight checklist. By 1748/5:48 PM, we were lined up at the end of the Charleston AFB runway, ready to roll. Our call sign for this evening would be “Heavy-51,” a direct reference to our aircraft’s size and weight.

Eric advanced the engine throttles, and I got my first shock of the evening. The acceleration was more like a fighter plane than a transport capable of hauling a main battle tank. In less than 3,000 feet/915 meters, we were off, headed up into the Charleston AFB traffic pattern. Following a quick touch-and-go back at Charleston, we headed south towards the city itself. It was a gorgeous night, and the huge panoramic windows make it easy to keep an eye on nearby airborne traffic. They also are wonderful for sight-seeing. We continued south towards Savannah, Georgia, making land-fall just north of the huge container port. At this point, we began a low-level flight (about 2,500 feet/762 meters over the water) headed north along the coast. The ride of the big airlifter was so smooth, I almost forgot that we were airborne as I watched the sights go by. Shrimp boats of all sizes were visible, as were naval and cargo vessels out of Charleston. As we passed by the mouth of Charleston Harbor, Fort Sumter was clearly visible on our port side. By this time, the sun was low in the western sky, and the visibility was probably over 50 miles/80 kilometers. The flight was going like a dream, and Major Higa seemed pleased with Eric’s performance. However, the interesting part of our mission was yet to come.

Heading west, we crossed the coastline, heading towards what is called North Field. This is a small military airfield which the U.S. Air Force (USAF) uses for practice in short-field takeoffs and landings. Along with our aircraft, several other C-17s were using North Field for practice this evening, so Tim made considerable use of our extra eyeballs to keep an eye out for other air traffic in the area. Arriving over the field at about 1900/7:00 PM, we lined up for a high-angle-of-attack (AOA) short-field landing. I’ve done these in C-130s before, but never an aircraft the size of the C-17. However, P-16 was stable throughout the approach, and only the sudden thump as the landing gear hit the runway and the sudden deceleration from the engines’ thrust-reversers indicated that we had touched down. The rollout was again less than 3,000 feet/915 meters, and we pulled around behind another 437th AW C-17, call sign “Heavy-64.” As we waited our turn on the runway, Christina disembarked from P-16, wearing a communications headset, to guide the crew in the darkness of North Field. Less than ten minutes after landing, we were up again, getting back into the pattern to do another short-field landing/takeoff cycle. This time Captain Doug Slipko took over the left seat, while Major Higa stayed in the copilot’s position. What followed were three more takeoffs and landings at North Field, before we headed southwest towards Augusta, Georgia.

By 2000 hours/8:00 PM, we were in the Augusta airport traffic pattern, getting ready for another series of touch-and-gos. Doug and Tim did a pair of these in the now-dark sky, before heading east towards Charleston AFB. By 2100/9:00 PM, they had P-16 in the Charleston traffic pattern, ready to finish up the mission. Once again, Doug and Eric changed seats, and set up for another touch-and-go. Once they had completed this, they finally lined on the main runway to land and finish up for the night. We landed at 2105 hours/9:15 PM, and taxied over to our parking spot. It had been a busy night, but also an informative one.

One immediate impression that you get from watching the C-17 flight crews is how little their hands are on the throttles and stick. Other than during takeoff and landing, most of their interaction with the flight-management system is through the controls running across the top of the control console and the various multi-function displays (MFDs). This is much more like that of a “glass cockpit” airliner like a Boeing 777 or Airbus than, say, a C-5 or C-141. The automated flight controls of the C-17 mean that the crews have to be trained in a whole new science: flight crew resource management. This means that with only two crewmen on the flight deck, there is a lot of work during high-stress situations (like takeoff and landing) that must be effectively distributed. However, the USAF seems to be doing an excellent job with this, and I felt very safe and comfortable throughout the flight. I was also impressed with the ease with which Christina was able to handle all of the loadmaster jobs around the aircraft. Thanking Tim, Eric, Doug, and Christina, we hopped aboard the crew van for our ride back to the parking lot and our cars. It had been a memorable night.

Charleston AFB, South Carolina, Monday, September 16th, 1996

After a pleasant Sunday touring Fort Sumter and downtown Charleston, we went back to fly with another crew from the 437th. This time, Christa, John, and I were assigned to take part in a two-ship airdrop mission that would take us up to North Field and then Little Rock AFB, Arkansas. We would fly with a 14th AS crew aboard an FY-94 C-17 (940065, also known as P-20). We would fly as wingman (call sign “Moose-12”) to a 17th AS C-17 (930600/P-16, the same bird we flew on the previous flight; this time their call sign was ”Moose-11”), each carrying a single airdrop pallet, which we would drop at Little Rock AFB. For this mission, along with 2nd Lieutenant Baker, we were joined by Lieutenant Glen Roberts, the deputy in the Charleston Public Affairs Office.

We all showed up on the flight line around noon, since this was to be a long day of flying and training. Once again, I buckled into one of the jump seats, and we took off around 1230 hours/12:30 PM. Once again, we headed out over the city and Atlantic Ocean, and then turned north to run up the coast. Today, though, was hardly the clear flying weather of the previous mission. Overnight, a pair of weather fronts had collided in a late-summer storm front that was extending from Texas to South Carolina. The air was filled with puffy clouds that looked like cathedrals in the sky. During our run up the coast, the flight crew engaged the Station Keeping Equipment (SKE) systems, which automatically tracked the P-16 ahead of us, and then directed the autopilot to fly in an exact 1,000-foot/305-meter trail position. This gear is one of the keys to a successful precision airdrop, and can even work among different kinds of aircraft (C-130, C-141, C-5, or C-17) within a formation. What made this even more impressive is that all of the SKE functions are controlled and displayed through the color MFDs on the control consoles.

By 1300 hours/1:00 PM, we had passed Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, and had turned inland towards North Field. This time, we would do a simulated airdrop as practice for the real thing a little later at Little Rock AFB. While Christa I stayed up front, John and Glen moved down to the cargo compartment to watch the loadmasters at work. They strapped in and watched as the loadmasters (there were two today) prepared for the simulated drops. Then, at 1340 hours/1:40 PM, as the flight crew lined up on the field, the loadmasters opened the rear ramp, and executed the training drop precisely on the planned target. Buttoning up the rear ramp, the crews turned the two aircraft of “Moose” Flight southeast towards Little Rock, Arkansas. During the two-and-a-half-hour run to Arkansas, John took the opportunity to get some sleep in one of the crew rest bunks behind the flight deck. Despite his large size (at 6’ 3”/1.9 meters tall, John is a big guy!), he looked terribly comfortable, and told me later that he slept well.

By 1600/4:00 PM, Little Rock AFB was in sight, and we headed down to do the training drop. This time, Christa joined Glen, John, and the two loadmasters in the rear of the aircraft as the pallet was readied for dropping. The flight crews dropped the two aircraft down to 500 feet/152 meters above ground, and the loadmasters opened the rear ramp for the drop. However, as the two aircraft reached the drop point, the ugly weather that we had been skirting finally reached out and touched us. Both aircraft passed through a small wind shear (downdraft) directly over the drop point, causing them to go slightly nose-down for a moment. This slowed the gravity-powered pallets’ travel down the ramp, and both went several hundred yards/meters long due to the delay. In spite of the deployment delay, both pallets dropped safely within the base perimeter, and were quickly recovered. Following the drop, both aircraft lined up in the Little Rock AFB pattern, and did a very-short-field landing on one of the runways. We then taxied over to the flight line, and shut down for a while.

As I mentioned in the previous chapter, Little Rock is one of the largest C-130 bases in the USAF, and the lines of Hercules transports seemed to go on for miles. In fact, there are almost eighty C-130s assigned here, to the four ASs of the 314th AW.

Along with the 314th, Little Rock AFB houses a special C-130 training unit, the USAF Combat Aerial Delivery School. This is a special post-graduate-level course designed to provide squadrons with pilots trained in the latest operational tactics and concepts for use with the Hercules. During our short stay at Little Rock, one of the C-17 crews gave the current class a familiarization briefing on the Globemaster, since the Hercules crews are going to see so much of the C-17 over the next few years. Then, after a quick run to the base Burger King for a snack, we headed back to our aircraft for the flight home.

Already, the weather was taking on an ominous look as we got aboard the P-20. The line of thunderstorms was now between us and Charleston, so at some point in our flight we would have to penetrate the spectacular-looking thunderheads. By 1930 hours/7:30 PM, we had launched out of Little Rock, and headed east towards home. As we settled onto our course at about 30,000 feet/9,144 meters altitude, the line of thunderheads was off to our right, about 50 miles/80 kilometers south of us. On the Guard channel of the radio, we could hear the sounds of numerous civilian airliners that were having a tough time penetrating the line of storms, and the spectacular cloud-to-cloud lightning was proof that we might have a bumpy ride ahead of us. The front was shifting to the north a bit now, and airline traffic all through the southeastern U.S. was being affected by the powerful storm cells.

As we approached the towering clouds, the flight crew switched on the weather/navigation radar in the nose of the aircraft, and began to look for a route through the storm. Finally, after deciding upon what looked like a “thin” spot in the storm line, we all tightened up our five-point restraint harnesses and hung on. Surprisingly, the ride was not as bad as had been expected. While rough, the turbulence was not nearly as bad as on some 737s that I have flown in over mountains. However, as we got into the heart of the storm, the clouds closed in, making it look like the inside of a cow outside. Suddenly, there appeared the intermittent flashing of lightning, making the cockpit look like the inside of a disco. Even more ominous was the appearance of Saint Elmo’s fire (a static electrical buildup on the airframe), causing a sickly blue-green glow on the cockpit window frames and edges of the wings. Then, just as suddenly as a lightning flash, we were out of the storm line less than 200 miles/322 kilometers out from Charleston AFB.

The heavy weather had also been bothering our friends from 1st Brigade up at Fort Bragg. Their pre-JRTC deployment training included a number of brigade-sized drops in preparation for the planned airborne entry into Fort Polk the following month. One of these had been scheduled for this evening, but a few things had gone wrong. When the storm line moved north into North Carolina, the brigade was already airborne in a group of 437th-supplied C-141B Starlifters and 23rd Wing C-130Es. The weather began to close in, and four of the big transports had to abort their drops and run for cover from the storm. The Starlifters, loaded with over 420 1st Brigade troopers (as well as one surprise guest), were diverted by the AMC tanker/airlift control center at Scott AFB, Illinois, back to Charleston AFB until the storms over North Carolina moved on. As it turned out, we were about to get a first-hand update on the brigade’s training activities, as well as an invitation.

As we got clearance from the air traffic controllers to line up for an approach, we heard about the divert of the four big transports with their load of paratroops. Since the skies over Charleston AFB were getting decidedly crowded, our crew called for a straight-in approach, and we arrived a few minutes after the Starlifters. After thanking the flight crew for a fine day (and night) of flying, we headed over to the hanger where the paratroops were being kept out of the weather. By now, the rain had passed, and the air was warm and humid after the passage of the storm line.

As we pulled up to the entrance, we saw the 437th AW commander, Brigadier General (he was an one-star selectee at the time) Steven Roser, as well as a tall and familiar figure standing outside. General Crocker, the commander of the 82nd Airborne Division! Stunned at seeing John and me, he made a comment about our “being everywhere,” and explained what had happened.

He had been flying with 1 st Brigade when his aircraft had been diverted (along with the other three), as the weather closed in. Now, they were waiting to get back aboard for a drop later that night. As he told the story, a truck pulled up with water and MREs for the 420 troopers who were trying to get some rest inside the brightly lit hanger.

After about fifteen minutes of chatting, General Roser got a call over his radio that the weather was clearing, and that it soon would be time to reload C-141s for the ride back up to Fort Bragg. Bidding us a good evening, General Crocker invited John and me to join 1st Brigade on their JRTC deployment the following month. Then and there as we watched the four Starlifters taxi out for takeoff, we decided that we would.

For now, though, our visit to the 437th had come to an end. Though it had not been possible to take the long trans-Pacific flight that had been planned, the trip to Charleston had been well worth the visit. In fact, we probably saw more of day-to-day C-17/C-141 operations than we would have otherwise. The 437th is the Air Force’s premier heavy-airlift wing, and they are doing a fantastic job of getting the C-17 into service. Keep watching the news; you’re going to see a lot of them!

Fort Polk: The Joint Readiness Training Center

The folks in central Louisiana call it “the low country,” a mass of slow-running rivers and swamplands, with alligators, wild pigs, and horses, as well as nearly every kind of poisonous snake that can be found on the North American continent. Whatever you choose to call it, Fort Polk is as far away from modern civilization as you are going to find in America today. Over 50 miles/80 kilometers from the nearest interstate highway, this World War II-era base is home to the finest infantry training center in the world: the U.S. Army Joint Readiness Training Center (JRTC).

Probably more than a few of you reading this are thinking, “Yeah, Clancy, this is just another force-on-force training center like the U.S. Army National Training Center (NTC) or the USAF Red/Green Flag exercises at Nellis AFB, Nevada, except that it’s for light infantry forces.” Well, actually you would be partially correct. Yes, the JRTC is a force-on-force kind of training center, and it is for infantry forces. However, there is a lot more to JRTC than just a glorified NTC, and that is the story we will tell you about here.

JRTC originally started up at Fort Chaffee, Arkansas, in 1987, and was moved to Fort Polk in 1993. Up until that time, Fort Polk had been home to the Cold War-era 5th Infantry Division (Mechanized). However, the end of that conflict and the reorganization/realignment of the Army resulted in the 5th moving to Fort Hood (where it was initially reflagged as the 2nd Armored Division, and later as the 4th Infantry Division [Mechanized]), and the decision to move JRTC from Fort Chaffee. Since that time, millions of dollars have been spent to turn JRTC into the most intense and realistic warfare training center in history. What makes JRTC different are the subtle nuances that are added to the training experience, as compared to NTC or Red/Green Flag. For example, NTC and the USAF “Flags” usually presume a high-intensity, “hot” war situation that has already broken out, without any real political context or rationale for the troops to understand. JRTC is capable of simulating not only “hot” war scenarios, but also low-intensity /insurgency conflicts, counterterrorism operations, and even peace and relief operations. The key to this has been an open-minded and practical approach to finding new ways to simulate equipment and experiences that soldiers in the real world would regularly encounter. These include things like:

• Opposing Forces (OPFOR): Almost all military training centers have some sort of OPFOR to enhance the training experience of the participating units. However, the JRTC OPFOR team is much more flexible and aggressive than those at other training centers. Drawn from the 1 st Battalion of the 509th PIR (1/509), they are able to simulate threat military units as large as a Soviet-style regiment, though usually they work in smaller formations. At any given time, the JRTC OPFOR personnel may be simulating terrorist or guerrilla groups, or regular army troops with particular national “bents” or biases.

• Non-Enemy Players: Most wars take place in locations that people (civilians) choose to live. However, very little has been done to simulate the effects of a civilian population or civilian agencies on the battlefield. At JRTC, the U.S. force will be faced with a variety of such folks, ranging from law enforcement personnel and relief agency workers, to the local gentry and a highly aggressive media pool. These are all real-world problems for battlefield commanders like Colonel Petreaus, and failure to deal with them during a JRTC deployment may result in not fully completing your assigned military missions. However, the lessons learned are almost immeasurable. The players are role-player civilians on the battlefield, employed by the local mission support contractor, and are quite good at their jobs.

• Casualties: There is a highly realistic depiction of casualty assessment, combined with real-world casualty evacuation and replacement procedures. In short, if you have personnel “wounded” or “killed” at JRTC, then you will have to MEDEVAC and treat them as you would a real casualty. The payoff for doing this right is that you will quickly get the wounded soldier back through the replacement system. One note: Everyone on the battlefield, except for members of the O/C team, is wired with the same kind of Multiple Integrated Laser Engagement System (MILES) scoring system, including the noncombatant role players. God help you if your forces hurt or kill one of those!

• Realism: One of the primary complaints about the NTC and other military training centers is that the situations are “sterile” or “canned,” more like unreal or “laboratory” exercises. Well, at JRTC, every single deployment is different, and is based upon a lot of input from the command staff of the unit being trained. In addition, the JRTC staff like to throw in little “chunks” of realistic detail, just to keep things lively and interesting. For example, the size of a particular threat force will be what drives the objectives of the friendly forces. But in the event of a friendly force unit getting too far ahead of their OPFOR opponents, plan on seeing the exercise observer/controller (O/C) staff ramp up the threat level or size of the OPFOR the friendly unit is facing. Finally, wherever possible, the O/C and OPFOR personnel try to salt the battlefield with examples of real-world threats and capabilities, just to keep everyone on their toes. For example, there is a small squadron of actual Russian-built aircraft for use in JRTC exercises, including an AN-2 Colt biplane, as well as an Mi-17 Hip transport and an Mi-24 Hind attack helicopter. You have to see the looks on an Avenger gunner the first time he stares down a Hind on an attack run!

• Mine Warfare: Despite their generally bad reputation these days, nobody is about to stop using land mines, including the U.S. military. Since mines are a primary cause of infantry wounds, mine deployment, clearing, and casualty assessment are closely modeled at JRTC.

• Friction Elements: Once upon a time, Count Von Clausewitz, the great Prussian military mind, defined “friction” elements as things that keep you from carrying out assigned tasks or achieving objectives. In the real world, these are things like blown tires, forgotten equipment, and lost messages. At JRTC, though, the exercise control staff has a diabolical list of events that are carefully designed to stress and test the players’ units and staff to the maximum degree possible. Things like terrorists throwing satchel charges and detonating truck bombs at checkpoints and other critical locations. Or perhaps the local civilian population turning their “hearts and minds” over to the enemy, because of a poor “Community Relations” policy towards the non-combatant role players.

All of these elements are combined with the most sophisticated telemetry and assessment system in the world to make the Fort Polk/JRTC range complete the finest schoolhouse in the world.

The schoolmaster (and commanding general) of this massive enterprise is Major General Michael Sherfield. Himself a career paratrooper, Sherfield has managed to fight the budget battles that have allowed the Fort Polk/JRTC facility to grow and conduct training in areas that previously would have been thoroughly impossible. Some of these include:

• Live Fire Training Range: To the north of the main force-on-force training range at Fort Polk is an all new live-fire training complex. Here, deployed infantry can use virtually every kind of weapon in their arsenal from M16s to 155mm field howitzer firing live high-explosive shells! This is far different from the automated shooting gallery that is the NTC live-fire range. JRTC can simulate almost any kind of open-field combat that the O/C teams can imagine.

• Military Operations on Urbanized Terrain (MOUT) Training Facility: Several years ago, there was a large-scale firefight in Mogadishu between U.S. Rangers and the militia army of the late General Aidid. Frankly, the results stank from our point of view. Over ninety Americans were wounded or killed, along with the loss of two UH-60 Blackhawk helicopters. To help better prepare U.S. Forces for such combat, the JRTC has built a brand-new, $70-million MOUT facility that allows for both force-on-force as well as live-fire training in an urban setting. Resembling a small town, the MOUT facility uses state-of-the-art visual effects (some borrowed from Hollywood) to provide an impressive array of visual and aural feedback for the trainees. Perhaps the most impressive is that when a particular building (being used as an OPFOR armory) gets hit by certain types of munitions (like rockets or grenades), the whole building can be set to explode on command! The recognized importance of providing extensive training for infantrymen in urban settings was evidenced by the construction of a multi-million-dollar complex made up of an airfield take-down facility, a military compound, and an urban city at the JRTC. In honor of two brave and valiant infantrymen who lost their lives in Mogadishu, Somalia, the JRTC staff named the main city complex after SFC Randall D. Shughart and MSG Gary I. Gordon.

Let me tell you, this place is impressive! Beyond these things, JRTC generally does resemble the NTC in that units rotate in for several weeks at a time for the large force-on-force phase of training, as well as a week or so of preliminary live-fire training. Normally, the main deployment lasts eleven days from start to finish, with several days on both ends set aside for planning, debriefing, cleaning up the training area or “box,” and making sure that everything out in the bottomlands is safe for the critters![54]

Normally, the Army tries to get every light infantry brigade in service through a JRTC rotation every eighteen months. In 1996 JRTC rotation, the 1st Brigade would actually conduct its deployment in two phases. The first, which would begin in early October, would have several companies going in for an extensive regimen of live-fire training. Then, starting on October 12th, 1996, the other two battalions of the brigade would drop into the force-on-force exercise area, following a nonstop deployment flight from Fort Bragg. All told, nearly 1,300 paratroops of the Devil Brigade would drop in a mass twilight jump, just before dark on the 12th. However, the O/C team and the OPFOR had a few surprises in store for Colonel Petreaus and his troopers. These folks have a special place in their hearts for airborne units, and they had heard about the brigade’s exploits in Royal Dragon. By any standard, it was going to be a challenging couple of weeks for Devil-6 and his troopers.

JRTC Live-Fire Area, Friday, October 11th, 1996

John Gresham and I decided to go down a little early to look over the live-fire training that the platoon from 1/504 was going through. We arrived in time to see the last two days of their training. You need to know that U.S. infantry likes to work at night whenever possible. The night darkness is like a stealthy cloak for them, reducing casualties and making life difficult for enemy units that don’t have the kind of third-generation night-vision goggles (NVGs) that U.S. forces are deployed with. When equipped with systems like the PVS-7B NVGs, the PAQ-4C target designator, and the other night systems that I described in the fourth chapter, our troopers are easily superior to any infantry in the world. However, all the technology in the world won’t keep you from taking casualties if you fail to apply proper infantry tactics and principles to your operations. So the live-fire operations at JRTC are designed to teach the benefits of such tactics and principles, and of keeping national casualties down (and, of course, the players safe!).

The operation scheduled for this day had actually begun the night before at about 0700 hours/7:00 AM. In this particular scenario, the infantry platoon from the 1/504 was scheduled to assault a simulated enemy trench/bunker complex at 0400/4:00 AM.

The complex, which is wired with a variety of pyrotechnic devices and pop-up/out targets, is designed to resemble the ones used by Iraq in 1991. Roughly triangular in shape, it has firing bunkers at the corners and along the trench lines, and multiple strands of defensive wire and simulated minefields defending it. Set in a dense wooded area of the Fort Polk range, this is an obstacle designed to inflict the maximum of casualties (simulated, of course!) on the assaulting infantry unit. This morning’s live-fire problem involved a long (roughly 2,000-yard/meter) hike through total darkness (no moon!), over broken terrain, then an assault on the strong point from two directions. When the platoon’s fire had reduced the strong point enough, an engineer squad would blast an opening through the minefield and wire barricades with a long string of bangalore torpedo demolitions. These are sections of metal pipe packed with explosives that can be clamped together, shoved under an obstacle or barricade, and then detonated to blow open a lane for assault troops to enter safely.

At 0330/3:30 AM, John and I arrived at the departure site in the care of Ms. Paula Schlag, the Fort Polk media relations officer assigned to help us during the coming deployment. Also escorting us would be Lieutenant Colonel Walt Wilson and Captain Mike Dominqus of the JRTC Live-Fire Division. After each of us had donned a Kevlar helmet and flak jacket (for safety, as you will see!), we fell into line behind the command section of the company, and began to grope our way forward to the assault site. This was tougher than it sounds, because there was almost no light to see the person or ground in front of us, and the terrain was quite rough. Also, there were other distractions, like two batteries of M119 105mm and M198 155mm howitzers firing live HE rounds just a few hundred yards/meters in front of us. Occasionally, an illumination round would be fired, burning slowly with an eerie light from a parachute.

By 0600 hours/6:00 AM, the platoon (with Paula, John, and myself, and our escorting officers in tow) had reached the line of departure, about 100 yards/meters from the simulated bunker complex. By this time, the artillery barrage on the objective had stopped, and the assault was just minutes away. When everyone was under cover, the left and right flank of the assault opened fire on the bunker/trench complex. As soon as the troopers opened fire, the O/Cs turned on the firing simulators in the bunker complex, and there followed a scene of absolute pandemonium. For about ten minutes, the 82nd troopers laid down a withering fire on the corner bunkers, with M203 grenade launchers firing illumination rounds to keep the view of the complex clear for everyone.

Suddenly, we were all ordered facedown into a ditch, and there followed a loud “shoosh,” then a loud bang. This was a live AT-4 antitank rocket being fired into one of the bunkers. Several minutes later, a second rocket was fired from the other flank.

While all this was going on, their squad of combat engineers was placing their bangalore torpedoes under the wire. Once again, we were told to “Get Down!” and this time the whole earth rumbled and shook. The bangalores had blown open a 10-foot/3-meter-wide gap in the mines and wire, and now the assault could proceed. We could see and hear the assault troops heading up into the complex, since by this time the first pink glow of dawn was breaking. All through the trench complex, troopers were carefully clearing the ditches, shooting pop-up/out targets wherever they appeared. In less than eighteen minutes it was over, and the O/Cs had called “Cease fire” to all involved. It took a few more minutes to verify that all the weapons had been “safed” before we could go up and look over the remains of the complex.

The quiet following a “battle” like we had just seen is a bizarre sensation, almost unwelcome in its emptiness. Nevertheless, we eagerly climbed though the Bangalore breach, and began to look around. The artillery had done an impressive job, caving in several trenches and damaging the bunkers. Everywhere, razor-sharp shrapnel marked the deadly remains of the barrage. Best of all, when the assault troops had gone in, they had suffered only six estimated casualties, only two of which were KIA.[55] Now, while this may not sound great, it actually is an excellent measure of the performance of the company. They had, in short, taken a heavily fortified position with maximum force and minimum casualties.

The O/Cs assessed this as something of a textbook performance (“standard setting,” in their words), though not all such exercises go quite so well. The following morning, during a simulated road march with a logistics convoy, the commander of the airborne escort, mounted in Hummers, seemed to have forgotten almost everything that he had been taught about road-march security. Vehicles hit mines regularly, and a truck bomb that had not been looked at was responsible for some valuable lessons being learned… the kind that can save lives! With this last live-fire exercise, the activity around Fort Polk rapidly went forward to get ready for the drop of 1st Brigade the following evening. As for John and me, we got some sleep before what was going to be a couple of long days.

JRTC/Fort Polk, Saturday, October 12th, 1996

The drop of the 1 st Brigade was scheduled for 1815 hours/6:15 PM that evening, so we had some time to get briefed on the coming scenario. For this rotation, known as JRTC 97-1 (this was the first JRTC operation of FY- 97), the first five days would be devoted to what was called the “low intensity” phase with the initial action directed mostly against guerrilla forces; then the scenario would transition to a “hot war” with the brigade fighting against a more powerful and numerous motorized and armored force from a neighboring foreign country. The basic scenario had a friendly host nation, suffering from a guerrilla insurgency, asking for U.S. forces to pacify its territory. Later, the neighbor state sponsoring the insurgency would actively invade the host nation, causing a general outbreak of war. We were briefed on the specifics of the scenario by the O/C staff in what is known as the “1600 Briefing Room,” after the time of the daily situation briefing that is held in the headquarters building. Following the briefing, John and I were driven out to the exercise area in a Hummer by Major Jim Beinkemper, the head of the Fort Polk Public Affairs office. He took us east along what is known as Artillery Road, out to the drop zone and dirt airstrip where the brigade would arrive in about an hour. At the southern end there is a small control tower and fire station, where we would watch the drop.

Even as we parked our HMMWV, we could feel the eyes of men upon us. These were OPFOR forces, playing the part of the local “liberation front” of insurgency forces. The guerrillas were easily recognizable from their floppy “boonie” hats, which they are required to wear at all times. 1st Brigade was required to wear their Kevlar “Fritz” helmets at all times, and O/Cs and other non-combatants had to wear camouflaged patrol caps. Since we had a few minutes, we took the time to talk with some of the OPFOR guerrillas. They were cocky and proud, partially because they were going to be fighting on their “home” base, where they know all the hills and valleys, and their opponents would be at a serious disadvantage. Excusing ourselves, we headed up the hill to the control tower, where General Sherfield and his staff were already standing by, as he normally does to oversee and observe airborne operations. Airborne operations are a risky venture, as shown during the previous day when the body of a 82nd Airborne trooper had been discovered, dead after a failure of his parachute and impact with the ground. The paratrooper had been part of the Division long-range surveillance detachment dropped early to monitor OPFOR intentions. With this hideous reminder of how dangerous the profession can be, everyone went back to work, praying that all went well with this next jump.

These thoughts were somewhat muted by the gorgeous weather and visibility that had fallen upon the low country this October. Normally a terrible place with high temperatures and humidity, as well as killer insects and reptiles, Fort Polk was putting on its best for the troopers of the 1st Brigade.

Precisely at 1815 hours/6:15 PM, we heard the sound of C-141s in the distance, and then the transports were upon us. Eleven C-141Bs from the 437th at Charleston AFB, carrying almost 1250 troopers. The transports were lined up in formations of three (except for the last one), staggered to reduce the chances of a midair with a jumper. First out the door of the lead aircraft was General Crocker, followed by the Division Command Sergeant Major (CSM), Steve England. Right after them came Colonel Petraeus and his new CSM, David Henderson, who had replaced Vince Meyers after Royal Dragon. The air seemed full of parachutes and soldiers and the transport stream needed several runs to finish unloading the entire brigade. In the end, the jump went almost perfectly, with only a few minor back and leg injuries in the dimming twilight. In less than half an hour, the brigade was on the ground and moving out.

As soon as the first troopers hit the ground, LGOPs began to form and move off towards their objectives. Several groups of paratroops headed in our direction, beginning to engage the guerrillas that we had chatted with a few minutes earlier. Simulated firefights broke out (using blank ammunition and the laser-activated MILES gear). Things began to get exciting.

At the major’s suggestion, we left the area to those who needed the training and retired to our quarters back at Fort Polk. The next morning, though, we were out early to visit Devil-6 and his headquarters unit. Unfortunately, when we found them, it turned out that the Brigade Tactical Operations Center (TOC) had never been set up the previous night. The original site selected for the TOC had turned out to be full of guerrillas, and the headquarters would be sited in a new place later in the day. This meant that the first day’s fight would have to be directed out of the mobile TOC (loaded into Hummers), which was much less efficient. The brigade would pay for this failure to set up later, but for now, things seemed to be going well. C-130s were flying supplies into the small dirt airstrip, and the various units were already digging in with the assistance of the engineering company and their earth-moving equipment. Within twenty-four hours, the brigade command posts, artillery, and logistical sites would be dug in deep. They would need to be, because the guerrillas were getting nasty.

By dawn of the D-Day+2 (Monday, the 14th of October), the units in the DZ were taking intermittent fire from a handful of pesky guerrilla mobile mortar teams. In addition, man-portable surface-to-air missile (SAM) teams were beginning to get shots at some of the Brigade’s helicopter force. Therefore, Colonel Petraeus ordered those teams hunted down and killed by the brigade’s force of OH-58D Kiowa Warriors and the howitzers firing in a counterbattery mode against mortar teams. By the fourth day of the operation, they had done a pretty good job, having killed something like two thirds of the enemy weapons teams. However, not all was well.

The simulated casualties had been heavy during the initial phases of the operation, and the brigade was late in getting the MEDEVAC/treatment /replacement cycle started. Part of the reason for this was the delay in setting up the TOC until D-Day+1. The result was the brigade’s strength was dropping, and would bottom out around D-Day+5 at about 70 percent of drop strength. From there, they would slowly build back up, this vital lesson learned the hard way. Other lessons would be learned as well.

Some of these were learned by folks like Major Rob Baker, the Brigade’s Operations Officer (S-3). Unusually a very sharp officer, he failed to follow the advice of CSM Henderson one day while visiting the various battalion TOCs, and very nearly became a casualty when he left his security detail behind. A sniper started popping off at him, and he wound up scampering off to safety, a vital lesson about balancing physical courage with his responsibilities to the Brigade fully impressed upon him.

Another young officer got a lesson in humility on the night of D-Day+2. That evening, John and I were with Major Beinkemper, sitting in on an evening briefing by the staff in the Brigade TOC. At the precise moment that the young intelligence officer (S-2) announced the apparent demise of most of the enemy mortar teams, several contractor support personnel on all-terrain vehicles pulled up and dumped nine fire markers (mortar-shell simulators) around the TOC. As everyone ran for the cover of the force protection trenches, and the brigade staff tried to get the section of 155mm guns to fire onto the apparent position of the mortar team, you could see Colonel Petraeus smiling at everyone in the TOC and shouting, “No pressure, people!” It was hard not to smirk at the discomfort of the young officer. But such is the way that young officers grow and learn.

JRTC/Fort Polk, Sunday, October 16th, 1996

By D-Day+5, the brigade had achieved all of its planned objectives for the “low intensity” phase of the deployment. Over the past several days, the brigade had enlarged its airhead, gotten caught up on MEDEVAC and casualty replacement, and had finally opened up a secure road route to the west where the brigade aviation element was based, close to the main base at Fort Polk. This had been a bit sticky, because the single company assigned to protect the aircraft and their vulnerable Forward Arming and Refueling Point (FARP) had nearly been destroyed by aggressive patrolling by the rebel forces. In addition, there had been several terrorist incidents, the worst of these being an attack by enemy sappers on the brigade maintenance center near the DZ. For the next few days, maintenance on vehicles and other equipment would be heavily restricted as the personnel went through the replacement system and the equipment was repaired.

Other attacks at JRTC can be damaging as well. They range from emplacing surprise minefields on roads, to the most wild of the civilian role-players, Grandma “Truck Bomb.” This is an elderly civilian contractor employee who plays the wife of the mayor in one of the civilian settlements around the DZ. What she does is make friends with troopers at a particular roadblock or other important security checkpoint, and bring them snacks and cookies for several days. Then, when she sees them getting complacent, she drives up in a truck, walks away, and remotely detonates a simulated truck bomb which will simulate killing everyone within a large area! While this may sound sick, remember some of the assassinations and bombings of the last fifteen years or so, and ask yourself if a granny truck bomber is possible or not.

But now the time had come to transition to the “hot war” phase of the deployment, where the regular forces of a neighboring nation to the south and east were moving into the territory of the host nation for an invasion. The forces, built around a simulated Soviet-style motorized rifle regiment (much like the ones in use at the NTC), are supposed to smash into the lightly armed U.S. infantry units and try to push them off their objectives. Colonel Petreaus had other ideas, though. He is a big believer in winning the intelligence/counterintelligence battle before the big fight develops, and he was aggressively patrolling with his troopers to find the route of the enemy advance, due for the morning of D-Day+8 (October 19th).

That night, his patrols destroyed many of the enemy reconnaissance units, and had established the likely route of the enemy attack. He quickly put his two infantry battalions side by side along the route, laid a vicious string of mines and barricades, and chopped the enemy regiment to pieces with artillery and Hellfire missiles from the OH-58Ds, lending to a successful defense of their positions.

This was a stunning victory for 1st Brigade, and it set the OPFOR back on their heels a bit. They did ramp up the threat level a bit with more rebel activity, and even a chemical weapons attack on one of the forward infantry companies, but Devil-6 and his staff were getting stronger now, and their agility on the battlefield was starting to show.

JRTC/Fort Polk, Friday, October 18th, 1996

With their victory in the defensive fight, it was time for the 1st Brigade to set up for their final big fight of the deployment: the force-on-force battle for the Shughart-Gordon MOUT facility. As any good infantry leader will tell you, there is no faster way to suffer heavy casualties than to get into a slow urban assault. Nevertheless, Shughart-Gordon was one of the primary objectives that the brigade had to take, so Colonel Petraeus decided to find an indirect route to the objective. Most JRTC participants move to Shughart-Gordon via the east-west Artillery Road that runs from the main base at Fort Polk out to the DZ/airfield in the east. To this end, “Devil-1” decided to grease the wheels of the Shughart-Gordon assault with an indirect approach. To do this, he sent a “pinning” force of M551 Sheridans (the division still had these in late 1996) and Hummers loaded with infantry along the Artillery Road in front of Shughart-Gordon, to draw the attention of the OPFOR blocking force in front of the MOUT site. Then, once he knew that the OPFOR troops were solidly involved with the diversionary force, he force-marched the majority of his force in a wide arc to the south, around the old artillery impact zone that lies in the middle of the range area. Most folks don’t use this area, but Petraeus had checked with the O/Cs and they had ruled the movement legal. So, on the night of the 19th (D-Day+9), the bulk of the brigade moved to a position behind Shughart-Gordon to the northwest of the MOUT site. Then, putting four infantry companies on line together, they just rolled forward over the small security force that the OPFOR had left in the complex. His men just walked in, taking over like a “Big Dog” with a minimum of casualties. Suddenly, the game was all but over. There would be several other terrorist bombings, including a truck bombing of the FARP after it was moved to the north end of the DZ. However, only a couple of UH-60L Blackhawks were lost, and the rest were able to hold the load.

To try and put some further pressure on 1st Brigade, the O/Cs and OPFOR forces counterattacked, and staged a number of air attacks with the Russian attack helicopters as well as F-16s used to simulate Soviet Su- 22 Fitter fighter bombers. However, the brigade’s Avenger and MANPAD SAM systems gave as good as they got, and the attacks generally were blunted. By the time the “ENDEX Time” (End of Exercise signal) message was sent on D-Day+11 (October 23rd), the brigade had achieved virtually all of its pre-deployment objectives.

This is not to say that everything went perfectly. On the contrary, the delay in the setup of the Brigade TOC, the problems with the MEDEVAC system, and the failure to clear the Artillery Road out for the FARP early in the exercise were judged to have been things that required work. But in general, the troopers had learned a lot, and given the perfect October weather, it had been a glorious stay in the “Sportsman’s Paradise.” Oddly, the weather turned ugly and rainy after the ENDEX Time, when the brigade was policing up the battlefield (retrieving defensive wire and filling in excavations). Once this was done, the brigade was loaded up on buses for the twenty-four-hour ride back to Fort Bragg and home. Though JRTC deployments are not supposed to be about “winning” and “losing,” Colonel Petreaus and his 1st Brigade had clearly done well. Not perfectly, but exceptionally by JRTC standards. By the time they arrived home, they were tired but happy. They were now ready to go back onto DRB-1 alert status, which occurred on November 1st, 1996.

Good-to-Go: DRB-1 (November 1st to December 13th, 1996)

Following the end of JRTC 97-1, the brigade finished its preparations to take over as the DRB-1 Brigade. Despite having all three battalions at his disposal this time, Colonel Petraeus decided again to have only two of the three on DRF-1 status during the coming alert period. As planned, the 3/504 would take the alert spot for the first three weeks (November 1st to 22nd), and then 1/504, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Leo Brooks and Sergeant Major Curtis Walker, would go DRF for the final three weeks (November 22nd to December 13th) of the rotation. In reserve would be2/504, acting as the “push” battalion for the other two, should a deployment be needed. Fortunately, no such contingency arose.

However, the XVIII Airborne Corps leadership keeps a few surprises in their bag for the units on DRB-1 alert, and the 1st Brigade was about to be tested again. The test is known as an Emergency Deployment Readiness Exercise (EDRE), and these are some of the best evaluations of just how ready a unit is to go off to war should it be required. In this case, the EDRE began on December 3rd, 1996, when the alert order went out to the brigade (the 3/504 had the DRF-1 duty at this time). This was run exactly like a real emergency deployment (in fact, the troopers initially had no idea if it was real or an exercise), complete with a two-hour recall deadline and lock-down of the DRF in the CMA prior to heading over to the Green Ramp at Pope AFB. Less than eighteen hours after the alert was issued, the 3/504, along with the brigade headquarters, a special team of specialists from the 82nd, jumped into a simulated evacuation situation at 0210 hours/2:10 AM on December 4th at the Avon Park Airfield in Florida. Once on the ground, the special team from the division conducted a simulated Non-Combatant Evacuation Operation (NEO), to remove a number of simulated U.S. citizens from a crisis. In a little over twenty-four hours, the operation was finished, and the entire DRF re-embarked and flew back on December 6th. Once there, the force again jumped at night from their transports, having done so twice in just three days. Overall, it was an outstanding operation that showed just how sharp a combat edge Colonel Petraeus had given the 1st Brigade. By the time that the 1st Brigade handed off the DRB-1 alert status on Friday, the 13th of December, 1996, they were as taut and combat ready as they ever had been.

Fort Bragg, Wednesday, November 27th, 1996

There was one other important event in the eighteen-week cycle of the division, and a happy one at that. Shortly after we had seen General Crocker on the ramp at Charleston AFB, the word came down that he was about to be promoted to lieutenant general, and moved up to the command of a corps. Thus it came to be that the day before Thanksgiving, the newly frocked General Crocker and his replacement, Major General Joseph K. Kellogg, Jr., stood together in the time-honored way as the baton of responsibility for America’s only airborne division was handed on to a new leader. For George Crocker, this day meant a third star and command of the U.S. I Corps out at Fort Lewis, Washington. However, it was hard to imagine that tough man who embodies everything that makes the airborne community great could hand his command over without a twinge of emotion. But he was giving the job to another skilled paratrooper. In fact, to look at General Kellogg’s biography is to see the standard path for 82nd Airborne Division commanders. He is the latest in a long line of All-American commanders who have commanded America’s best-known combat unit. On the walls of his headquarters are names like Ridgway, Gavin, Stiner, and now George Crocker. Each of these men left their own mark on the 82nd, and it remains to be seen what his will be. Whatever he does accomplish in the next two years of his tour, you can bet that he too will keep up the tradition of America’s Honor Guard.