seruriermarshal
05-12-2004, 07:28 AM
278th Armored Cavalry Regiment called to active duty
278th Armored Cavalry Regiment called to active duty
Wednesday, May 12, 2004
By Staff and wire report
Tennessee's largest National Guard combat force is being mobilized for active duty, officials said Tuesday.
The 278th Armored Cavalry Regiment is an approximately 4,000-soldier force outfitted with enough tanks and armored vehicles to fill 585 railcars.
The last time the full regiment was deployed was the Korean War. However, some troops in the regiment served in the first Gulf War.
The Knoxville-based regiment has squadron headquarters in Athens, Kingsport and Cookeville and 30 armories scattered across Middle and East Tennessee - including a headquarters detachment in Rogersville, Troop F in Bristol, Troop G in Greeneville, Troop E in Newport, and Company H in Erwin.
"Their combat mission would be reconnaissance and security," Randy Harris, public information officer for the Tennessee Army National Guard, told the Times-News in March when the regiment was first placed on alert.
"They are a self-contained armored cavalry regiment," Harris said.
The units will mobilize at their home stations in a phased-in process June 7-26, Harris said. "Within a few days of their mobilization date they will move to their mobilization site at Camp Shelby (Mississippi)," Harris said.
Officials have not announced where the regiment's mission will be. Currently there are about 138,000 U.S. forces in Iraq. That number was to be reduced to about 115,000 this spring, but a surge in anti-occupation violence caused officials to bolster the force.
The 278th claims its roots in the pre-Revolutionary War militia that defended East Tennessee settlers from the Creek and Cherokee Indians. It takes its motto "I volunteer, sir!"
from the Tennessee militiamen who fought in the 1846 War with Mexico.
Formed as the 278th Armored Infantry Battalion after World War II from a unit that fought at Normandy, the 278th Regimental Combat Team was last activated fully on Sept. 1, 1950, for the Korean War. It was released from federal service in 1954.
In recent years, the regiment provided flood assistance in Memphis, helped recover an F-14 fighter jet that crashed in Nashville in 1996, provided security at the Ocoee whitewater events for the 1996 Olympics, fought fires and aided search-and-rescue efforts in the Smoky Mountains, and helped secure airports after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. The regiment received extensive training in desert combat in 2002 during maneuvers at the Army's National Training Center in Fort Irwin, Calif., in the Mohave Desert.
278th Armored Cavalry Regiment called to active duty
Wednesday, May 12, 2004
By Staff and wire report
Tennessee's largest National Guard combat force is being mobilized for active duty, officials said Tuesday.
The 278th Armored Cavalry Regiment is an approximately 4,000-soldier force outfitted with enough tanks and armored vehicles to fill 585 railcars.
The last time the full regiment was deployed was the Korean War. However, some troops in the regiment served in the first Gulf War.
The Knoxville-based regiment has squadron headquarters in Athens, Kingsport and Cookeville and 30 armories scattered across Middle and East Tennessee - including a headquarters detachment in Rogersville, Troop F in Bristol, Troop G in Greeneville, Troop E in Newport, and Company H in Erwin.
"Their combat mission would be reconnaissance and security," Randy Harris, public information officer for the Tennessee Army National Guard, told the Times-News in March when the regiment was first placed on alert.
"They are a self-contained armored cavalry regiment," Harris said.
The units will mobilize at their home stations in a phased-in process June 7-26, Harris said. "Within a few days of their mobilization date they will move to their mobilization site at Camp Shelby (Mississippi)," Harris said.
Officials have not announced where the regiment's mission will be. Currently there are about 138,000 U.S. forces in Iraq. That number was to be reduced to about 115,000 this spring, but a surge in anti-occupation violence caused officials to bolster the force.
The 278th claims its roots in the pre-Revolutionary War militia that defended East Tennessee settlers from the Creek and Cherokee Indians. It takes its motto "I volunteer, sir!"
from the Tennessee militiamen who fought in the 1846 War with Mexico.
Formed as the 278th Armored Infantry Battalion after World War II from a unit that fought at Normandy, the 278th Regimental Combat Team was last activated fully on Sept. 1, 1950, for the Korean War. It was released from federal service in 1954.
In recent years, the regiment provided flood assistance in Memphis, helped recover an F-14 fighter jet that crashed in Nashville in 1996, provided security at the Ocoee whitewater events for the 1996 Olympics, fought fires and aided search-and-rescue efforts in the Smoky Mountains, and helped secure airports after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. The regiment received extensive training in desert combat in 2002 during maneuvers at the Army's National Training Center in Fort Irwin, Calif., in the Mohave Desert.