Duty First www.1id.army.mil Duty First www.1id.army.mil 1

The Big Red One Creed

TEAMWORK is the foundation of the Big Red One. I shall

never fail my team, for I maintain the standard. My conduct and 

self-discipline sets the example for others to follow.

HONOR is what I stand for-an American Soldier on duty

for my country. My loyality is intense. I display care for

my fellow Soldiers and my chain-of-command through courage,

respect, integrity and compassion.

I have learned to ENDURE, to thrive in adversity. 

The harsh reality of combat gives me the enthusiam for

realistic training. I am physically and mentally strong to

meet the demanding situations my unit encounters.

We are one in the Big Red One. Our BROTHERHOOD

gives us strength to fight on to any objective and accomplish the

mission as our veterans have done before us. I live the legacy of

my division.

READINESS is my priority. To be ready for any mission,

anytime, anywhere. My business is first-class training and living

high standards of care and equipment, weaponry and tactical

and technical competence.

My ORGANIZATION is my strength. The BRO is bigger 

than any one individual. It gives me purpose, self-confidence, 

competitive spirit, intestinal fortitude and the desire to fight 

with all my heart.

Command

Danger 6........3 

Danger 7........4

 

Features

 Helping Military Families...... 5

 ARFORGEN........7

 BRO History - Vietnam......13

Big Red One Reunion .....18

 Community Covenant ..... 21

 Hiring Heroes.....25

Brigades

1ID at War....... 7

 1st BDE .....9

2nd HBCT..... 16

 1st SB...........17

 3rd IBCT..... 18

3rd ESC..... 19

 1st CAB..... 20

2

1st Infantry Division Commander

Brig. Gen. Perry Wiggins

1st Infantry Division CSM

Command Sgt. Maj. James 

Champagne

1st Infantry Division PAO 

Maj. Nathan Bond

Editor

Gary Skidmore

Assistant Editor

Anna Staatz

Illustrator

Tammy Dinger

October 2008 www.1id.army.mil

No Mission too Difficult. No Sacrifice too Great. contents

The Duty First is an unofficial 

publication produced under 

the provisions of AR 360-1, 

published by Soldiers of the 

1st Infantry Division. Editorial 

views and opinions expressed 

are not necessarily those of the 

Department of Defense, the Army 

or the 1st Infantry Division. All 

photos are Army photos unless 

otherwise noted. Circulation is 

6,000 per issue, printed monthly. 

Story and photos submissions are 

welcome and should be sent to: 

1st Infantry Division

Public Affairs Office 

ATTN: Editor 

Bldg. 580

RM 317

Fort Riley, Kan. 66442. 

Telephone number

COM 785-239-8857 

 DSN 785-856-2253 

or visit Duty First online at 

www.1id.army.mil.

Duty First!

4th IBCT.....23
3 Duty First www.1id.army.mil Duty First www.1id.army.mil

Commanding General Danger 6

 SABER...

Brig. Gen. Perry Wiggins

Throughout our nation’s history and to the present day, the 

United States military has repeatedly ranked first as the most 

respected institution in American society. This respect has 

been earned by generations of Soldiers and upheld by you, the 

Soldiers of the Big Red One. But when it comes to drinking and 

driving, we have not been living up to that standard. Recently, 

we’ve had a spike to an already alarming number of DUI’s by 

soldiers of the Big Red One. This is unacceptable.

How can a Soldier raise his or her right hand and volunteer, 

courageously serve in combat overseas, 

only to come back and after a few 

drinks strap on a 5,000 lb bullet in the 

form of an automobile and endanger 

the very citizenry he or she has sworn 

to defend? This dangerous behavior 

– so contradictory to our sworn duty 

– is inexcusable, irresponsible, and 

dangerous. You have seen the wrecked 

vehicles and screen displays identifying 

units with DUIs at the gates; the purpose 

of this is to demonstrate that there are 

dire consequences to such behavior. But 

The Big Red One also needs to recognize 

those Soldiers and units doing the right 

thing, day in and day out, which is why 

I am taking this opportunity to unveil the 

Division’s SABER program. We will be 

implementing SABER (Sober Armies 

Bravely Expedite Readiness) programs 

across the Division.

SABER is an incentive rewards program designed to reward 

companies or troops for adhering to ASAP (Army Substance 

Abuse Program) regulations and ultimately reduce the number 

of alcohol and drug related incidents across the division. Striving 

for the SABER and SABER streamers will take a team effort; 

responsible decisions and safe behavior by every Soldier in the 

unit – especially when they drink! 

Units will be required to meet urinalysis testing requirements 

with no rejections and not have any alcohol or drug-related MP 

blotter incidents during a quarter. Each 

Soldier will also have to complete one 

hour of prevention training each quarter. 

There are some additional requirements 

that each company/troop will have to 

meet, but those who are successful will 

receive a red SABER Streamer from 

me during a formal quarterly awards 

ceremony.

Twice each year, quarterly winners 

will compete for the ultimate prize: ‘The 

SABER cavalry sword. The company 

or troop to achieve this honor will 

be recognized in a formal ceremony, 

where I will present the SABER, a gold 

SABER streamer for the colors, coins 

for the commander and first sergeant, 

t-shirts to demonstrate your pride, and 

a well earned three-day weekend for all 

Soldiers! The unit will also be featured 

in the Post newspaper. The unit will then 

have to compete again, to reclaim or 

relinquish the SABER to another unit 

in the next ceremony! 

Danger 7 and I intend to reverse 

this shameful trend, but we need your 

help! While there will still be dire 

consequences for those who choose 

to drink and drive, we want to reward 

our Big Red One Soldiers who hold 

themselves – and their unit – to a 

higher standard. These are the types of 

Soldiers who live our motto.

No Mission too Difficult. 

No Sacrifice too Great. 

Duty First!

4

The Army has made great strides in how it selects and 

trains transition teams of combat advisers destined for Iraq 

and Afghanistan. 

The requirement for combat advisers is going to be a 

lasting need. This is not just the United 

States military exit strategy both in Iraq 

and Afghanistan but is likely to remain an 

enduring requirement for the wars of the 

21st century.

The most important contribution we as 

Soldiers of the 1st Infantry Division can 

make to the war will not be the fighting we 

do ourselves but teaching our allies to fight 

and defend themselves and their people, 

much like transition teams were designed 

to do. When you as members of the BRO 

team deploy, focus on protecting the people 

you are there to defend. Focus on respect 

for these people. 

History has proven that it is almost 

impossible for an outside power to defeat 

an insurgency and that’s what we’re 

fighting. What an outside power can do, 

however is enable local forces to defeat 

the local insurgency. You have the ability 

to dramatically increase the effectiveness, 

responsiveness and also the respect for law and respect for 

human rights of the national security forces you will work 

with. You can do this by respecting them, mentoring them, 

helping them become better Soldiers and police officers, and 

by setting a good example for them to follow.

It’s been said that a squad of Soldiers can not win the war, 

but that same squad can certainly lose it or in the case of Abu 

Ghrib, turn public opinion against it. 

How many insurgents did that incident create? How many 

Soldiers were wounded or killed as a result of that small group 

of Soldiers doing what they did?

NCOs are the role models to Soldiers and as such should set 

the example when it comes time to deal with counterinsurgency. 

We won’t win this war by killing bad guys but by helping the 

good guys overcome the enormous difficulties they face on a 

day to day basis. Those difficulties are huge. 

The challenges that spur the growth of terror in

insurgencies are poor government, lack of education, lack of 

hope, poor economic opportunity and religious radicalism. 

These pillars of despair are not necessarily military problems 

but to defeat those elements, we need to be aware and sensitive 

to them. Thus, it is essential to use force as 

carefully and with as much discrimination 

as possible. 

Always consider the long-term effects 

of operations in a counterinsurgency 

environment. Killing an insurgent today 

may be satisfying, but if in doing so you 

convince all the members of his clan to fight 

you to the death, you’ve actually taken three 

steps backwards.

Counterinsurgency is often described 

as a mix of offensive, defensive and 

stability operations. We as members of 

the 1st Infantry Division must adapt and 

become nation builders, we must provide 

humanitarian assistance and build trust 

with the local population. Everything we 

do, every action we make is viewed by the 

local population and judged. How you are 

judged while you’re deployed could save 

someone’s life in the future.

We have to understand the nature of the 

war we are fighting and also understand the drivers of behavior 

in the population. Unemployment in many areas approaches 

70 percent and many of the insurgents we’re fighting have to 

choose between their family starving to death or setting an 

improvised explosive device for money to buy food, so they set 

an IED. They, like us, try to take care of their family. That basic 

loyalty would come first.

It is important to understand the culture and not just have 

cultural awareness, you need to understand how different 

people think and what they value. Only then, by knowing the 

people of Iraq and Afghanistan, can you as leaders in the 1st 

Infantry Division, set the stage for a safer deployment.

Now...get after it!

Duty First!

Command Sergeant Major Danger 7

Division Command Sgt. Maj. James Champagne

Counterinsurgency!
Duty First www.1id.army.mil Duty First www.1id.army.mil

U.S. ARMY

ARMY FRG

5

By Anna Staatz

Duty First! Magazine

When it comes to Families, information is key, Col. Ricky 

Gibbs, 1st Infantry Division Chief of Staff, told a collection 

of Illinois organizations at a conference Aug 8. and 9 in Lilse, 

Ill.

About 45 military and 

community organizations 

participated in the conference, 

aimed at finding ways to 

address the needs of military 

Families before, during and 

after deployments.

Gibbs, guest speaker at the 

conference, told attendees that 

spouses were often the last 

to ask for help, which made 

using all available information 

channels a priority in reaching 

them.

“It’s an information warfare 

campaign that you have to wage 

to make sure these wonderful 

ladies and men get the word,” 

Gibbs said. “Because they 

won’t call you until they really 

need help. And they may not 

even call you then. You have to 

keep flooding them.”

Gibbs outlined his recent 

command of the 4th Brigade 

Combat Team, 1st Inf. Div. The 

brigade was originally slated to 

stand up and train military transition teams, but had its mission 

changed to an Iraq deployment. Once they learned the brigade 

would deploy, Gibbs said the initial mission was to provide 

security to convoys. However, when he arrived in Kuwait, he 

was sent straight to Baghdad, where he was told the brigade 

would assume responsibility of the Rashid District.

“We had the toughest spot in Baghdad,” Gibbs said. “I lost 

five Soldiers in the first week.”

The Families of Soldiers in the brigade faced several 

challenges, Gibbs said. The unit was stood up from scratch, so 

information networks and family readiness groups also had to 

be built from the ground up.

“Most organizations in the Army, the commander changes 

or a Soldier moves and goes to an organization that pretty much 

has all those systems in place,” Gibbs said. “We built that FRG 

from scratch.”

The second challenge 

was the conflicting 

information on whether 

the brigade would deploy. 

With the initial training 

mission, many Families 

chose to focus on things at 

home and not worry about 

attending FRG meetings.

“In the beginning, it 

was ‘we’re okay, we’re 

not deploying,’” Gibbs 

said. “Then we go to the 

NTC and people start 

to get interested at the 

end of October because 

everyone knows if you go 

to the National Training 

Center, you’re probably 

going to deploy.”

Rear 

Detachment

Gibbs said one of the 

keys to successfully taking 

care of Families was having an organized rear detachment.

“In my mind, a rear detachment is a uniformed figure which 

can make decisions,” Gibbs said. “The old Army days, you had a 

lot of Family members trying to do this and Family members can 

do great things, but they can’t yield power and make decisions 

and bring resources in like a rear detachment can.”

The brigade had a central rear detachment office, with a 

detachment from each battalion addressing the needs of the 

Families. 

Col. Ricky Gibbs, 1st Inf. Div. chief of staff speaks at a 

conference about families and information.

Duty First!/Staatz

U.S. ARMY

ARMY FRG

6

to FRG groups. The FRSA answers to the unit commander and 

acts as a liaison between the commander and FRG.

“This is a paid civilian – it used to be a volunteer,” Gibbs 

said. “But this person is paid to work for me and the rear 

detachment commander to help take care of Families.”

The last FRG tools Gibbs noted were the virtual FRG Web 

sites.

“Each of my battalions had a FRG Web site spouses could 

check for information,” Gibbs said. “It’s even more key for the 

Fort Riley’s military transition team mission. We bring Soldiers 

– Army, Navy, Air Force and National Guard and Reserve 

members to Fort Riley for training as a transition team. The 

connection for their spouses is through this virtual FRG site.”

Community Relationships

Relationships with community groups and agencies were 

the third element supporting Families, Gibbs said.

He outlined groups and businesses from the greater Fort 

Riley community who adopted a unit 

during the brigade’s deployment.

Fort Riley, Gibbs said, has 

exceptional ties with surrounding 

communities. He noted the 

Warrior Internship Network 

program which was developed at 

Fort Riley. The program places 

Soldiers who suffered injuries in 

combat and are facing a medical 

review board the opportunity 

to intern with local businesses, 

schools or government bodies and 

gain real-world job experience 

to help them make informed 

decisions about a career outside 

the Army.

Fort Riley also has monthly 

community partnership 

conferences, which bring state and 

local government officials, school 

representatives and business 

leaders together to discuss issues 

affecting the area at large.

Family Readiness Groups

Gibbs said the “crisis” mode in the brigade’s FRGs 

happened 90 days before units deployed, 90 days immediately 

following deployment and then the 90 days before and after 

redeployment.

“The Family network is critical to our success, absolutely 

critical,” Gibbs said. 

He noted that it was important to keep FRGs focused on the 

needs they were in place to meet – to help inform and network 

spouses.

“FRGs educate spouses and provide a network for spouses 

to get together and share common problems,” Gibbs said. “You 

have a lot of rumors in FRGs - they’re dangerous, but you have 

them. You’re always going to have them”

Gibbs said good relationships between the uniformed rear 

detachment and FRG leaders were essential to stopping harmful 

rumors. Another important element of support was the brigade 

and battalion family readiness support assistants. An FRSA is 

a paid civilian position that acts as an administrative assistant
7 Duty First www.1id.army.mil Duty First www.1id.army.mil

1st Infantry Division at War

1st Infantry Division

Oldest continuously serving division in the United States Army. Over 8,000 Soldiers 

in three brigades and multiple subordinate units deployed.

Primarily located in Fort Riley, Kan.; training responsibility extends to three other 

states: Kentucky, Oklahoma and Texas.

Converted to a modular headquarters September 2008.

1st Brigade, Fort Riley

Trains transition team. So far more than 7,000 servicemembers trained and deployed to 

Iraq and Afghanistan and more than 1,200 redeployed.

Transition Teams live and work with Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) and the Afghan National 

Army (ANA).

Scheduled to modularize FY09.

4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, Iraq

Re-deployed from support of Operation Iraqi Freedom April 2008.

Recently completed combat and civil military operations in conjunction with 

Iraqi Army and Police in the Rashid District of Baghdad to restore and ensure 

long term peace and stability in that region.

1st Sustainment Brigade, Iraq

 Provides logistic, human resource and financial management for 80,000 Soldiers and 

20,000 civilians and contractors throughout Multi-National Division-Baghdad and area 

support for Multi-National Division-Central.

Deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom September 2007.

1st Combat Aviation Brigade Combat Team, Iraq

Conducts 360-degree battlefield operations with cutting edge 

technology to support ground troops.

Deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom October 2007.

3rd Sustainment Command (Expeditionary), Iraq

Provide theater logistics command and control for the theater commander supporting the Army Forces (ARFOR) and Combined Joint Task Force (CJTF) mission.

Deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom May 2008.

75th Fires Brigade, Fort Sill

Integrates attached ground and air maneuver forces and on 

order functions as a maneuver headquarters in support of 

full spectrum operations.

Separate battalions currently deployed in support of 

Operation Iraqi Freedom.

2nd Heavy Brigade Combat Team, Fort Riley

Completed rotation to the National Training Center in 

Fort Irwin, Calf., in June 2008.

Scheduled to deploy in Oct-Nov 2008.

3rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, Afghanistan

One of the Army’s newest brigades. 

Deployed in support of Operation Enduring Freedom June 2008.

8

Operation Security (OPSEC)

Don’t let your e-mails or blogs make someone a target
Duty First www.1id.army.mil Duty First www.1id.army.mil 9

BDE ST

By Gary Skidmore

Duty First! Magazine

Tom Von Seggern doesn’t wear a dress, but he has nearly 

240 men and women he supervises who do every day.

Von Seggern is the supervisor for role play in support of the 

Transition Team training mission on Fort Riley.

“We fill two missions,” said Von Seggern. “One, as civilians 

on the battlefield, and the other as security forces. Depending 

on the mission, we play either Iraq or Afghanistan police and 

army.”

According to Von Seggern, there are nine villages in the 

training areas of Fort Riley. Depending on the sort of mission 

and the mission requirements, the civilians on the battlefield 

may be peaceful or could turn aggressive.

“We strive for realism,” said Von Seggern. It’s the key to our 

training. When the Soldiers crash through the door of a home 

looking for insurgents or walk through a peaceful village, we’ll 

be there to greet them and react accordingly.”

Role Players

Tammy Brown is a one of the team leads and uses her ability 

to speak Arabic to train not only Transition Team Soldiers, but 

her team of role players

“It’s our job as role players to help train the Army going to 

Iraq and Afghanistan,” said Brown. “We challenge them, we 

force them to work through their interpreters, we over react 

when they do something they shouldn’t like have a male search 

a woman so they learn not to do that again, we play passive 

villagers and can riot when it calls for it. We want to make sure 

they get it right when they deploy, that’s where this training 

counts.”

The six-year veteran role player began role playing at Fort 

Polk, La., where her mother and father are role players.

“I took the job at first because it looked like fun,” said Brown. 

“But then, I really wanted to learn the language so I could be a 

better role player and use that to teach the Soldiers what to do 

and what not to do. You know... little cultural things that could 

keep them out of trouble when they deploy.” 

turned off and music blasts through loud speakers. It’s the 

job of each team to locate the dead and wounded, evacuate 

them and assess and treat their simulated wounds. During the 

exercise, teams rush into the smoky blackness and evacuate the 

wounded. Screams and moans from the role players are often 

the only way team members first locate survivors. 

For some, like Alicia Thomas, being located is easy, she 

screams, hollers, moans and cries so well spectators from 

surrounding buildings poke their heads out to see what’s taking 

place. 

“We’ve got to make it real for them,” Thomas said. “If we 

don’t make it hard and make them work, then we’re cheating 

them, and they could get hurt wherever they’re going if this 

happens over there.”

Brown, like many of the role players training the teams, 

often receive compliments from returning team members. “It’s 

our job,” said Brown. “But it’s nice knowing that our little bit 

of training is doing some good. I do sleep better knowing I’m 

doing something to help them have a better deployment.”

Von Seggern said the mock ISF teams pull double duty as 

Iraq and Afghanistan security forces, depending on the training 

scenario.

“They play the foreign security forces and travel with the 

transition teams from village to village, interacting with the 

villagers and the different scenarios.”

Von Seggern said the missions vary from day to day for the 

teams. 

“There are escalation of force missions that have the villagers 

react negatively when the transition teams arrive in the village. 

The scenario may call for a family to have lost a son during a 

raid, or have had a child killed by mistake,” he said. All are real 

life possibilities when they deploy.

“There are days our role players don’t wear a costume at all 

and play casualties for a mass casualty exercise.”

During the mass casualty scenario, role players act as 

Soldiers who have been injured in a simulated mortar attack on 

a dining facility. Chairs are overturned and smoke fills the air. 

To make things more confusing for the teams, the lights are

10
Duty First www.1id.army.mil Duty First www.1id.army.mil 11

By Gary Skidmore

Duty First! Magazine

Army Force Generation is not a new term in the Army. 

It has been around for approximately six years and was 

originally designed to better manage the life cycle of Army 

units and provide unit manning through a three-year period.

“The idea was we needed to grow the number of brigades 

to about 72 active, Reserve and National Guard brigades,” 

said Maj. Nathan Bond, 1st Infantry Division public affairs 

officer.

“The concept is that it will manage the life cycle of these 

units and make the stability of Families and Soldiers more 

predictable throughout their career.

“In theory, a Soldier could come to the 1st Infantry Division 

as a private and stay his entire career here,” said Bond.

According to Bond, the brigade is the new building block of 

the Army. He said divisions are not war-fighting headquarters 

like in the past, but rather coordinating headquarters, more an 

operational level headquarters, like corps use to be. 

He said corps still plays a vital role but the divisions are 

taking on more and more of the operational fight.

“It used to be the division, and long before that, it was the 

corps that was the war fighting headquarters. We’ve now gone 

to modernization,” said Bond. “So, when the Army mans a 

unit, they do it at the brigade level. Divisions get a separate 

manning.”

Bond did say there is a glitch to the whole system.

“The one hiccup, the challenge we’re facing as an Army and 

at the 1st Infantry Division, is we went to war at the same time 

we’re trying to do this modernization. This brigade centric 

Army is necessary in order to fight the type of war we’re 

fighting,” said Bond. He makes the analogy that the Army is 

building an airplane while in flight.

Bond said the officer corps and the senior NCO corps is putting 

forth a “Herculean” effort to build that airplane, and the turmoil 

it’s causing is tremendous, but the leadership they provide to the 

Army to get through all the turmoil is phenomenal.

According to Bond, Families at Fort Riley are being taken 

care of very well despite ARFORGEN not having reached its 

goal of a three year rotation of units.

“Here at Fort Riley you see more of an understanding that we 

need to take care of Families,” he said. “Families are impacted 

greatly by the war, by this need to modernize units, and there’s 

an effort within the 1st Infantry Division that is really fantastic 

in the way we’re changing how we look at taking care of Families 

while they’re here.”

12

According to Bond, the way ARFORGEN is supposed to 

work the first year is a brigade that returns from deployment 

resets equipment and personnel. The brigade should be 

receiving Soldiers and making sure they have received their 

individual schools and individual training.

During year two, training moves to a more collective type, 

beginning with platoon and working all the way up to brigade 

level when they deploy to one of the national training centers.

In year three, the unit deploys to a theater of operation.

“That’s the idea behind ARFORGEN,” said Bond. “What’s 

happening right now because of the constraints on the global 

war on terrorism, the war in Iraq and Afghanistan 

and our deployments to other parts of the world is we have a 

compressed life cycle,” said Bond.

“Instead of the three year model, we’re trying to get to, 

we’re trying to do all of that in a 12 month period.... and it’s 

making life very difficult on the Army, on Soldiers and on their 

Families.”

Bond said in order to maintain an all-volunteer Army and 

retain the quality Soldiers we have in the Big Red One, the 1st

Infantry Division is investing into programs for Families and 

Soldiers.

“We have to change the way we provide education to 

Soldiers; the cooperative extension programs with universities 

and colleges around the country need to change the way they 

offer classes,” said Bond.

Bond said when Big Red One Soldiers are back during the 

reset phase in this compressed cycle, which is about six months, 

classes need to be available to the Soldiers at that time. Fort 

Riley is beginning to recognize this and is making strides in 

accomplishing it, he said. 

“It means changing the way they do business. Changing the 

models and getting out of the old mind-set of providing the 

class every year and that’s it. 

“That class may need to be offered four or five times a year 

now,” he said.

With the ARFORGEN cycle, the Big Red One will get 

to the point where there can be increases in time between 

deployments and that’s really what ARFORGEN comes down 

too.

ARFORGEN
Duty First www.1id.army.mil Duty First www.1id.army.mil 13 14

By Anna Staatz 

Duty First! Magazine

It was the battle that no one won. The Battle of Ong Thanh 

– not one of Vietnam’s most well known skirmishes, draws its 

name from a nearby river. Units fighting with the 271st Viet 

Cong Regiment, one of the most experienced regiments in 

Vietnam, dug into the area during the week prior to the battle, 

waiting mostly for new food supplies.

Soldiers from the 2nd Battalion, 28th Inf. Regiment, 1st 

Infantry Division, had been engaged in search and destroy 

missions in the area, encountering elements of the 271st VC 

Regt. as part of Operation Shenandoah II. 

Oct. 16, 1967, the Black Lions engaged the Viet Cong, 

suffering few injuries and a solo casualty. The battalion 

commander, Lt. Col. Terry Allen, Jr., ordered units into a full 

attack the next day.

The two Black Lion companies which fought in the Battle 

of Ong Thanh were under strength, consisting of about 150 

Soldiers. Unbeknownst to them, the entire 271st VC was 

dug in – about 1,200 Soldiers, along with an additional unit 

consisting of about 200 Soldiers.

Sgt. Ray Albin

Ray Albin enlisted in the Army in November 1966 at the 

age of 19, volunteering for the infantry.

“I don’t know why I did that,” he said. “I guess I was looking 

for a challenge. I was very athletic and thought I would do 

well at it. But I really had no concept of combat outside of 

movies.”

In May 1967, he went to Vietnam, where he was assigned to 

Charlie Company, 2nd Bn., 28th Inf. Regt. In July, the battalion 

added Delta Co., to include a mortar platoon, and Albin was 

assigned to it.

Albin said he saw his “fair share” of combat in the four 

months he was in Vietnam before the Battle of Ong Thanh. 

Usually, much of his job was with the mortar platoon, providing 

indirect fire support to the infantry platoons.

Lt. Clark Welch

Clark Welch enlisted in the Army for three years just days 

after graduating high school in Durham, N.H.

“I joined the Army to get into whatever was happening 

in the world outside my little town,” Welch said. “And to be 

a paratrooper and somehow participate in our president’s 

strategy to ‘contain communism.’”

He had a varied training experience, from airborne and

reconnaissance to a stint at a nuclear missile site. He worked his 

way up the enlisted ranks, becoming the top non-commissioned 

officer for a special forces team deployed to several areas 

around the world. When he received orders to report to Vietnam 

in April 1967, he had nine years as an NCO and one year as 

an officer under his belt. He was to report to a special forces 

group in Vietnam, but inexplicably was reassigned to 2nd Bn., 

28th Inf. Regt., when he arrived in country. He became the 

reconnaissance platoon leader, which made contact with the 

Viet Cong often, although he never lost any of his men. Welch 

was quickly told he would command the yet-to-be-formed 

fourth rifle company. He had one week to assemble a bare bones 

staff ahead of the arrival of about 150 Soldiers.

Early in July 1967, Welch met his men on the beach at Vung 

Tao. From the beach, they flew to the Lai Khe base camp. There, 

Welch had 30 days to train his rifle company.

After a few perimeter patrols, the company was declared 

ready and began conducting operations with the battalion. 

In early October, the battalion left Lai Khe, going west in its 

entirety except for one company. It set up at a night defensive 

position and conducted company-sized search and destroy 

patrols. Each day, Welch said there was more and more enemy 

contact. After several days, the battalion marched through hot, 

wet conditions to a new NDP near the small river of Ong Thanh. 

Through Oct. 16, Welch said that his company made contact 

every day.

“The feeling was that we were getting close to something 

big,” Welch said. “We knew that we and everyone else in 

Shenandoah II were looking for the famed 271st Viet Cong 

Regiment. We thought we might be getting closer to some of 

the smaller elements of that regiment.”

Oct. 16, 1967

 The battle plan for Oct. 16 was for Delta Co. to lead, followed 

by Bravo Co., on a search and destroy mission. Albin and the 

mortar platoon stayed at the NDP, where they would wait for 

Welch and the platoon commander to call back coordinates

The rifle companies left the NDP about 8 a.m., and after 

moving a few kilometers, sighted the enemy first.

Welch said the company quickly gained fire superiority, 

dealing deep blows to the Viet Cong. They then moved into 

a fortified area where they found quite a bit of material and 

weapons. As Bravo Co. moved up in support of Welch and his 

men, both units were ordered to return to the NDP.

The units on the field that day lost one casualty, a captain, 

and had 13 wounded.

“On Oct. 16,” Welch said, “We did exactly what a rifle 

company should do.”

Albin agreed, noting that in terms of battle, everything had 

gone very well.

“We had contact, but that day, everything worked out,” 

Albin said. “It was a good day for us.”

That night, Welch said he walked through his Soldiers and 

spoke with them about the day and plans for the next day.

“I talked with them about what a great job they had done 

that day and that we would probably lead the battalion into a 

big fight tomorrow,” Welch said.

Welch was surprised when he was called to the battalion 

headquarters to receive orders for the next day and learned that 

Delta Co. would not lead the battalion. Welch was also unhappy 

that the next day’s plan did not include preparatory fires and 

that the units would be moving south from the NDP into what 

looked like the center of enemy contacts made during the past 

weeks.

When he returned and outlined the orders, Welch said there 

was apprehension among his men, but no dissention. Everyone 

settled in for some sleep to the sound of soft, drizzling rain. 

“That night we slept as we could,” Welch said. “I kept 

expecting to hear the sounds and light of heavy guns or bombers 

hitting the enemy, but we heard nothing that night.”

Oct. 17, 1967

A restless night gave way to an uneasy morning. Because 

of the contact with the Viet Cong the day before, Albin said 

everyone was apprehensive.

“Everyone knew it was going to be a very difficult day,” 

Albin said. “I remember one of the commanders saying ‘bring 

all the ammo you can carry.’ That was the only time I ever heard 

someone reiterate that with such force right before a mission.”

At 8 a.m., Alpha Co. left the NDP, with Delta Co. following 

a few minutes later. The battalion’s command group, including 

Allen, was also on the ground with the two companies.

Shortly before 10 a.m., Alpha Co. reported seeing six Viet 

Cong running down the trail to the West. Welch said he ordered 

his Soldiers to get into defensive positions around the battalion 

command group.

“I knew if there was six, then there must be 60,” Welch 

said.

At 10 a.m., Viet Cong forces opened up with devastating fire 

on the two Black Lion companies. The first wave of fire was 

directed primarily at Alpha Co., Welch said. What he could

Continued on page 15

 1st Inf. Museum photo

Lt. Clark Welch and Pfc. Ben Dunn in Vietnam.
Duty First www.1id.army.mil Duty First www.1id.army.mil 16

By Anna Staatz

Duty First! Magazine

Often the bond that forms between Soldiers is called a 

brotherhood. Sometimes, though, that bond is literal instead 

of figurative.

Staff Sgt. Michael Tucker, and his brother, Sgt. 1st Class 

James Tucker, III, are the fourth generation of their family to 

serve in the Army. They last saw each other in March 2003, 

the day before the initial push toward Baghdad while serving 

with the 4th Infantry Division out of Fort Carson, Colo. They 

saw each other one other time a few days later and have spent 

the last several years trading deployments.

“I haven’t seen him since,” said Michael, Headquarters 

and Headquarters Company, 1st Bn., 63rd Armor Regt., 2nd 

Brigade Heavy Combat Team. “We’ve been high-fiving on 

deployments ever since.”

Michael said it was somewhat of a Family expectation that 

he would join the Army. His father was medically retired from 

the Army after serving 15 years and his step-father retired from 

the Army after 22 years. One of Tucker’s great-grandfathers 

immigrated to the United States from Germany as a child and 

fought and died with the Army at the Battle of the Bulge. 

The brothers were both assigned to the same brigade in the 

4th Inf. Div., James to a tanker battalion and Michael to an 

infantry unit. They deployed together for what Michael called 

a “nerve racking” year for his mother.

“We were her only two sons, so they had us on a list and in 

the event one of us was hurt, the other would be pulled out,” 

Michael said. “It was definitely a little different being there at 

the same time with him.”

In early 2007, Michael was on a deployment to 

Africa while his brother was in the Middle East.

“I got a phone call from someone back at camp,” 

he said. “They just said ‘call your mom.’”

James’ vehicle had been hit by a rocket 

propelled grenade, injuring one of his legs.

“His tank had been hit, and he was hurt pretty 

bad,” Michael said. “But eventually, he healed 

and went back to combat with his unit.”

Their time with the Army has also set the tone 

for their relationship as adults. 

Michael said his older brother picked on him growing up, but 

that changed as they got older.

“We talk on the phone a lot,” Michael said. “Now that we’re 

in the military, we talk a lot about it, stuff we’re doing, stuff 

going on in the Army.”

As Michael prepares for a 12-month deployment with 2nd 

Brigade, 1st Inf. Div., his brother has recently PCS’d to Fort 

Knox, Ky.

For the Tucker brothers, the Army was a Family expectation. 

For Capt. John Fitzgerald and four of his brothers, the military 

is fast becoming a Family standard. 

Fitzgerald, commander, Troop A, 5th Squadron, 4th Cavalry 

Regt., was the first of his brothers to join the Army. Three of 

his seven brothers are currently serving in the Army, and a 

fourth, Daniel, is a junior ROTC student.

Commissioned as an officer in 2001, Fitzgerald got out of 

the Army in 2005, then decided to rejoin

“I really missed the camaraderie,” he said. “And I couldn’t 

find the job satisfaction I’d had in the Army.”

Capt. Brendan Fitzgerald, a year younger than John, went 

to West Point. Their younger brother, Tim, a 1st lieutenant, 

followed John’s footsteps at Niagara University, as is Daniel. 

Kevin chose to enlist after tiring of working in the civilian 

sector. 

“My dad has been very supportive of our choices to join 

the Army,” John said. “When I first joined, my mom thought it 

was great. That was before OIF (Operation Iraqi Freedom) had 

kicked off and she supports us, but she never thought all of us 

would join the Army. She definitely worries about us.”

In all different 

branches, John said he 

and his brothers stay 

in touch by phone and 

email, since deployments 

make getting together 

difficult.

“We share different 

experiences and pass 

along lessons learned,” 

John said.

After all, that’s what 

brothers are for.

HBCT

Brotherhood

ND

15

see of the lead company “did not look good.”

“There were a lot of bodies on the ground and not much fire 

from the Americans,” he said.

Back at the NDP, Albin could hear the battle, both in the 

distance and over the radios, which were right next to him.

“It started out as a pop, pop, pop,” Albin said. “Then ratchet 

that up times 10, times 20, times 30. It wasn’t very long before 

it reached a crescendo.”

Welch was ordered by Allen to go and find out what 

happened to Alpha Co.. Running forward with one of his 

lieutenants, Welch quickly saw there was no more Alpha Co.

“I am able to get a few survivors and some weapons from A 

Co., but the enemy fire is very heavy and there didn’t seem to 

be anyone alive still in the area,” he said.

Welch returned to Allen to report on Alpha Co., then told 

his men to dig in and fight, since maneuvering was out of the 

question with the large number of Alpha Co. casualties and the 

need to protect the battalion command group. 

Welch was also frustrated because supporting artillery 

units had been told only to fire for the lead company and the 

battalion S3 ordered Albin’s mortar platoon to not fire for fear 

of hitting their own Soldiers.

“There were numerous examples of unbelievable courage 

and self-sacrifice shown by my men,” Welch said. “They gave 

each other their last bandage, their last water, their last ammo. 

Machine gunners, who were special targets, were quickly shot. 

But another man would crawl over to fire that machine gun 

until he, too, was shot.”

Welch crawled from platoon to platoon along the perimeter 

and then back to Allen to give reports. He was shot several 

times, and grew weaker and weaker.

“At one time, I knew I was going to pass out, so I told Lt. 

Stroup, the third platoon leader, to hold D Co. together and 

keep them safe,” Welch said.

The last thing he saw before he passed out was Allen get 

shot and killed. The entire battalion command group died that 

day, along with most of Delta Company’s medics and machine 

gunners. 

The Viet Cong withdrew from the area about noon, with 

little remaining of the American forces.

After the Battle

Albin said Charlie Co., 2nd Bn., 28th Inf. Regt., was called 

in and started asking for volunteers to go out to the battle 

location and bring back the wounded and dead.

“It was the worst thing I’ve ever seen in my life,” Albin said. 

“Just complete and total devastation. And the loss of vitality. I 

had just seen all those guys leave a couple hours ago, then I go 

out there, and there’s just nothing.”

Albin and whomever was able, spent the rest of the day 

evacuating bodies. The next day, everyone who was left was 

flown out of the area and back to Lai Khe. 

Albin said after Oct. 17, he never expected to get out of 

Vietnam alive. He took a mid-tour leave and went to Australia, 

where he “ate steaks every day.” He spent the rest of his tour 

with the Black Lions’ Delta Co.

“Nothing, thank God, was ever like that day,” Albin said.

Welch said he does not remember getting out of the battle. He 

woke up once in Lai Khe, then he went on to a field hospital near 

Saigon and then to a general hospital in Yokohama, Japan. 

“There I became fully conscious, but was badly hurt,” Welch 

said. “I could not get any information about what had happened 

to my men – who died, who survived and what hospital they 

were in. That complete lack of information or contact with 

other Delta Co. survivors about killed me.”

Welch stayed in the Army and retired as a lieutenant colonel. 

After he recovered from the injuries he sustained during the 

Battle of Ong Thanh, he flew back to Vietnam and reported for 

duty with the 5th Special Forces Group. He worked with the 

group on a special project until he was assigned to the Ranger 

Camp in Florida.

“I always tried to fix things so an Oct. 17, 1967, would never 

happen again,” Welch said. “Gave me headaches. ...I still have 

headaches.”

After Vietnam

Albin said since Vietnam, he’s been very thankful for life. He 

went back to college when he got out of the Army and obtained 

a master’s degree in history, which he taught in junior high and 

in junior college for 31 years. The Battle of Ong Thanh was 

detailed in the book, “They Marched Into Sunlight,” by David 

Maraniss.

“Before the book, whenever October rolled around, I would 

think back to that day,” Albin said. “But I had successfully dealt 

with it and put it behind me. After the book was published, I 

found out a lot more about that day and I started thinking about 

the battle almost every day. I think about how fortunate I was. 

I have regret for all those guys who never got to live a full life 

like I did.”

Albin, like Welch, had little to do with some of the battle 

decisions made above them the day of Oct. 17. But they both 

said they regretted the decisions that had cost so many lives.

“I loved those men,” Welch said. “I would give anything to 

have them back with us. Some say ‘they gave up their lives for 

their country.’ Not true. I saw them; they did not ‘give up their 

lives,’ they had their lives torn from them as they fought to 

protect themselves and their friends.”

Welch had the opportunity in 2002 to return to Vietnam, 

where he met with Col. Vo Minh Triet, who commanded the 

271st Viet Cong Regt. that the Black Lions battled that day. Triet 

told Welch how he had hid and dug in about 1,200 members of 

the regiment between Oct. 12 and 17th, about one kilometer 

away from the Black Lions’ NDP. Welch and Triet retraced 

their steps on the battlefield together.

“That day,” Triet told Welch, “no one won.”

Continued from page 14

 Submitted photo

Delta Company preparing to go out on a mission.
Duty First www.1id.army.mil Duty First www.1id.army.mil 17

By Spc. Andrea Merritt

1st Sus. Bde. PAO

CAMP TAJI, Iraq – As the Iraqi Army continues to grow, 

their forces continue to make significant improvements in 

different areas. The most recent advancement for Iraqi forces 

on Camp Taji was in the area of communications.

In March, U.S. Forces began an initiative to field 12,500 

military radio systems to the Iraqi Army. Since the first 

fielding April 23, the Iraqi Army has received approximately 

4,500 systems. 

The radios, which are Single-Channel Ground and Air Radio 

Systems, provide secure, encrypted communications and allow 

the Iraqi Soldiers to communicate at a range they had never 

been able to before.

“At the time, the Iraqis wanted to 

get away from commercial systems 

to military-grade communications. 

We have seen much improved 

communications at the tactical 

level, and we will no doubt see 

improvement in their tactical 

command and control capability” said 

U.S. Marine Capt. Steven Eckdahl, 

a radio communications officer with 

Multi-National Security Transition 

Command – Iraq.

In mid-July, Iraqi Soldiers 

completed their first-ever Warfighter 

exercise. The culminating event was 

a battalion cordon and search into the 

village, and they incorporated the 

SINCGARs into the exercise.

“For the first time ever really, 

they had long-range tactical, secure 

communications to reach back to 

battalion and brigade headquarters. 

They could do battle tracking, and 

they knew where their units were on 

the field,” said 1st Lt. Nathan Spreitler, 

an advisor with the Coalition Army 

Training Team.

”They could communicate 

internally and externally in a range they had never been able 

to do before. Now, they have that tactical command and control 

piece to keep that battlefield situational awareness of where 

their units are and what their status is,” added Spreitler.

Although the new systems have proven beneficial to the 

Iraqi Army, achieving this significant milestone did not come

without challenges. 

“There were lots of challenges. We’ve had challenges in 

getting the training accomplished, but the Iraqi Signal School 

and their combat colonel have really stepped up,” Spreitler 

said.

In the last four months, the Iraqi Signal School has trained 

more than 300 Iraqi Soldiers to be radio operators. Also, in an 

effort to aid in the training, Multi-National Division – Baghdad 

sent a mobile training team with Iraqi officers who have gone 

through the advanced training at the signal school to go out and 

train the divisions.

“Getting all that coordinated was challenging, but it 

happened and now we have an excess of 1,000 operators that 

have been trained in the Iraqi Army,” Spreitler stated. 

In May, Coalition Forces handed control of the radio 

installation and repair to Col. Mohammed 

Nassir. The weight of supplying 

Iraqi Security Forces with secure 

communications rests on his shoulders. 

“I am very thankful and grateful for 

all efforts from the American teams and 

the American officers for their help for us 

to rebuild our Army and our facilities,” 

Mohammed said.

“The radio sets now are different 

than the radio sets we used in the past,” 

Mohammed said. “This radio is very 

useful in armored tanks and armored 

vehicle. We can use base stations and 

man pack stations with our Soldiers, so 

it’s very important.”

With the fielding of the SINCGARS, 

the Iraqi Army was able to improve their 

communications capabilities and come 

one step closer to becoming a strong and 

stable fighting force for their country.

“I’ve been here at Taji for seven 

or eight months now, involved in the 

training of the signal school Soldiers and 

the basic trainees. For them to have the 

equipment was one thing, but after we 

went through that Warfighter exercise 

that we were the observer controllers 

for and to see them be able to use those systems was pretty 

rewarding,” Spreitler said.

“They have the capability to be a world-class army and this 

is just one of those steps to give them those tools to allow those 

battlefield commanders to take control of their own sectors,” 

Spreitler concluded.

Improvement In

Communications

STSB

18

IBCT RD

By Staff Sgt. Adora Medina

3rd BCT, 1st ID, PAO

Nuristan Province Afghanistan - Buried deep within the 

center of mountainous terrain, lies a Forward Operating Base, 

new home to the Centaurs of 1st Battalion, 6th Field Artillery, 

3rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division. Not 

far from the FOB, up a winding road, is the Nurgaram District 

Center, where the Afghan National Police train and live. 

On July 26, Centaurs and Soldiers with the 527th Military 

Police Company, 

H o h e n f e l s , 

Germany, took a 

trip to the center, to 

meet the new police 

chief of Nuristan, 

Ana Tullah. 

“We had a very 

strong relationship 

with the previous 

chief, Aktar 

Mohammad, who 

was very proactive 

and very helpful 

in terms of the 

counterinsurgency 

and the Improvised 

Explosive Device 

training and 

identification for 

the local populace,” 

said Raymond 

Anderson, law 

enforcement professional, with Task Force Paladin.

“Chief Aktar Mohammed was great. He always supported 

anything that we needed and vice-versa. If he needed 

something, we tried to help him out 100 percent to make the 

training, as well as the relationship with the Soldiers and the 

ANP go very well,” Sgt. Nasico Lightner, 527th MP, said.

“We want to keep the same type of relationship that we had 

with Aktar going, so that there’ll be no issues and no concerns,” 

Lightner said. “Just like when a new unit comes, we want to get 

them settled in as well, we want to do the same with the new 

police chief.”

For the past five and half months, the MPs have conducted 

emersion training with the ANP, teaching them law enforcement 

techniques to include, patrols, searches, building seizures and 

traffic accidents. 

“The Soldiers have enjoyed going down there, training with 

them, and the ANP soldiers pick up a lot of new things that they 

didn’t learn at their ANP academy,” Lightner said.

Though the MPs are all too familiar with the center, this isn’t 

the case for the Centaurs, who are just starting to familiarize 

themselves with the area. During the visit they were able 

to answer any 

questions and 

formally introduce 

themselves to the 

new police chief, 

as well as the 

ANP. The Soldiers 

were also given a 

short tour of the 

facility where they 

learned of ongoing 

c o n s t r u c t i o n 

projects to 

improve the camp 

grounds, and were 

able to personally 

meet both old and 

new recruits.

“Since it’s 

a new chief, 

he’s going to 

bring in his new 

administration, 

his new officers, so 

it’s important for us to know who they are so we can check 

their background and make sure that they are good, upstanding 

officers and that they understand, basically, the relationship that 

we have with them in terms of them getting their resources that 

they need and the direction that we’re looking to go in terms of 

their training,” Anderson said.

With the focus on turning the Afghan people toward the 

government, fighting the Taliban and winning the war on terror, 

working hand-in-hand with the Nuristan police chief, and the 

ANP is beneficial to the success of the region.

Soldiers Welcome

New Police Chief
Duty First www.1id.army.mil Duty First www.1id.army.mil 19

RDESC

By Sgt. Aaron LeBlanc 

165th CSSB, 1st Sust. Bde.

CAMP TAJI – The 68th Transportation Company, out of 

Manheim, Germany, known as the “Eagle Express,” is playing 

a critical role as part of the heavy-lift capacity of the largest 

battalion in Iraq.

The company, commanded by Capt. Donna Johnson of 

Columbus, Ohio, is currently operating out of Camp Taji, 

Iraq and is attached to the 165th Combat Sustainment Support 

Battalion, 1st Sustainment Brigade.

Traveling exclusively at night, the men and women of the 

68th are responsible for moving everything from beans and 

bullets to Humvees and radio towers down some of the most 

dangerous roads in the world.

“I love my truck,” said Spc. Sam Hyacinth of his M-915, 

the Army’s version of a semi-truck. “She may not look very 

pretty on the outside, but it’s what’s on the inside that counts. 

This truck will get up and go. Plus the AC will freeze you out; 

that’s a must in the desert, even at night.”

“I like this company, and I trust my leadership,” continued 

Hyacinth, who was assigned to his present duty station directly 

out of advanced individual training, and is currently serving his 

second combat tour with the company.

Although the world of transportation may not be as glamorous 

as kicking in doors or lobbing artillery shells downrange, the 

Soldiers of the 68th nevertheless approach their mission with a 

sense of duty, earnestness, tenacity and calm determination.

Just before rolling out the gate on a recent mission to move 

needed supplies from one area of the battlefield to another, 

mission commander Staff Sgt. George Barnhart walked from 

truck to truck checking on the Soldiers in his charge, and 

disseminating last-minute information. “There has been recent 

enemy activity along our route, but medical evacuation status is 

good, so we’re ok to roll,” he said in a matter-of-fact manner.

If the serious prospect of driving into a firefight was a source 

of fear for the Soldiers assigned to the mission, none of them 

showed any outward signs of it; the various drivers and truck 

commanders reacted to Barnhart’s words of caution with the 

same quiet readiness with which they were issued. 

Eagle Express

20

THIBCT

By Anna Staatz

Duty First! Magazine

In the early days of reset in the Army’s deployment cycle, 

things tend to get a little hectic. Most importantly, there is the 

challenge of obtaining the needed Soldiers and making sure 

they receive the training they need to do their jobs to the best 

of their ability.

After the 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team returned from 

a 15 month deployment earlier this year, the past months have 

been spent resetting equipment and acquiring Soldiers to fill 

the holes left by those who PCS’d to another post. For the 

Soldiers who were new and the Soldiers who remained, there 

was lots of training to be done.

The brigade sent Soldiers 

to numerous Army training 

schools, with the highest 

enrollment going to the 

Pathfinder s, sniper, and 

Ranger schools and the 

Long Range Surveillance 

Course.

Soldiers also trained 

in the RAVEN and UAV 

operators’ course, Joint 

Firepower Observer 

Course and the EMT-B and 

Combat Lifesavers courses. 

For the most part, Soldiers 

were recommended for 

training bases on their duty 

position and Order of Merit 

lists within units.

Capt. Thomas Brenton, 

brigade S3, said some of 

the more “elite” schools 

Soldiers try to get to are 

the Ranger, Pathfinder, 

Sniper and Sapper courses. 

Members of the brigade’s 

engineer company who do not already have Sapper tabs are 

slotted to go to the course soon.

“The Dragon brigade has some of the most outstanding 

combat experienced Soldiers in the world, who directly 

contributed to the surge success in Iraq,” Brenton said. “We 

will continue to build upon our previous success and continue 

to provide the best training possible to America’s finest 

Soldiers.”

Command Sgt. Major Michael McCoy said beyond the 

schools viewed as “elite,” some of the most important schools 

were also some of the most basic.

“We’ve sent a lot of guys to the Warrior Leader Course, 

Basic Noncommissioned Officer Course and the Advanced 

Noncommissioned Officers Course,” McCoy said. “The schools 

that they need to retain their 

rank and keep moving up.”

McCoy said schools 

are an important part of 

a Soldier’s individual 

training.

“They help keep 

everyone on the same 

sheet of music and in tune 

with the Army standards,” 

McCoy said. “We teach and 

counsel them on skills, but 

the schools are where they 

really get evaluated on their 

abilities.”

The brigade retained 

about 60 percent of its 

Soldiers following its 

deployment, McCoy said, 

and is receiving about 

50 Soldiers a month. 

Individual and team ranges 

have started to kick into 

gear, signaling the start of 

preparation for a potential 

deployment.

Schools
21 Duty First www.1id.army.mil Duty First www.1id.army.mil

By Anna Staatz

Duty First! Magazine

Really, it was names scrawled with markers. However, what 

those scrawlings signified will influence military Families 

long into the future.

Fort Riley leaders joined with 

members of the Kansas congressional 

delegation, the state’s governor, Kathleen 

Sebelius, and representatives from the 

surrounding communities to sign the 

Army Community Covenant on Aug. 

20. 

An initiative designed to formalize 

partnerships between the military, 

communities and states, the Army 

Community Covenant both recognizes 

the strengths of Army Families and pushes 

support in areas such as employment, 

education and communication.

“Why are we here today? To say 

thank you,” said Pete Geren, secretary 

of the Army, who spoke at the event. 

“Thank you to those Soldiers. Thank you 

to those Families. Thank you to those 

children. We are also here to say thank 

you for the extraordinary support we get 

from the entire Kansas community.”

Specifically, the Army Community Covenant outlines eight 

areas essential to supporting military Families: communication, 

education, employment, Family support, financial, state 

government support, needs of surviving spouses and the needs 

of wounded warriors.

Geren noted that less than 2.4 million United States citizens 

are members of the military, either in an active status or in the 

Reserves and National Guard.

“Less than 1 percent of our nation is carrying this very 

heavy burden, not just for all of us as Americans, but a heavy 

burden for much of the free world,” Geren said.

Brig. Gen. Perry Wiggins, commanding general of the 1st 

Infantry Division and Fort Riley, said the post has always had 

a strong relationship with local communities and state and 

national lawmakers.

“The outstanding reputation enjoyed by the Big Red One 

is due in large part to the herculean efforts of our partners,” 

Wiggins said.

“We are indeed fortunate here at Fort Riley to have a community 

that shares a genuine concern for our Soldiers and their Families.” 

Sebelius noted in her remarks that Kansas has historically been 

ahead of the curve in finding ways to make the state “military 

friendly.” She pointed to the state’s military strategic planning 

commission, and efforts in key quality of life areas which began 

before the Base Realignment 

and Closure Commission had 

even announced the Big Red 

One would return to Fort Riley. 

Kansas also has a military bill 

of rights, granting tax and 

tuition credits, along with 

other benefits to members of 

the military. The state was the 

first in the nation to sign the 

Military Children Education 

Compact, which is designed 

to ease and streamline the 

transition to a new school 

following a change in duty 

station.

Such moves, said 

Congressman Jerry Moran, 

were because Kansans were 

genuinely interested in caring 

about military members and 

their Families.

“The thing that came home time and time again [in the 

BRAC process] was that Kansans cared about Soldiers and 

their Families,” Moran said. “By signing this covenant today, 

all we’re doing is reaffirming the way we’ve lived our lives in 

Kansas.”

Sen. Pat Roberts said that the community spirit in Kansas 

of helping one another was often taken for granted. However, 

for the military, he said, the community their Families were in 

meant a lot.

“Community is what lets our military sleep well at night,” 

Roberts said. ‘It allows them to do their jobs without worrying 

if their Families are being taken care of. And they are being 

taken care of at Fort Riley. For those who serve our country in 

uniform, the men and women of the surrounding communities 

represented here could not be more supportive.”

The ceremony included a reception for distinguished guests 

and local community leaders and a musical presentation by the 

1st Inf. Div. Band and Spring Valley Elementary School.

An Elementry school student signs the covenant.

Duty First!/Skidmore

22

By Gary Skidmore

Duty First! Magazine

Paul Satlowski was wounded in Vietnam on April 26, 1966. 

He was shot in the shoulder by a sniper. 

“I was an M60 machine gun 

operator and was heading to the 

tree line when I was wounded.

Satlowski, from Brooklyn, 

Mich., is approximately 5 

feet 11 inches tall. He was 

attending the Society of the 

1st Infantry Division reunion 

several years ago and telling 

a fellow 2nd Battalion, 18th 

Infantry veteran, Bob Ready, 

about his experience when 

Ready stopped him cold and 

finished the story for him. 

“I was the one who carried 

him out,” said Ready, a 5 foot 6 

inch veteran. 

“We were going on one 

of our missions around the 

Fishhook when we ran into 

a little trouble, and Paul got 

shot,” said Ready.

``I was literally hiding in the 

open, but the sniper couldn’t get 

his rifle turned my way far enough 

to get a shot off. 

“We had to evac Paul out, so I picked him up and threw him 

over my shoulder and carried him and his machine gun 100 

or so yards to a more secure area where I had the doc work 

on him,” he said. Ready walks with a slight bend these days 

and laughingly blames Satlowski. “We both weighed about 

135 then,” said Ready. “We both weigh “slightly” more these 

days.”

“I didn’t even know his name until the reunion,” said 

Satlowski. “Now, we keep in contact all the time.”

According to Jen Sanford, Society of the 1st Infantry 

Division administrator, “The reunions give our members a 

chance to see each other each year and to re-live some of the 

most significant times in their lives with the people they shared 

those times with.

Sanford said 981 veterans and spouses, friends and family 

members attended this year’s reunion in Colorado Springs, 

Colo. Aug. 20-23.

At this year’s reunion, 13 members of Company C, 2nd 

Battalion, 16th Infantry found each other after nearly 40 

years. 

“We’re all from the same company and all served at the 

same time in Vietnam,” said Lou Francis, who was a member 

of Company C, 2nd Battalion, 

16th Infantry. ``It’s a great time 

for us.”

For Francis, Satlowski and 

Ready, coming to the annual 

BRO reunion is like coming 

home to family.

“It’s like finding a missing 

brother after 40 years,” said 

Charles Shay, a WWII veteran. 

Shay, who landed on Normandy 

Beach, said although there 

weren’t a lot of WWII veterans 

around, he was having a great 

time talking to the ones who 

made it to the reunion.

CSM (Ret.) Bill Ryan was 

another WWII vet happy to be 

at the reunion.

There aren’t a lot of us 

around anymore,” said Ryan. 

“But those who are, are like 

walking history books. We are 

trying to share as many of our stories 

as we can with current Soldiers of the 

Big Red One here at the reunion.

The 1st Infantry Division sent about 200 active duty Soldiers 

to the reunion said Brig. Gen. Perry Wiggins, commanding 

general, 1st Infantry Division and Fort Riley.

“We brought our Soldiers here because they are our 

messengers back to the division of about 17,000 strong,” he 

said. 

“What we want them to do is go back and relay the stories 

you told them to one of their buddies, and they tell the story 

with the same passion, the same intensity you did to them, and 

that story will be relayed over and over and over again.

“What the sergeant major and I plan to do is motivate our 

Soldiers to become something bigger than themselves because 

when you do that, you create an organization that is better than 

it could have been on its own.”

For those wishing to join the Society of the 1st Division, 

they can go to their website www.1stID.org, or call 215-661-

1969, 1-888-324-4733.

 Duty First!/Skidmore

Paul Satlowski (left) and Bob Ready attend the 

2008 BRO Reunion. 
Duty First www.1id.army.mil Duty First www.1id.army.mil 23

By Maj. Enrique T. Vasquez

CAB, 1st Inf. Div. PAO

Tikrit, Iraq – A Coalition Forces unit known as Fires “Hell” 

Squadron, 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment, conducting combat 

operations on June 20 in an area near Abu Sayta, Iraq began to 

take on casualties as Soldiers started to succumb to the desert 

heat. The ground commander radioed his situation and within 

minutes Coalition Forces helicopters responded to pick-up the 

injured.

However, the ground units required more than just medical 

evacuations; the relief troops could not resupply water to those 

Soldiers in forward positions without exposing themselves to 

hostile fire from insurgents. As the situation became more 

critical two AH-64D Apache Longbow attack weapons 

teams in the area, overheard the radio chatter and decided to 

take action. Pilots from Company A, “Devils,” 1st Attack 

Reconnaissance Battalion, 1st Aviation Regiment, responded 

by delivering water to the stranded troops.

“We were flying in support of operations when we determined 

several groups of troops on the ground were becoming 

heat casualties. It was then, when we decided to return to 

Forward Operating Base Warhorse and bring these Soldiers 

some water,” said Chief 

Warrant Officer 2 Jason 

Mawhirter, pilot with 

Co. A, 1-1 ARB.

Apache gunships 

don’t normally deliver 

cargo due to the limited 

space onboard the 

aircraft, however in an 

unprecedented act, the 

AH64 pilots flying in 

support of Coalition 

Forces did just that.

They delivered a load of 

water. 

“To be able to deliver 

water to coalition forces 

with this aircraft is quite 

an achievement in itself. 

Sgt. 1st Class Christopher Boyle,demonstrates the cargo 

capacity of the AH-64D Apache helicopter gunship.

CAB/Vasquez

Right, Spc. Jedidiah

Cooke (left), and 

Spc. David Scantlin 

demonstrates the cargo 

capacity of the AH64D Apache helicopter 

gunship.

CAB/Vasquez

ST CAB

Left, Spc. Jedidah Cooke 

(left), and Spc. David 

Scantlin demonstrates 

the cargo capacity of 

the AH-64D Apache 

helicopter gunship.

24

These aircraft normally have no more than 10 cubic feet of 

storage space, “ said Sgt.1st Class Christopher Boyle, platoon 

sergeant for Co. A.

The use of the aft compartments and compartments beside 

the cockpit to move water is remarkable, recounted Boyle.

The area of Abu Sayta where the troops were located is 

heavily populated with dense groves of palm trees, making it 

difficult for helicopters to easily land. Knowing this, one of the 

Apache pilots planned ahead.

“As we filled up the survival bays (aft compartments) one of 

the pilots, Chief Porter decided to put some water bottles inside 

his cockpit. Upon our return to the field site, we landed the 

aircraft and dropped off several cases of water to the troops,” 

said 1st Lt. Philip Heiss, pilot for Co. A.

“However, Porter, unable to reach all the troops, lowered 

 his aircraft to a hover just feet above the ground, opened his 

cockpit and started sliding bottles of water down the sides of the 

helicopter to the Soldiers below,” said Heiss.

The actions displayed by these aviators are truly admirable 

and commendable as one commander put it. 

“Chief Warrant Officer 4 Ron Porter, air mission commander 

and his crews were awesome yesterday, “ said Lt. Col. Robert J. 

McAleer, commander of Fires Squadron, 2nd Stryker Cavalry 

Regiment. According to McAleer, the Apache pilots performed 

communication relays, talked medical evacuations onto good 

landing sites, helped find goat trails for dismount, and even 

dropped water resupplies out the widows of their cockpits.

“The Apache crews made a huge difference that day” said 

McAleer.
Duty First www.1id.army.mil Duty First www.1id.army.mil 25

By Gary Skidmore

Duty First! Magazine

Staff Sgt. Christian Curtright is in limbo. Due to a medical 

condition, he was forced to leave his deployment rotation early.

Now home, he is pending the outcome of a medical evaluation 

to determine if he will stay in the Army or have to get out due 

to his injuries. 

“I’m going through the medical process right now,” said 

Curtright. “I have a family, so I need to have a plan for after 

the military should I have to get out.”

That’s why he and more than 450 Soldiers and their Family 

members assigned to the Warrior Transition Battalion, attended 

the Wounded Warriors Job Fair July 28 and 29.

“The fair was targeted at wounded Soldiers and their 

Families,” said Callie McDiffett, Human Resource specialist 

Stewart Drum at KBR speaks to a group of Soldiers at the Job Fair. Duty First!/Skidmore 

from the Fort Riley Civilian Personnel Advisory Center and 

coordinator of the fair. 

According to McDiffett, she and a small army of staff and 

volunteers divided the fair into two days. 

Day one was designed to help Soldiers and their Families 

prepare resumes. 

“We had 14 computer stations for one-on-one resume writing 

assistance” said McDiffitt. “The stations were manned by people 

from the CPAC, Kansas Department of Commerce, Army 

Community Services, and the Equal Employment Opportunity 

office, just to mention a few. You can see there were plenty of 

helpers from a wide cross-section of personnel experts,” she 

said. “It was a combined effort.”

Additionally, McDiffitt said when Soldiers and Families 

weren’t creating their resumes; they had the opportunity to 

attend one of several workshops available.

26

“We offered workshops for everything from interviewing 

techniques to dressing for success and special programs and 

employment opportunities,” said McDiffitt.

McDiffitt said many of the Soldiers and their spouses coming 

through the doors to the fair were not sure what the future held 

for them. “Some of them don’t know what’s going to happen in 

their future, some are pending their medical board evaluations 

and some won’t be getting out for six weeks or more, but they’re 

here trying to get an idea of what’s available to them,” said 

McDiffitt.

Brig. Gen. 

Perry Wiggins, 

c o m m a n d i n g 

general, 1st Infantry 

Division and Fort 

Riley told the 

employers and 

vendors that the 

fair was the most 

important fair that 

had ever been hosted 

on Fort Riley.

“The wounded 

warriors you meet 

today are the strength 

of our Army,” said 

Wiggins.. You, 

the business and 

government leaders 

are the strength of 

our nation. 

“These wounded 

Soldiers that 

you’ll see are 

representative of 

what we believe to 

be the next greatest generation” he said. 

“The same traits and leadership skills that you’re seeking 

to maintain as market leaders are the same values invested, 

instilled and taught with each of these Soldiers.

“They are disciplined, they are builders of teams, they 

have managed large organizations, they’re innovative, they 

demonstrate confidence, they are prudent risk takers, effective 

communicators and they have a life long learning mind set, 

and they want to work,” said Wiggins.. “Most of all, they are 

essential members of the team. They are members of the Army 

Strong team. These same Warriors can apply the same skill 

sets and can make dynamic contributions to your organization 

tomorrow”. 

Approximately 80 vendors who attended the fair offered 

opportunities from working for the PartyLite Gifts, Inc as 

a consultant to being a Saline County Corrections officer to 

being an over the road trucker.

Debbie Ortega representing the Northrop Grumman Corp 

was a first time vendor on Fort Riley but was excited about the 

potential employees who passed by her booth.

“There are so many 

benefits to hiring a 

Soldier,” said Ortega. 

“The work ethics 

that they bring to an 

organization, their 

discipline and the fact 

that these young men 

and women know our 

products, who better 

to bring on -board and 

bring their great talents 

with them.”

Victor Mathews came 

from Colorado Springs, 

Colo., to represent his 

culinary arts school. 

“Soldiers fit in 

well in our industry,” 

said Mathews. “Many 

of them don’t know 

that yet. Soldiers 

perform well under 

pressure, the job 

requires focus and 

an extreme level of 

professionalism, and 

it requires someone who can organize and command his unit 

well,” said Mathews. “That’s exactly what these guys have to 

do for years.”

“Our servicemembers don’t back away from anything,” 

said Roland Unipeg, a civilian recruiter for the Department of 

Defense.

“The love to be challenged. They love to excel, and they love 

to complete their tasks, whatever they may be, and they never 

quit,” he said. “Veterans are an asset that all of us are beginning 

to understand. When you get a veteran, you’re getting a quality 

employee.”

Spc. Nicholas Curnutt, A Co., WTB receives help from Paul Ghent, a resume 

advisor form the Civilian Personnel Center on Fort Riley. 

Duty First!/Skidmore
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