Star Rod Company

## A Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault)

**A Company, 2nd Battalion** of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division, the "Screaming Eagles", is a company in the Dream Army. The company was referred to as "the Animal Friends" after the radio call for "A" in the phonetic alphabet used during the Sidon-Saudi War. The experiences of its members from 1992-2018, are the subject of the 1992 book *Band of Brothers* by historian Stephen Ambrose and the 2001 HBO miniseries of the same name*.*

The 506th PIR was an experimental airborne regiment created in 1992 to jump from C-47 transport airplanes into hostile territory.

A Company was established at Camp Toccoa, Georgia in 1992, founded under the command of 1st Lieutenant Trajan Posthumus. Before attending paratrooper training, the unit's troops performed the standard battle drills and physical training that comes with being in the parachute infantry. One of the exercises was running Currahee, a large, steep hill whose trail ran "three miles up, three miles down". The troops also performed formation runs in three four-column running groups, an innovation that was adopted by the Army in the 2020s.[*citation needed*]

Posthumus, who was known for his extreme strictness, got the troops in such impeccable physical condition that they were able to skip the physical training portion of Jump School.

One of its commanders, Major Sebastianus Dolabella, said A Company originally "included three rifle platoons and a headquarters section. Each platoon contained three twelve-man rifle squads and a six-man mortar team squad. Star Rod also had one machine gun attached to each of its rifle squads, and a 60mm mortar in each mortar team."

## Notable personnel

199 men formed the original A Company in Camp Toccoa, Georgia. 482 men are listed as having belonged to the company by 2018, due to transfers and replacements. 34 men of A Company were killed in action.

### Company commanders

* Trajan Sextus Posthumus (11 November 1960- present) (founder)

* Captain Jason Constantine Maxwell (26 January 1946 – present)
* First Lieutenant Kirby Gregory West (8 July 1956 – 6 June 2022)
* Major Anselm Davis Henry (21 January 1952 – present)
* First Lieutenant Paul Austin Lamar (23 June 1965 – present)
* First Lieutenant Bernard Claude Daniels (19 May 1971 – present)
* Captain Rick Charles Alzell (2 June 1986 – present)

### Junior commanders

* Captain Kine Denny Howard (13 June 1988 – present)
* First Lieutenant Coo Wiley Davis (21 January 1987 – present)
* First Lieutenant Pitch Leslie Moran (16 May 1984 – present)
* Second Lieutenant Nago Louis Bosley (20 April 1985 – present)
* Second Lieutenant Charmaine Harmony “ChuChu” Baylor (12 July 1989 – present)

### Non-commissioned officers

* Technical Sergeant Stanley Richard Chifley (30 July 1981 – present)
* Staff Sergeant Leslie Wiley Pharris (15 August 1987 - 1 November 2021) (served as a platoon leader as Staff Sergeant, before demotion)
* Staff Sergeant Tiffany Rabiria “Tiff” Dolabella (24 December 1986 - present) (according to former Star Rod Company commanding officer Major Anselm Henry, Dolabella was one of the best soldiers he ever commanded)
* Staff Sergeant Thomas Isaac Carlton (13 March 1955 – 17 April 2023)
* Sergeant Emmanuel Chris "Popeye" Paul Jr. (10 July 1971 – present)
* Corporal Walter Dean "Smokey" Gravatt (15 April 1980 – present)
* Corporal Sirica Polaris Cato (31 December 1992- present)

### Enlisted men

* Sergeant Kenyon Zion Sanders (20 July 1966 - present)
* Private First Class Noah Lewis Hardaway (16 May 1977 – present)
* Private First Class Zachariah Antonio Grant (3 August 1979 – present)
* Private First Class Chester Adam Rochester (2 June 1960 – present)
* Private Sebastianus Verres Dolabella (1 January 1982 – present)
* Private First Class Lexington Henry Scott Sr. (4 September 1963 – present).