There really have not been many surprises. Our priority is still on warfighting, explained Audino in his Fort Lewis office during April s first week. This has been a lot more about integrating our light infantry and heavy armor assets into a new kind of cavalry unit within the 25th Infantry Division than it has been about active and reserve component integration, he maintained. Reconnaissance, surveillance and target acquisition will become the new cavalry unit s primary mission. This new concept is important, Audino insisted.
Tanks can t go and be everywhere.
It was no secret in late 1999, however, that the Army battalion s new boss was coming from the National Guard. We didn t know what to expect, but the people were willing to give him a chance, recalled Sgt. Brent Ingersoll, the battalion s retention sergeant. They discovered the boss intended to care for and train his troops. He gives soldiers time to take college courses, and he has a good open door policy about talking to troops with problems, said Ingersoll.