Army division headquarters to deploy to Iraq
The Army Times reports that Army Chief of Staff Ray Odierno confirmed to them that an Army Division Headquarters will deploy to Iraq to control operations there;
The division headquarters deploying to Iraq is expected to be responsible for coordinating the efforts of the 1,600 troops President Obama has sent to Iraq. Many of these troops are advising and assisting the Iraqi Security Forces, others are providing extra security, while others are providing intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities. The headquarters also is expected to head up the joint operations center that since July has been run by Maj. Gen. Dana Pittard, the deputy commanding general for operations for U.S. Army Central.
Yeah, well, I’m sure they need a Division HQs just to manage a battalion’s worth of people. Water getting warmer, fellow lobsters?
Category: Army News
But they will be wearing running shoes, not boots.
Don’t forget……PT Belts solve all problems.
That’s body armor.
Actually, det cord solves all problems. Don’t believe me? Check this out:
One more try:
There is another explanation. The “no boots on the ground” mantra has been killing the Army with respect to the budget cut proportionality. The CSA has likely found a means to create a demand signal for an Army division that he can then carry to Congress during the budget cycle and argue that money needs to come back to the Army.
Looks like president mom-jeans and his clown car posse administration have already blown through the JFK part and are about to go full LBJ. Never go full LBJ.
I mean, they’ve already set up the Robert McNamara ROE, so it looks like mom-jeans is going to get his full-on Vietnam experience, and again, we’ll need a conservative to come in a clean up the mess.
http://www.duffelblog.com/2014/09/pentagon-advisers-iraq-syria/
“F-16 Fighting Advisory Falcon”. That’s just fantastic.
Anyone know Steve?
Oh well. At least I have all my OCIE packed up and ready. I hope I can spend some time with my family before I go out on this one. Question: So if I stay in the MRAP, does that mean that my boots aren’t “on the ground?”
🙂
Don’t get out of the MRAP, and don’t go poking around in the dirt.
Uh, Ex, by definition, Engineers poke around in the dirt!
🙂
I know what you mean though. We’ll see how this plays out after I’m home from my current escapades!
So now we get another season of ‘Bomb Patrol’?
Funny story: bomb patrol came out right before I shipped to Afghanistan. When I landed in country I later found out my AO was the same road called “route xray” on the show
thank god for EOD… when they do show up
Looks like I’m winning that bet. I’m such a cynic, but I knew this was coming.
Is there anything here that does NOT parallell Vietnam? Or the Crusades? Oh, wait – the Pope hasn’t made a potboiler speech to incite the people to swarm the Middle East as yet.
Maybe bodaprez will do that.
“Hey, you young folks, I’m callin’ on you, um, all of you, to uh, you know, um, trot right down to the um, er… well, you know, we all have to do our dooty, and some of you are ot of work, so whaddaya say I forgive student tuition loan debts, taxes, grant um, er, a bunch of pardons for lesser, well, lesser criminal offenses, stuff like that, if you just go down to the recruit office and sign on the, um, the uh, dotted line, or whatever it is, and make it for the duration, so you don’t have to make um, er, a career out of it.”
This is basically what Pope Urban II did on Nov. 27, 1095 with his potboiler speech at the Council of Clermont, France.
Ex-PH2…So much like Vietnam I can taste the old C-Rats again! If we had Swift Boats there we could use Kerry again. Maybe he could put himself in for the MoH this time! A Division HQ for 1600 troops? That is upside down and backwards command structure. Since most of this is going across Johnson and McNamara’s, uh, I mean Obama and Hagel’s desk first, why the need for a Division HQ? But I believe we all know the truth. That being they KNOW and HAVE KNOWN, they are going to be sending large numbers of “boots on the ground” and are simply prepping for their arrival.
When are they going to call it MACI? If they staff up the green zone then we could have the Big MACI Attacky.
We have carriers offshore (Yankee Station), we are talking about an air offensive (B52s anyone?), what are the chances that the Marines will land like Somalia or Da Nang? We have McNamara and LBJ. Syria can play Laos and Cambodia. Jordan or Saudi can play Thailand. They f*cked it up before so why not do it again?
Yesh, it’s like 1964 all over again, isn’t it?
Shoot, I think the pope did so go kill them (this pope, I mean), or words to that effect.
^say
(or at least, say they needed killing).
Who is Jonn’s new W.VA BFF in the Facebook posting? Potty mouthed young lady eh?
That’s our old friend, Obama’s Girl.
Oh. I can’t keep up with all these folks. Need a who’s-who card.
Can’t wait until tomorrow morning. Been an awesome week here so far.
Oh. Well, if I had known she was a friend, I would have been a little more condescending in my response.
She should be glad she didn’t meet up with the same guy that Scientology’s lead lawyer (also a female) did a few years ago. That guy came up with a great moniker for that mouthpiece: “the Whore of Babble-on”.
And no, that wasn’t me. Hell, I’d be proud of coining that nickname for a hired mouthpiece spouting obvious bullsh!t.
Hmm. Now, little Nicole here does harp incessantly with her repeating, one-note song like a broken record (get someone older to ‘splain that to ya, little Nicole). But I’m not sure that nickname fits quite as well in this case.
Another silly twat trying to be relevant when she is in fact totally irrelevant to any conversation of weight.
Ill informed lefties with a world view that will get them killed, perhaps she could lead the negotiating team using her entire repertoire of cognizant diplomatic excellence to create a rapport with the members of a group that demonizes diplomacy as a waste of energy in the pursuit of their aims. Little Nicole can keep pretending there are solutions that don’t involve violence, in this case that’s a lie to herself that she apparently must repeat regularly to keep her fantasy alive in her head….
Yes-they have “worshipped the Gods of the Market Who promised these beautiful things”. And it’s ending just as Kipling predicted with terror and slaughter. But they won’t learn-“…the Dog returns to his Vomit and the Sow returns to her Mire, And the burnt Fool’s bandaged finger goes wabbling back to the Fire.”
If you look at her FB page she is just a nasty person about everything…not one even halfway decent post.
Nice tits though.
And therein lies the problem, lots of horny guys telling her she’s brilliant because they want to play with those titties….sadly she believes them without realizing that without those nice titties nobody would ever care what stupid shit dribbles out of her mouth unless it was ejected by their peckers…
It’s always folks that have never served anyone but themselves. They somehow think they can “push the reset button” with 5th century people who would just love to see their head on a stake. Coddled from birth and knee-jerk liberal.
Everyone get your reflective belts ready. And stop carrying your weapon so aggressively on the FOB!
She pops in every once in a while to prove that she is an ignorant little bitch.
“We have to realize this is a long-term threat, this is a long-term commitment,” he said. “If you don’t believe they want to attack the West and America, you’re kidding yourself. That is their goal.”
Yep, thinking a 12 year adventure would re-arrange 1000 years of animosity was perhaps a bit naive….think Korea, or Japan, or Germany…think 50-70 years to stabilize the region and create governments that can handle an exchange of power without violence.
Otherwise be prepared for rinse and repeat for all eternity.
In at least Japan and Germany, we bombed the crap out of their infrastructure and told them that if they tried it again, we’d do worse next time. Korea we didn’t and look where it got us. Vietnam, too.
My question is how many under employed E9s will be sent with the division hq to monitor the activities of those 1,600 troops? After all, safety belts first and AR 670-1 must judiciously enforced.
Don’t forget about making sure that all the soldiers are wearing APEL approved eyewear!
Priorities, people!
Oh, and don’t forget about enforcing proper radio etiquette……OVER!
I thought that was just when you spoke to a certain NOT-A-CPO and NOT-AN-ATTORNEY.
Will the Green Bean Emergency Response Team deploy with the division HQ?
LOL-lots of unemployed TCNs out there are hoping so.
Yep, TCNs and Rip-Its! Woo-Hoo!
Meester, meester-you have reep-it?
Yeah, I need you to move those 20 T-walls with this 4 foot crowbar by lunchtime.
You have reep-it? OK, no problem my friend!
OK, an exaggeration, but not too far off.
Yeah, that’s an exaggeration… it’s only about fifteen.
Translation please. TCN. Rip-its. Green Bean Emergency Response Team.
Didn’t have this stuff in DomRep or Nam (as Si would say). We did have SGM’s/Field Grades making sure we took the malaria pill and sleeves down at night.
And T-walls.
SJ:
TCN: third-country national. Typically hired as subcontractors by contractors supporting US forces as a cost-savings measure.
Green Beans: coffee shop on US bases in-theater in the Persian Gulf.
Rip-It: brand of high-caffeine energy drink popular in Iraq with US troops
T-wall: concrete structure formed out of concrete and shaped like an inverted letter “T”. They were typically 5 to 10 feet high and were placed with the apex of the “T” down. They were used for ballistic protection of soft structures (offices, tents, trailers, CHUs) and other items.
Hope this helps.
TCN-Third Country National. Did all of the menial work. Paid less than $0.50/day (like supporting one of Sally Struthers children). Hiring TCNs allowed KBR/Halliburton to charge the government outrageous amounts for contracts.
Rip-It’s-quite possibly the foulest tasting liquid substance known to man. Distilled from the sweat of dependapotamuses (dependopottami?) and sofa bisons. Think methamphetamine in a can without the socially redeeming properties of meth.
Green Beans-Coffee (?) shop on FOBs for the non-hackers who couldn’t handle the power of Rip Its.
T-Walls-Large concrete barriers for protection around important facilities like shitters and Green Beans coffee shops. Main purpose is blocking any chance of a breeze and providing drawing surface for bored grunts (usually had socially redeeming messages such as “Wagner Loves Cock” and crude drawings of penises).
Both of you had the same answers but Stacy’s was funny! Thanks guys.
I forgot about “Wagner loves cock”. There are 2 guys named Wagner in my Company and they both took offense when they saw that on a couple of T-walls. It was hysterical. For you older vets, that is the modern day equivalent of “Kilroy was here!”
Amazingly, I actually knew a Wagner 71L back in the ’80s whose (attractive) wife caught him in bed – with another guy. He apparently actually did….
Ah yes, “Wagner loves the cock”…that stuff was scrawled over the port-a-crappers we just used in 29 Palms this summer. Urban legend has the story being some young buck named Wagner loved working in the Combat Operations Center and actually said he loves the COC….hence where “Wagner Loves the Cock” actually comes from…maybe??
The things I saw on T-Walls was about a week before we redeployed. It said “enjoy it while you can princess in a week you will be ugly again”.
I feel the need to ask the folks here who know (because I don’t), is there any reason to send a division HQ to a war zone if you’re not sending a division there?
Racist of you to ask that. /s
ONLY other reasons I can think of (besides in preping to move a full Division in):
1. To justify the reason for keeping high level Officer and Enlisted billets on the books, while the cuts in trigger pullers continue.
-or-
2. As a crap assignment for people who have “wronged” the powers that be. I.e. if you don’t settle down and toe the party line your next command or staff duty will be to this location.
However in either case a full Divisional HQ appears to be overkill if there isn’t some plans on the books to move in the full Division.
But then again it is the Army so who knows….
-Ish
Remember, 0bama thinks that cutting a force makes it more elite… especially if you cut the actual combat-weathered troops.
If something is called a Division HQ, it sounds big and important. In that part of the world, you are important if you make yourself look and sound important.
Unfortunately, the Golfer-in-Chief has no actual knowledge of anything military other than they hold umbrellas and you have to move your right hand up a little when they salute you.
He doesn’t know that a Division HQ is only necessary is making paperwork and taking up the downtime of Joe after he has spent the past eighteen hours humping a ruck through hell.
A division is the lowest GO command with all the plug ins to C2 Joint, interagency, and Combined operations and simultaneous planning. It is relatively small but can control a lot of moving parts. A brigade hq is an O6 hq and woulld be overwhelmed. It is also rapidly expandable and fits in with Army goals to show that it is the force of choice for missions like this.
How in the name of all that’s holy have I missed this piece of bodacious mammory excitement??? Blonde hair, big tits, no brains…go together like sugar and spice.
I think I figured this out, so bear with me.
Phu Bai was a small Army Security Agency for Detachment J, RRU, in 1963. In 1965, Westmoreland ordered the Marines to Phu Bai to establish it as the second Marine Corps camp.
So it went from almost nothing to a big operation after a while.
It’s cynical of me to say this, but I think that is what’s going on here. Small setup now, enlarge it for later use.
And wait for an announcement that the cutbacks and drawdowns are being cancelled.
Myself,SJ, and John Robert Mallarnee were all stationed at beautiful North Phu Bai at different times. Anybody else out there a Phu Bai victim? Or at least a visitor for awhile? We can start a Phu Bai Fan Club if we get enough members.
Does this look footage from 1968 familiar?
No,not to me. I didn’t get there until July of 71. Probably for SJ,though. Pictures of what Phu Bai looked like for me can be found on the Viet Nam Helicopter Pilots Association web site. We had big sheet metal hangars and revetments with PSP for our helicopters and two story barracks buildings for some of the occupying units,etc. All the luxuries afforded to REMF outfits/sarc. Thanks for the video,though.
Ex PH2: why yes it does cause I was there when that was filmed and I was in the 3/82nd (ABN) (SEP) that it mentions. I’m still picking clay dust out of my butt from there. If I could find the TOC I’d find my tent because good BDE SigO’s slept near the TOC. That busy road comes from Phu Bai through the 1/101st (ABN) (SEP) perimeter, then the 82nd’s as filmed and then into Camp Eagle proper, base for the 101st and where later John hung his helmet with the 501st Sig Bn of the 101st.
I might add that NONE of that was there just 3 months earlier (Jan 68), My tent was the first one in that area when they moved the 1/101 (ABN) SEP) from Song Be after Tet to there. I was in the 1/101 then and moved to the 3/82nd when they came in country in Feb.
Thanks for the memories PH!
My pleasure, SJ, and if you want more memories, Critical Past has more videos that were film officially shot during Vietnam.
Just go to criticalpast dot com. They seem to have a lot of stock footage from back then.
Well, I am retired now but I’m perfectly willing to donate the 20 pairs of eyepro and PT belts and all the RFI crap I never used that wasn’t on the clothing record. Division HQ with a BN sized force – nothing like a bunch of SNCOs wandering around looking for something(anything) to do…
Incoming bronze stars…..
They need to hurry up and give that operation a name so people can submit for their CAB/CIB.
I know the Air wing part of Phu Bai well,Hmm-362 spent about 6-9 months operating out of that base in 1967. Yes we were there for TeT. Joe
OK,Joe,that makes four of us then that are Phu Bai veterans. Who’s up for a few adult beverages and a good game of Double Deck Pinochle?
Some of you guys have been out of it too long. A DIV HQ is entirely appropriate because its the lowest echelon with an organic Big Giant Voice,radar guns capable of detecting speeds down to .02 km over the posted limit, and enough SGMs to ensure the slackard Soldiers wear their PT belt left shoulder to right hip and don’t roll up their sleeves. I also don’t think I even have to remind some of you the problems with Soldiers blousing their boots below the second eyelet or possessing nude pictures of…females. Let these important issues slide and it will be like giving ISIS a free pass. Can I get a Hooah?
Hooah!
Now that you mention the Big Giant Voice, has anyone else had the painful experience of listening to the one illiterate guy in the Mayor’s Cell trying to read the announcements? I saw the MP with speed gun at Victory (15 mph limit) and couldn’t believe my eyes LOL.
I got ya beat. The MPs at Kandahar are doing “bait car” out here and hemmed up a Company Commander and 1st Sergeant for stealing a vehicle that the MPs parked in that Commander’s compound and left there for days with the keys in it!
My jeep (M151) got stolen many a time in Nam (ht Si) at Camp Eagle but was easily found because the right side looked like a colander from mortar shrapnel. Often recovered with wet paint bumper markings. No prob because my guys stole more than they lost.
“Big Red 1” Division HQ’s headed to Iraq.
http://www.armytimes.com/article/20140925/NEWS/309250057/-Big-Red-One-HQ-will-deploy-Iraq