I remember that, back in 2002.  2 artillery shells hit the 110th military intelligence battalion.  Fired by the 15th Artillery Regiment, battery C of the 2nd Battalion.  Their CO was trying to run firing drills "under duress" and stressed out some green soldiers, and mistakes were made.  2 killed, 13 wounded.

Watertown sounds gross.

Our aviation battalion was assigned to them in Afghanistan.  They thought they were a lot smarter than they were. I as a guardsman was not impressed in the least. Lots of different events happened that made me glad I wasn't regular army. Extra stupid stressors for the troops. They could have easily been charged with waste fraud and abuse of millions of dollars of needed military equipment. Worst I had ever seen until potato armed the taliban.

My BIL was in 10th. He refers to the local girls as something like the Watertown buffaloes.

I forgot he was from Watertown. Certainly much more prominent than Greico.

Viggo went to SLU just before my brother.

Interesting observation.

I'd observe.  A unit is as good as the training time, $$, and continuity it is given.  Give a unit a shit load of $$, time to train and fence it off from 'outside distractions' and it will be great.

My observation from two years in the OPFOR, as XO of the 1/509th (ABN) at Ft Polk was that the Rangers were 'best in the box'  Which is pretty much what you'd expect.  Various regiments and brigades from 101st and 82nd where good--if they had time to train and were 'fenced off.'   25th ID and 10MTN were decent if plodding and methodical.  Just back from fighting forrest fires, picking up trash around post, and mowing lawns.   Each division would try to "fence off" its brigade that was headed to the CTC and give it time to bond, learn and get ready.  That worked to varying degrees.


The most interesting units to come thru the CTC were the National Guard Units.  Everyone loves to hate on the Guard.  These are guys/gals who give a IMMENSE amount of personal time to try to make their organizations work.  While I was at JRTC we had two Guard units come thru.  First was the Arkansas National Guard--The Bowie Brigade and i was in the 509th then.  Second was the Hawaii Brigade,  29th BCT and I was a O/C then

Last Rotation I did as a OPFOR guy at JRTC was against the AR NG.   We eventually realized the rotating brigade combat team had zero air defense capability.  So we proposed to jump on top of them the night of the big OPFOR armored attack.   OPS Grp approved this but said we had to infiltrate our Pathfinder Team and if they got bagged the jump was off.  We successfully infiltrated a Pathfinder team up onto Geronimo DZ and they were there with a high powered flashlight taped to some toilet paper tubes to give us a jump signal.

Jump was on!   I jumped with a M14 in weapons case (with a M60 MILES laser)   it was tough at 6' 5" to get out the door of the Colt.  Sort of had to do a crouched bunny hop!




GERONIMO

All the Devil Dogs like, “What? She cute.”

Any of you Watertown guys remember the name of the big biker party?

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I was with 3/25 AVN from 91-93, I attended PLDC and Air Assault school at Drum.

Before the new hangars at Wheeler-Sack AAF were completed the Hueys were housed in the motor pool on Drum.

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Serial killer and former OH-58 pilot, Robert Yates, also served at Drum when I was there.

That's pretty cool.

The Rangers only came through JRTC once at Ft. Chaffee, and unfortunately NBC was doing a story on it so turned into a big shit show. The attack on the POW camp in the video below is a bit of a farce. NBC was pressuring JRTC for footage and the Rangers weren't attacking, so staged the executions which turned into an international incident. The USSR lodged a formal protest, claiming they don't execute prisoners, so the "commandant" (a LT) was thrown under the bus and transferred out of JRTC.

The video is heavily edited. When they repelled down the ropes they all died, so had to do a reset and repel into a nearby field. Then when they cut through the fences they all died as well, so everybody had to pretend the Rangers made it into the compound and rescued POWs. It was all for the camera.

It starts with NTC but cuts to JRTC at about 1:55

If I recall correctly, being pushed by the commander aside, the real error was the altitude was not entered into the AFATDS.  This was early on in AFATDS being used for technical fire direction and the altitude defaulted to 0.  

If the target altitude is below the gun, the quadrant elevation needed to hit the target is lower.

Thus with a 0 altitude, they fired a lower QE that they should of which resulted in the round/s falling short.

It happens.

Watertown is as desolate as the Sahara when it comes to good looking women.

Leesville, LA is like a Victoria's Secret Christmas show by comparison.

When i was XO of the 509th we did a few things to challenge the BLUFOR (82nd, 101st, 10th MTN, 25th ID, 75th Regt, etc)

One of the "things" we did got my boss (LTC Pelizon) in a lot of trouble.  But i don't regret it.

We decided that US forces needed to deal with "false allegations"     So one rotation we buried some of our own US uniforms outside Carnis Village during a 101st rotation.  I don't remember what rotation it was.    Once we'd 'killed' enough BLUFOR to make it legitimate that we had access to BLUFOR uniforms we called a coded word into the Box around the typical jamming

Whereupon a OPFOR squad nearby Carnis went up to the drop, dug up their own US Army uniforms,    donned them and then marched into Carnis where they called all the "civilians" out.   The JRTC O/Cs that covered down on civilian interaction were the immediate target---but our real target was the rotating 101st Bde staff who we wanted to disrupt and distract by making them deal with a 'false allegation' as they were trying to transition over to the defense.

The "101st" squad leader called the Carnis civilians to line up.  Asked them who was the village chief--and promptly shot him.  Then they asked who was the local priest--and promptly shot him too when he answered.  Then the "101st" squad leader stated   "We are the 101st Airborne,  We stood tall at Bastogne.   We will kill anyone who cooperates with the enemy"  and then they walked of into the woods and changed back into their OPFOR (OG 107) uniforms

Shit storm a coming!

What we (509th) were doing was trying to disrupt the Bde Staff's planning cycle as they transitioned from the LIC phase into the defense phase  against the pending PDRA Armored attack.  We were just basically just fucking with them trying to distract them


Well!


I was at the next 1600 OPS GPR briefing when the Civil Affairs head O/C said to the COG and the CG of the 101st.  "We've had a incident at Carnis we may need to look into"      Good

Next 1600.   Civil Affairs O/C reports this looks really bad and we've turned the info over to the 101st for them to investigate--whereupon the Assistant Division Commander of the 101st says to the COG   "We're flying down a investigatory team from  Campbell to do a 15-6 investigation"    OOPs

Next 1600  the Civil Affairs O/C and the Intel head O/C  (LTC Mike Flynn) says   "we've conducted a exhaustive investigation of the brigade staff, battalion staff and the company involved, and we can't find any proof this was deliberate--or even happened.     THIS MIGHT BE A OPFOR DISINFORMATION OPERATION."

at that point everyone looked at me

The COG said---"Steve  did the 509th have anything to do with this?"  To which i replied   "Well Sir,  We did"

Jesus FUCKING Christ!   come into my office

I got my ass chewed out and I'm pretty sure LTC Pelizon (the 509th Cdr) got a letter of reprimand.  But we sure did disrupt that 101st Brigade Staff's planning cycle as they  tried to transition to a defense while dealing with a 15-6 from Campbell.



:-)

LOL the hair. is this the first them/they/nonbinary/trans in the 10th mountain?

No the fuck we're not!

The next thing we did that got us  OPFOR at Polk, in a bit of trouble involved computers

I was reading a early edition of FM 3-13 on Information Operations. This manual says the US Army must dominate the information environment in future conflicts.    Sounds like something the OPFOR should challenge to me!

So I called our 509th S-2 into my office.   Brother TriPod by call sign.    


"So Tripod, it says here in FM3-13 that the US Army will 'dominate' the information environment in future combat.  I want you to go out to every local college and internet cafe and collect as many viruses as you can find on 3.5" disks"

So on the next rotation we sent OPFOR soldiers into the box with 3.5" disks in their pockets.  They were loaded with some innocuous word doc that said "OPFOR attack plan" and as many viruses was we could find on the local market

It didn't take long

First 1600 i attended I recall LTC Flynn saying  (yeah that Flynn!) "we've got some good intel on the OPFOR

Next 1600 i attended the Signal Senior O/C was complaining how the 101st was having problems with their computer networks

Next 1600 I attended LTC Flynn and the Senior Signal guy said they'd flown a team down from Campbell and they'd traced all the problems back to some disks from the OPFOR.   Whereupon the COG and the 101st  CG looked at me.

"Steve do you know anything about this?"

Well Sir.  Actually.......


"IN MY OFFICE"


i am amazed sometimes that i progressed beyond the rank of O4.     But it sure was fun :-)

LOL!!!

That, was funny!

How was that thing not the center of a blanket party every damn night?

America is over.

@cda97

My BIL was 2/25 AVN from 89-93, but he was at Griffith AFB until they finished the hangars at Drum in 93. I think he worked on Cobras at the time (he worked on Cobras, Hueys, OH-58, Blackhawks, and Apaches throughout his 26 year career).

Did you guys interact with 2/25 at all?

We had UH-1H's, UH-60A/L and OH-58's.  I don't recall ever seeing the Cobras near us or train with us.  After I left Ft Drum my next duty assignment was with 1/25 at Schofield Barracks which was their sister Cobra unit.

Good Story!!

Yeah I’m not sure which helicopter he worked on at the time but thought he started on Cobras. I texted him to confirm his unit and mentioned this thread. He said the same as you - that 2/25 was Hueys then Blackhawks.

I like to pick on him because after 26 years Army then five years working on firefighting helicopters and for a company that demilitarizes Blackhawks for export, he finally finished college at 54 and is working….as an accountant.

I’m glad to hear they didn’t tone things down after the move to Polk. We were always pushing the rules. I got in trouble for walking into a Brigade TOC, in OPFOR uniform, rolling up some maps covered in graphics, and dropping a CS grenade as I exited the tent and hauled ass.

I still can’t believe nobody noticed I was wearing an OPFOR uniform. It was the middle of a rotation in the maneuver box. They were just way too distracted and way too tired to notice. I didn’t get yelled at because I snuck into the TOC, I got yelled at for CS’ing a full colonel. I didn’t even know he was in there, I just wanted to steal some maps…

We’d get in trouble for stealing the 82nd’s Sheridans off the drop zones, too. Stealing vehicles was a regular practice, but we had to take the vehicle’s driver with us. But in the middle of an Airborne op we weren’t waiting for the crews to show up. Right? We were Scouts so were already licensed for Sheridans….easy peasy.

The role of Loki in The Almighty Thor was his magnum opus
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You guys jumped from Russian aircraft?

1-509 used to have a few russian birds.  They, and occasionally the OCs, would jump them from time to time.

It’s a mentally deranged dude.

Don't be so gullible.  Troll pic.  That's a wig.  

Military towns sound gross.

I used to see him in the local pub.   His mom and dad lived out my way.  His mom was very very nice.  His dad was an interesting guy and had travelled the world as an engineer.   He raised deer on the farm.  Fallow deer and Sika deer iirc.  Never spoke with Viggo, I am not impressed with and don’t suck up to stars and he was always hanging out with his coterie and I had no reason to talk to him.  I just leave them to be normal people.  Edit, I should say generally I am not impressed with famous people.  I have no disfavorable opinion of Mortensen either as a person, not trying to slight him in any way.  In fact his movies were always pretty enjoyable.

I lived in that area for over a decade and never heard of Greico associated with it.

Ha!

From Bragg to Liberty
Gordon to Eisenhower
10th Mountain to The 10th Mounting?

ms gamboolgals Uncle Commer was in the 10th Mountain in WW2 fought all thru the war and survived it.  It was privilege to have known him.  He was a tough old man and I was told he was a good boxer.  I am not sure what he would think of things nowadays regarding the 10th.
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