|
 
If you know a Veteran, someone in your family,
friend of the family, neighbor, who served their
country, take a brief moment of your day to thank them.
Thank them for the sacrifice they made
for the better good of their country.
We at Free Republic, and the USO Canteen FReeper Style,
are thankful for every service member
in our military, who has served our great nation.
So, to the men and women who answered the call,
in both times of war and peace, thank you.
|
.
Message from Snow Bunny to all those who visit the Canteen.
This is how I think of the USO Canteen Freeper Style.
It is like a cottage down a road,
a place where a weary veteran can spend the night.
Since it opened, it is magical how so many
Freepers who post here, feel it too.
It has been so dear how the Freepers
kept making it a cottage - a home-type of place
that had a huge living room
for them to visit in and a dance floor, a library, etc.
Many Veterans have written to me,
saying that the Canteen is like home
to them for the first time since they served.
This is your Canteen -
a respite from our busy
and sometimes troubling world.
Make yourself at home.
..................................................................................................................................
|
The Men of the Tenth !
From its conception in 1945 to the present,
the National Association has grown in size
and strength, proudly reflecting the traditions
of the 10th Mountain Division as one of the
most unique combat forces in American military history.
They have kept alive the camaraderie of training
and battle through their continued love of the
mountains and sport of skiing
History of the 10th
In November 1939, the Soviet Union invaded Finland.
Finnish soldiers on skis annihilated two tank divisions,
humiliating the Russians. Charles Minot (Minnie) Dole,
the president of the National Ski Patrol, saw this as a
perfect example of why the U.S. Army needed mountain
troops.
Dole spent months lobbying the War Department to train
troops in mountain and winter warfare. In September 1940,
Dole was able to present his case to General George C. Marshall,
the Army Chief of Staff, who caused the Army take action on
Dole’s proposals to create ski units.
On December 8, 1941, the Army activated its first mountain
unit, the 87th Mountain Infantry Battalion (Later became an
entire Regiment) at Fort Lewis, Washington. The unit was
dubbed "Minnie’s Ski Troops" in honor of Dole.
The 87th trained on Mount Ranier’s 14,408 foot peak.
The National Ski Patrol took on the unique role of recruiting
for the 87th Infantry Regiment and later the Division. After
returning from the Kiska Campaign in the Aleutian Islands
near Alaska the 87th formed the core of the new Division.
10th Mountain Division - World War II
This unique organization came into being on July 13, 1943,
at Camp Hale, Colorado as the 10th Light Division (Alpine).
The combat power of the Division was contained in the
85th, 86th, and 87th Infantry Regiments. The Division’s year
training at the 9,200 foot high Camp Hale honed the skills of
its soldiers to fight and survive under the most brutal mountain conditions.
Division Shoulder Patch
The shoulder patch for the 10th was approved on January 7, 1944.
The blue background of the patch and the crossed bayonets suggest
the infantry, the bayonets also form a Roman number "X" (10)
representing the unit’s number. The overall shape of the patch is
of a powder-keg suggesting the Division’s explosive power.
Red, white, and blue suggest the national colors.
The word "MOUNTAIN" is white on a blue tab affixed directly above the patch.
.
The division entered combat on January 28, 1945 in the
North Apennine Mountains of Italy. The division faced
German positions arrayed along the 5 mile long
Monte Belvedere-Monte della Torraccia ridge.
Other divisions had attempted to assault Mount Belvedere
three times, even holding it temporarily, but none had succeeded.
To get to Mount Belvedere the division first had to take a ridge line
to the west known to the Americans as the Riva Ridge. The Germans
on Riva Ridge protected the approaches to Mount Belvedere. The assault
on Riva Ridge was the task of the 1st Battalion and F Company, 2d Battalion,
86th Mountain Infantry. After much scouting, it was decided the assault
would be at night, a 1,500-vertical-assent. The Germans considered the
bridge to be impossible to scale and manned it with only one battalion of
mountain troops. The attack by the 86th on February 18, 1945, was a
complete success and an unwelcome surprise to the Germans.
ROCCA CORNETTA AREA, ITALY.
The morning and afternoon preceding the attack on
Mount Serrasiccia, these men of the 86th Infantry Regiment,
10th Mountain Division, trained for mountain fighting, lay
down in an Appenine snow bank and sleep. 18 Feb 1945
A machine gunner and two riflemen of Co K,
87th Mountain Infantry, 10th Mountain Division,
cover an assault squad routing Germans out of a
building in the background. Sassomolare Area, Italy.
Porretta Moderna Highway. 4 March 1945.
Mount Belvedere was assaulted next. Belvedere was
heavily manned and protected with minefields.
Shortly after the 86th assault on the Riva Ridge,
the 85th and 87th Regiments made a bayonet attack
without covering artillery fire on Belvedere beginning
on February 19th.
Again the surprise of the assault was successful and after
a hard fight, the peak was captured. Realizing the importance
of the peak, the Germans made seven counterattacks over two days.
After the first three days of intense combat, the division lost
850 casualties to include 195 dead. The 10th had captured
over 1,000 prisoners.
The 10th was now in a position to breach the German's
Apennine Mountain line, take Highway 65 and open the way to the Po Valley
On April 14, 1945, the final phase of the war in Italy began.
With the 85th and 87th leading, the 10th Mountain Division
attacked toward the Po Valley spearheading the Fifth Army drive.
The fighting was fierce with the loss of 553 mountain infantryman
killed, wounded, or missing in the first day.
The 10th completely destroyed five elite German divisions.
In 114 days of combat, the 10th Division suffered casualties
of 992 killed in action and 4,154 wounded.
The Division had the mission of processing and training new
soldiers for service with other Army units. The outbreak of
the Korean Conflict in June 1950, enlarged this mission.
A total of 123,000 men completed basic training with the
10th during the period 1948-1953.
In January 1954, the Department of Army announced that
the 10th Division would become a combat infantry division,
and be sent to Europe under a new rotation policy.
The Division was officially reactivated on February 13, 1985,
at Fort Drum, New York as the 10th Mountain Division
The 10th Mountain Division (LI) was designed to meet a
wide range of worldwide infantry-intensive contingency missions.
Desert Shield/Storm 1990-1991
Although the 10th didn’t deploy to Southwest Asia as a unit,
about 1,200 10th Mountain Division soldiers did go.
Hurricane Andrew Relief - Florida 1992
Hurricane Andrew struck South Florida on August 24, 1992,
killing 13 people, rendering an estimated 250,000 people <>br> homeless and causing damages in excess of 20 billion dollars.
On September 27, 1992, the 10th Mountain Division assumed
responsibility for Hurricane Andrew disaster relief as Task
Force Mountain. Division soldiers set up relief camps, distributed
food, clothing, medical necessities and building supplies as well
as helping to rebuild homes and clear debris. The last of the 6,000
Division soldiers to deployed to Florida returned home in October 1992.
2-14th Infantry Battalion Aids Rangers - 3-4 October 1993
On 3 October, Special Operations Task Force Ranger (TFR)
conducted a daylight raid on an enemy stronghold, deep in
militia-held Mogadishu. The Rangers had successfully captured
some of warlord Mohammed Farah Aidid’s key aides but went
to the aid of an aircraft shot down by enemy fire.
They were quickly surrounded by Somali gunmen. The 2-14th
Infantry quick reaction force (QRF) was dispatched to secure
the ground evacuation route. As darkness fell, the 2-14th Infantry
was reinforced with coalition armor and for three hours they fought
a moving gun battle from the gates of the Port to the Olympic Hotel
and the Ranger perimeter.
The 2-14th had a total of twenty-nine soldiers wounded and
one killed. Task Force Ranger suffered nineteen killed, fifty-seven
wounded, and one missing (captured, later returned alive).
Estimates of Somali militia losses were three hundred killed
and over seven hundred wounded. With six and a half hours
of continuous fighting, this was the longest sustained firefight
by regular US forces since the Vietnam War.
Three Charlie Company soldiers provide security
while their fellow soldiers load into UH-60 Black Hawk
helicopters during company air assault training at
Camp McGovern, Bosnia and Herzegovina, on April 30, 1997.
Operation Enduring Freedom
101st Airborne Division &
10th Mountain Division
in heaviest fighting of the war
March 3, 2002
U.S. bombers blasted the cavernous mountains of
eastern Afghanistan for a third day Sunday, pressing
a new offensive against al-Qaida and Taliban fighters
believed to be regrouping there.
On Saturday, Afghan and American forces attacked
hundreds of suspected Al Qaeda and Taliban fighters
in eastern Afghanistan March 2, in some of the heaviest
fighting of the war. Several hundred soldiers from the Army's
101st Airborne Division and 10th Mountain Division
were deployed in the battle area, the first time that regular
Army troops have played such an important combat role
in Afghanistan.
The Afghans deployed about 1,500 troops and carried out
the brunt of the fighting, Pentagon officials said. They were
aided by American warplanes, as well as American Special
Operations forces and troops from allied countries, which
the Pentagon did not identify.
The fierce battle began under the cover of darkness, unfolded <>br> throughout the day and on into Saturday night in a snowy
mountainous area southeast of Gardez in Paktia Province,
where American intelligence reports have indicated that
perhaps 500 heavily armed Al Qaeda fighters and non-Afghan
Taliban have been regrouping in recent weeks.
Afghan reports put the figure even higher, and
said there had been casualties on both sides.
The attack was the largest joint Afghan and
American operation in the conflict in Afghanistan.
An American military spokesman at Kandahar,
>center> Major A. C. Roper, described the attack as the
continuation of American operations to track down
Taliban and Al Qaeda forces that have been under
way in eastern Afghanistan since the war began in October.
The battle was visible from a 6,000-foot pass about 15 miles
east of the city. Travelers said they had watched as B-52's,
visible against clear skies, pounded an area near the village
of Shahi Kowt, in the Zormat district about 25 miles south of Gardez.
They said they had also seen American attack helicopters
firing in the distance, and huge flashes from impacting bombs
and artillery. American planes dropped at least two experimental
2,000-pound bombs that sent a blast of pressure and fire deep
into caves where enemy fighters were believed to be hiding.
Two 2,000-pound "thermobaric" bombs dropped March 2 use an
experimental warhead designed to send a blast of pressure and
incinerating heat into deep caves.
The penetrating warhead, called
a BLU-118B, scatters a wide cloud of explosive
particles before detonating. A small number of the
new weapons were rushed to Afghanistan after
a successful test in Nevada in mid-December, and
Saturday March 2,2002 marked the first time
they were used in combat.
U.S. Army soldiers from the 10th Mountain Division
arrive at Bagram military airbase outside Kabul,
Afghanistan, on Saturday. The soldiers were
returning from combat in the Paktia province.
|
|
