Rocky Mountain News (Denver, CO) January 21, 2003
FORT CARSON TROOPS GET CALL
MORE THAN 4,000 SOLDIERS LIKELY TO JOIN OTHER FORCES IN GULF
By Dick Foster, ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS
The Army ordered one of Fort Carson's largest combat units to the Middle East on Monday as part of a massive new deployment for possible war in Iraq.
The 3,800-member 3rd Brigade Combat Team received deployment orders, along with Fort Carson's 10th Combat Support Hospital and 571st Air Ambulance Medical Evacuation (Medevac) Company.
The Army released no timetable or exact destination for the deployment, but it seemed apparent Monday that they would join other troops amassing in the Persian Gulf.
In all, more than 4,000 Fort Carson troops were called up Monday, as the Army's Central Command under Gen. Tommy Franks ordered another 37,000 combat and support troops to its area of operation - Southwest Asia and the Middle East. And they were moving fast Monday for an apparent rapid departure from Fort Carson.
"A lot of people are busy today taking care of their personal stuff," said Staff Sgt. Jim Giordan, 36, who stopped at an off-post laundry to pick up uniforms before hurrying home to pack.
It is the fourth deployment for Giordan, a 16-year veteran artillery section chief who directs an eight-member team on the Army's newest 155mm self-propelled howitzer, the Paladin. He's been to Bosnia, Kosovo and Kuwait since 1996.
"We train for war, but pray for peace," he said.
"Nobody wants to go to war."
Monday's call-up included the 3rd Brigade's entire parent division, the 4th Infantry Division, an enormous fighting force of four brigades and 16,000 troops, headquartered at Fort Hood, Texas.
The 4th Infantry Division will form the nucleus of a new Task Force Iron Horse, which will include 21,000 additional combat and support personnel from 10 other military installations in the United States and Europe.
"Right now the 4th Infantry Division makes up the major combat muscle of the Task Force Iron Horse," said division spokeswoman Maj. Josslyn Aberle.
The 3rd Brigade's major fighting forces include tanks, artillery batteries and mechanized infantry in Bradley Fighting Vehicles.
The 4th Division has two other brigades with similar firepower and a fourth brigade with air support from helicopter gunships.
Fort Carson's 10th Combat Support Hospital and the 571st Medevac units, which also received deployment orders Monday, are part of Fort Carson's 43rd Area Support Group, which provides essential support operations for combat troops.The 4th Infantry Division is the second heavy Army division deployed to the Persian Gulf since the troop buildup began. In December, the 3rd Infantry Division from Fort Stewart, Ga., was ordered to Kuwait.
The gathering ground force also includes more than 17,500 Marines, with more expected to be deployed.
The 3rd Brigade's heavy equipment - tanks, artillery pieces and Bradley Fighting Vehicles - still must be loaded aboard railcars, shipped to ports and sent overseas, a three-week journey by ship.
The soldiers are expected to leave Fort Carson and arrive in the theater of operations much sooner.
To Giordan and other Fort Carson soldiers, the deployment comes as no surprise.
"Everybody's been expecting it since Sept. 11, 2001," said the divorced father of three. "We're ready to go. We'll do whatever it takes to get the job done."
Other soldiers visiting the shops outside Fort Carson's B Street gate echoed Giordan's commitment.
"I haven't gotten orders yet, but that's our job. That's what we've got to do," said a hospital worker who asked not to be identified.
"Saddam has made a lot of people and a lot of countries angry. I guess it has to be done because he'll come back again and stir things up again," said Rick Aldridge, a combat engineer with the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, a large Fort Carson combat unit that has not received deployment orders.
Aldridge is "short," due to be discharged in two weeks, after seven years in the Army. So far, the Army has not delayed his separation date.
"I'm still a soldier," said Aldridge. "If I had to go I'd have no problem with that. I'll carry out my duties."
All of the soldiers are confident that their training and equipment would enable them to prevail in combat with Iraqi forces.
Aldridge called the training "top notch," and Giordan said his unit is "well-prepared."
"This is what we train for," Giordan said.
One retired veteran of the first Iraq war, however, urged that the soldiers temper their confidence with caution.
"In training we can only simulate certain things. Nothing is 'real world' until you actually get there," said Garland Foust, a 22-year Army veteran who was part of a chemical detection unit in Operation Desert Storm in 1991.
"I think they'll do real well. I have no fear that they're not ready, but combat is a totally different situation," said Foust. "Harm's way is harm's way."
INFOBOX
FORT CARSON DEPLOYMENT
3rd Brigade Combat Team
The unit: The 3rd Brigade Combat Team is a self-contained, combat-ready force of 3,800 soldiers.
Equipment: It is equipped with a field artillary battalion using 155mm Paladin guns, an armor battalion with M-1 Abrams Tanks, two mechanized infantry battalions with Bradley Fighting Vehicles and a combat engineering battalion.
THE 10TH COMBAT SUPPORT HOSPITAL
The unit: The 10th Combat Support Hospital's mission is to provide hospitilization within the theater of combat.
Equipment: The major components of support hospitals are TEMPER Tents, which unfold to become enclosed air-conditioned shelters for operating rooms, pharmacies, laboratories, blood banks and other medical uses.
571ST MEDEVAC COMPANY
The unit: The company provides rapid emergency medical evacuation support, as well as emergency movement of personnel, equipment and supplies.
Equipment: UH-60 Blackhawk helicopters
Sources: 3rd Brigade Combat Team S-6 Office, Global Security.org. Third Army Central Command Public Affairs, Biggs Army Airflied, Associated Press
Copyright © 2003, Denver Publishing Company
