Airborne (1997) (43 page)

These heroics are not just bravado, though. The nature of airborne warfare requires that leadership during the initial phases come from the front. For this reason, you always find the division commander being the first one out of the jump door during a parachute assault. As a matter of fact, this was how I came to meet the division’s commanding general (CG) in mid- 1996. Late one afternoon, while touring Fort Bragg, I was informed that “the CG wishes to have the pleasure of your company at dinner tonight.” After making sure that I was not the planned entrée, I quickly RSVP’d, and continued my tour. This was how I came to be seated in the rear of a C-130E Hercules cargo aircraft of the 23rd Wing over at Pope AFB early that evening. Wondering what was up, I found my curiosity rewarded a few minutes later when about fifty paratroopers in full gear started marching aboard, moving past me to sit down along the four rows of folding red-cloth-covered seats. Once they were seated, a HMMWV rolled up, and out came the CG of the 82nd Airborne Division, Major General George A. Crocker, USA. As soon as he strode up the ramp and sat down next to me, the flight crew started engines and we headed into the air, followed by several other C-130s. Once airborne, we began to talk over the noise of the four big turboprops, and I got to know something about this lean and lanky man.

Born in 1943, George Allen Crocker is a native of Russelville, Arkansas. A graduate of West Point, with a master’s degree in education from Duke University, he looks and sounds like a very serious man. With eyes like an eagle and a voice like a truck full of gravel, he is one of the current generation of division and corps commanders whose Vietnam experience came to them as young lieutenants and captains. Along the way, he managed to pick up a Silver Star, three Bronze Stars, and a Purple Heart for his service in combat. Prior to joining the 82nd as the CG in March of 1995, he had done numerous tours all around the Army, with an emphasis on airborne operations.

(Then) Major General George Crocker (left) speaks with Major General Michael Sherfield (right), the Commanding Officer of the U.S. Army’s Joint Readiness Training Center. General Crocker was the Commander of the 82nd Airborne Division in 1995 and 1996.

His tour at Fort Bragg has been a busy one, though not necessarily for the reasons that he would like. During his tenure, he has been forced to deal with a storm of publicity about racial problems within his division. Nevertheless, General Crocker is no rookie in dealing with such problems, and has gone a long way towards healing the wounds with the public and the country that the 82nd serves. He also is a man who loves to lead by example. I found this out about twenty minutes into our flight when he got up and said, “See you at dinner!” Then, donning his own parachute rig, he led the paratroops (yes, he was first out of the door!) in a mock assault onto a Fort Bragg drop zone for a delegation of community and business leaders watching on the ground. The amazing thing was that he did this with about as much concern for his safety as I might have getting into my car and driving to the market for groceries! Later that evening over dinner in a tent on the DZ, when I asked him how many such jumps he had made in his career, he pulled a notebook from his pocket and calmly commented, “Oh ... about two hundred and fifty ... and could you pass me the steak sauce, please?”

The 82nd Airborne is currently configured as a normal “triangular” military force, which means that the major units are designed to break down into threes. For example, the division can break into three equally powerful brigade task forces. In turn, each of these brigades can further divide into a trio of reinforced battalions. This triangular system has been standard in the U.S. Army since the Second World War. It provides a maximum of flexibility for the division and corps commanders, as well as the National Command Authorities (NCAs). However, before we get too deeply em-broiled in organization charts and unit designations, it is important that you understand some of the standard building blocks that make up a standard U.S. Army infantry unit.

An organization chart of the 82nd Airborne Division.

The primary building block of any airborne unit is the fire team. This is a four-man unit which provides the basic maneuver unit for the airborne, and all the other infantry units in the Army. A fire team is composed of two troopers armed with basic M16A2 combat rifles, another with an M16A2 equipped with an M203 40mm grenade launcher, and a fourth with an M249 Squad Automatic Weapon (SAW). Mines, hand grenades, and AT-4 rocket launchers would also be carried, depending upon the mission and the established rules of engagement (ROE). Usually led by a sergeant (E-5), the fire team is the result of over two centuries of infantry tactical development in the U.S., and is the most powerful unit of its kind in the world today. With three combat rifles, a light machine gun, and a grenade launcher, the fire team can generate an incredible amount of lethal firepower, and still be both mobile and agile. Perhaps even more importantly, every team member has a weapon firing common NATO-standard 5.56mm ammunition, which greatly simplifies the logistics chain all the way up to Corps. When deployed, the fire team tends to work in pairs (much like fighter planes in combat), with one M16A2-armed trooper being paired with the SAW gunner, and the other being paired with the grenadier.

If you pair up two fire teams and give them a command element consisting of a staff sergeant (E-6—known as a squad leader), then you have an infantry squad. Now things begin to get a little more involved. If you combine three squads and a weapons squad under a lieutenant (O-½) and first sergeant (E-5), along with a radio operator and forward observer, you get an infantry platoon. The weapons squad is normally made up of two M240G 7.62mm medium machine gun teams, as well as a pair of Javelin (starting in 1997 these will begin to replace the old Dragon) anti-tank/bunker missile teams. This gives the platoon the ability to engage armor, lay down suppressive fire, or to engage targets at good ranges. This is the smallest unit that would normally have a radio and GPS receiver, as well as some sort of transport like a HMMWV to act as a command/resupply vehicle.

Take three infantry platoons and give them a command element composed of a captain (O-3), command sergeant (E-8), a pair of 60mm mortar teams, and a small command staff, and you get an infantry company. Properly laid out, a company might hold a line between 500—1,000 meters/550—1,100 yards in length.

The next step is to build an infantry battalion, which is composed of three of the aforementioned infantry companies (usually designated “A” through “C”), and an anti-armor, or “Delta” (“D”) company. The Delta company is usually composed of five platoon-sized units, each of which has a mix of weapons mounted on HMMWVs. These include M2 .50-caliber machine guns, Mk 19 40mm automatic grenade launchers, and TOW antitank missile launchers. The anti-armor company is also equipped with four 81mm mortars to provide organic fire support for the battalion. This unit (with about 600+ troopers) would be commanded by a lieutenant colonel, and he would be assisted by a battle staff equipped for round-the-clock operations, as well as the necessary communications to work as part of a brigade task force. Along with the personnel and their weapons would be a handful of vehicles (HMMWVs and five-ton trucks), as well as the staff and equipment needed to establish a small tactical operations center (TOC). Usually a brigade is made up of three infantry battalions, an artillery battalion, a support battalion, an aviation element, as well as some other attached units. More on this later. With our lesson in infantry building blocks completed, it is time for us to begin our tour of the 82nd Airborne Division.

We’ll start our tour with the command section of the Headquarters and Headquarters Company (HHC). This is the nerve center for the division, and the primary source of tasking for the various units in the “All-Americans.” Normally based at the division headquarters, the HHC forms the staff for the 82nd’s TOC when deployed to the field. The HHC is formed into a typical staff structure of numbered sections. These include:

The core of the division’s combat power is resident in the three organic infantry regiments assigned to the 82nd. These are the 504th and 505th Parachute Infantry Regiments (PIRs), and the 325th Airborne Infantry Regiment (AIR). All share a common heritage dating back to the massive airborne operations of World War II. By the way, if you are wondering about the difference in the names, there is a story behind that. The 504th and 505th have always been parachute infantry units. The 325th, though, was originally formed as one of the glider infantry units that went into battle with the 82nd and 101st. Therefore, in spite of the fact that all three regiments are jump-qualified, the 325th is called an airborne, not parachute, regiment. There is a bit of resentment in the 325th about this, and troopers of the 504th and 505th like to kid them about “riding” into combat. Such is the mystique of the 82nd that two words, “airborne” and “parachute,” can still arouse emotions five decades after the last combat glider landing.

An infantry regiment (with about twenty-two hundred troopers) is composed of three infantry battalions. Each regiment is headed by a colonel (O-6), who is assisted by a command sergeant major (E-8/9) as well as an HHC staff. They also provide the brigade task forces with the bulk of their HHC staff when those are deployed for action. This is why each regimental commander is “dual hatted” with the extra job of commanding a brigade task force as well. Currently, the 1st Brigade of the 82nd (1/82) contains the 504th PIR, the 2/82 the 325th AIR, and the 2/82 the 505th PIR.

The three infantry regiments provide the core of the brigades. In addition, the division has a number of other organic units that can be used to provide additional combat power and capability to the brigades. Some of these include: