Got one of my own in this group, I do believe! At least I know he's in Ft Hood, he's in the 4th Infantry Division,and he's going real soon ... and he's got one proud father.
Posted on 03/25/2003 3:00:40 PM PST by Deagle5354
March 23, 2003
Fort Hood units may leave this week
BY KEVIN J. DWYER Herald Staff Writer
After years of training and months of anticipation, it now looks like the 4th Infantry Division will get the chance to put their skills to the test in Iraq.
Ending the weeks of frustrating indecision, the division's 12,500 soldiers stationed at Fort Hood are expected to begin shipping out to the Persian Gulf this week. Defense Department and Army officials said Saturday the United States had abandoned efforts to send the 4th ID into northern Iraq through Turkey.
"It's like, OK, at last," said Maj. Josslyn Aberle, the 4th ID deputy public affairs officer. "The decision has been made, the speculating is over, the waiting is over, the wondering is over. Now it's time to do our jobs."
Two defense officials said Saturday that dozens of U.S. ships carrying weaponry for the division have been redirected from their holding position off Turkey's coast to the Persian Gulf.
The soldiers are likely to go to Kuwait, the officials said. About 3,000 Fort Hood soldiers have deployed from the post since January, but the 4th ID would be the first major element to move out.
A statement released by the III Corps and Fort Hood Public Affairs Office on Fort Hood said no dates have been announced when the deployment of 4th ID soldiers will begin.
No specific destinations were announced in the news release.
The 17,000 troopers of the 1st Cavalry Division received their deployment orders March 5, but have yet to ship any equipment overseas.
Soldiers, many irritated that Turkey's refusal to allow U.S. troops on its soil kept them from opening a northern front into Iraq, said the news of their impending deployment was both relieving and sobering.
Staff Sgt. John Garfield, 31, of Atlanta said he wasn't sure how to react to the news.
"We've been sitting around for two plus months, not knowing," Garfield said Saturday after spending the morning getting outfitted with his desert camouflage uniform. "But I guess when it comes right down to it nobody wants to go. I'm in no hurry to go and get shot at."
About 40 ships carrying the 4th ID' weapons and equipment were to begin moving through the Suez Canal on Sunday, one of the defense officials said. Both spoke on condition of anonymity.
It also was possible that they could enter Iraq directly through the Gulf port of Umm Qasr, now under the control of British and U.S. Marines after clashes Friday with Iraqi forces.
"Unfortunately, the only thing worse than war is being a soldier and not being involved in it. I've been on both sides of that," said Pete Taylor.
Taylor said that although man has tried to eliminate war from the world, it has been unsuccessful in this endeavor. Taylor, of Belton, is a retired lieutenant general and former III Corps and Fort Hood commander.
"War is terrible, but if there is one, and you're a soldier, then you obviously feel the necessity to be involved in it," Taylor said. "I would suspect that there's some disappointment at not being involved."
While the question of when they might deploy overseas seems to have been answered for the 4th ID, the other question they have is what will they do when they get to Iraq?
"You have to caveat anything that you say with, 'It depends,'" said Dave Palmer, of Belton. "It depends on the way the war develops."
Palmer is a retired lieutenant general who served as a brigade commander with the 2nd Armored Division, and finished up his 36-year Army career as the superintendent of the U.S. Military Academy.
Like all military operations, Palmer said, there is a spectrum of possibilities, each with its own impact on the use of Fort Hood troops. However, Palmer did outline three broad scenarios that could involve the post's soldiers.
At one end of the spectrum of possible outcomes, Palmer said, is the chance that the Iraqi leadership is killed quickly and there is little — if any — fighting to secure the country.
"That first strike, aimed at getting Saddam, if it killed him and his sons and we've cut the head off, then the whole country could fold very, very quickly," Palmer said.
Another possibility, in the middle of the spectrum, would be that the fighting goes on for a short while, but the forces already in Iraq are able to end it quickly without needing any follow-on forces.
These follow-on forces — now the 4th ID and perhaps later the 1st Cav — Palmer said, might find themselves relieving the 3rd Infantry Division, 101st Airborne Division, and the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, which are moving north through Iraq.
As the follow-on force, the 4th ID and the 1st Cav might find themselves as the initial stabilization force in Iraq.
"That is a big place, as big as California, and there are many different factions in the country that will have a competing interest after it's over," Taylor said. "That's going to take some folks to stay there for a while."
The last possibility, Palmer said, would immediately put Fort Hood troops in harm's way.
"It could go to the point that the follow-on forces need to be put into combat, that's the worst situation," Palmer said.
The end result, Palmer said, will probably be somewhere in the middle.
"Depending on how long this lasts, (the 4th ID and 1st Cav) could be involved in the ongoing operations or something that would happen subsequently to the end of this," Taylor said. "I'm very confident that the U.S. forces will be successful, but exactly how long it will take I certainly wouldn't speculate on that.
"The 4th Infantry Division's equipment is still in the region and by all reports that I've seen the soldiers sitting back here are certainly ready to go," Taylor said. "They could be airlifted to the region very quickly and be used in some manner over there."
These possibilities, Palmer said, only covers the 1st Cav and 4th ID. They do not apply to the other units at the post. Depending on the outcome of the war, he said, it is very possible the U.S. would withdraw the majority of the fighting troops, but leave over a lot of the medical units for a while.
"There are a lot of other units that you may well need, for instance, the military police out of both organizations," Palmer said. "You may need a lot more engineers, you might need people who are involved in logistics to distribute food and supplies. You may need some of the medical people."
This is one scenario already playing out at the post, since most of the troops already deployed are from the 13th Corps Support Command.
"War is a resistant medium, things can happen that you don't foresee," Palmer said. "The old military adage is that every plan is perfect until you begin to implement it."
The Associated Press contributed to this report
Got one of my own in this group, I do believe! At least I know he's in Ft Hood, he's in the 4th Infantry Division,and he's going real soon ... and he's got one proud father.
Georgie Patton's old outfit.
LOL, well, ok, as I said, I was USAF, west of San Antonio. I just knew there was something from Ft Hood called Hell on Wheels. I was a REMF in Vietnam.
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