| 81st Heavy Brigade Combat Team | |
|---|---|
81st Armored Brigade Combat Team shoulder sleeve insignia |
|
| Active | 1917 – Present |
| Allegiance | United States |
| Branch | United States Army |
| Type | Heavy |
| Role | Armored warfare |
| Size | Brigade |
| Part of | Washington Army National Guard |
| Garrison/HQ | Seattle, Washington |
| Nickname | Washington Rifles |
| Mascot | Dirty Bird |
| Engagements | Operation Iraqi Freedom |
| Commanders | |
| Current commander |
COL Christopher J. Fowler |
| Insignia | |
| Distinctive Unit Insignia | |
The 81st Heavy Brigade Combat Team is a modular brigade of the United States Army National Guard based in Washington and California and is subordinate to the 40th Infantry Division.
Contents |
The Brigade contains six battalions and a Headquarters and Headquarters Company. It assumed its current organizational structure in late 2005, after its return from Iraq and Kuwait.
The 81st Armored Brigade (Separate), Washington Army National Guard, came into existence on 1 January 1968 under the command of Brigadier General Albert Kaye. But its origins go back to World War I.
In the process of mobilizing for overseas deployment in 1917, the Army determined that it needed large maneuver formations – divisions. Divisions were formed from existing small units; the 41st Division comprised National Guard elements from eight western states including Washington, Oregon, and Idaho. The combat regiments in each division were collected into one artillery and two infantry brigades.
The 41st was one of the earliest divisions to embark for Europe in December 1917, but once there, it was tabbed to train and process replacements to fill out the rosters of other arriving divisions. Additionally, it was tasked as a depot division. While many of its soldiers were reassigned to the front, and its artillery brigade saw action and occupation duty, neither of its infantry brigades saw combat action.
Postwar reconstitution retained the division in the Pacific Northwest and assigned the 81st Brigade, commanding the 161st Infantry Regiment and the 163rd Infantry Regiment, to Washington. The headquarters circulated around the state to the city of the Brigade commander, moving six times in twelve years. Not until 1936 was a headquarters company activated.
Between the wars, the brigade gained the distinction of procuring, and then recommending for general Army adoption, a unit communications system fabricated by the Spokane Radio Company. 1937 divisional maneuvers preceded the September, 1940 activation for World War II. Shortly after Pearl Harbor, the division converted from a "square" (4-regiment) to "triangular" (3-regiment) configuration, losing its 161st Infantry Regiment to the 25th Infantry Division. At this point, the component brigades were removed in favor of the more flexible regimental combat team approach.
It took the demise of the 41st Division to bring about the return of the 81st Brigade. In the mid-'60s, the Defense Department, under Secretary Robert McNamara, moved seriously toward abolishing the National Guard altogether. As part of the process, the 41st was disbanded. But McNamara's band of system analysts was thwarted – in part by politics, in part by the Vietnam War. For many Guard units which had belonged to multi-state divisions, this change meant activation of separate brigades. The 81st in Washington and 41st (not 82nd) in Oregon, picked up the heritage of their respective elements. At this point, the 161st Infantry, which had been restored to the Division upon postwar reactivation in the 1940s, again became the core fighting element of the 81st.
In 1971, a reorganization converted the brigade into mechanized infantry, deleted the 2nd Battalion, 161st Infantry and added the 1st Battalion, 303rd Armor. As the latest DOD concept of Total Force completed the repudiation of McNamara's failed plan, an "affiliation program" began that linked the units of the brigade (for training) to sister units of the 9th Infantry Division at Fort Lewis. At least one Army officer recalls the partnership between a battalion from the 9th and (future State Adjutant General) Lieutenant Colonel Keith Eggan's 3rd Battalion, 161st Infantry at annual training in 1973 as the very first attempt to implement the concept.
When the 9th became a "high-tech test bed" in the mid-1980s, the affiliation switched to the 4th Infantry Division. Later, the 81st became an asset of I Corps (at Fort Lewis), then assigned as an organic ("roundout") brigade to its old partner the 9th Division. While in that status, it gave up its striking Raven insignia for the division patch. When the 9th Division inactivated, a casualty of the post-Cold War force reduction, the 81st again became a separate brigade, now with a dedicated wartime mission to augment ("roundup") the 2nd Infantry Division in the Republic of Korea.
The 81st normally conducts annual training at Yakima Training Center in Eastern Washington except in 1980 when the eruption of Mount St. Helens and the subsequent ash-fallout forced training to be moved to Fort Lewis. The Governor has called-up the 81st to State Active Duty on several occasions to protect lives and property from natural disasters; in December, 1975 the 81st fought flood waters during the Snohomish River valley flood, in May, 1980 the eruption of Mt. St. Helens required Guard support, in November, 1990 the "Thanksgiving Day Floods" caused the Governor to declare 19 counties as federal disaster areas, and most recently from late July to early September, 1994 massive forest fires in Eastern Washington. At the height of "Firestorm '94" 2,300 81st personnel were fighting fires and providing support for local, state and federal agencies.
The 3,600-member 81st, one of the nation's 15 National Guard "enhanced readiness" or E-brigades, was federalized in November 2003 to enter the rotation for service in Iraq. Most of its troops, about 2,000, trained at and were sent from the US Army National Training Center in the Mojave Desert at Fort Irwin, California. Many of the 81st's armored troops have been retrained on a steep learning curve as infantry.
Prior to the departure, the brigade conducted extensive convoy operation training at Fort Lewis, the National Training Center, and Camp New York, Kuwait. 81st Brigade Combat Team soldiers set out from Kuwait equipped with tow chains, well-stocked first aid kits, and detailed plans for any type of recovery or evacuation.
As a result of their detailed preparations, the soldiers were able to handle slight mechanical break-downs that arose during the convoy north. Some vehicles that required towing were transferred to other locations for maintenance assessments while others were attached to wreckers or larger trucks and towed for the remainder of the trip north. The Military Police (MP) Platoon joined forces with other MPs to pave the way for the rest of the brigade. They controlled traffic at intersections, scanned for Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs), and provided security at check points. The MPs also ensured that the convoy stayed on its planned course. The convoy left Kuwait well-trained and ready for anything they might encounter along the way. Various elements of the 81st Brigade Combat Team were divided into multiple serials that comprised the three day journey. The first leg of the journey began at noon and lasted only a few hours. Soldiers moved to a location near the Kuwait–Iraq border where they were able to relax and brace themselves for the move into Iraq. The highlight of the first night was the food stands provided inside the camp. Hungry soldiers spent their evening waiting in the snaking lines for their pizzas and double tall mochas. Day Two began shortly after midnight, as sleepy soldiers packed up their cots and departed on the next stretch of the trip. Although energy levels were high, many soldiers struggled to stay awake and alert during the early hours of the convoy. Once the sun rose, however, soldiers were treated to a large and varied expanse of countryside, a welcome change from the seemingly endless stretches of sand they had encountered in Kuwait. As the convoy moved north, the Iraqi population gave the 81st BCT soldiers a warm reception. Along the dusty, unimproved roads in the south, people clad in the traditional flowing robes turned away from their herds of sheep and camel to wave as the serials passed. Children gestured requests for water and food and shouted greetings to the soldiers. Most of the 4,500 members of the 81st arrived in Iraq in April 2004, as fighting flared in Baghdad, Fallujah and other areas.
The 81st Brigade Combat Team accepted authority for the defense of Logistical Support Area (LSA) Anaconda in Balad from the 1st BCT of the 82nd Airborne Division during a Transfer of Authority ceremony at LSA Anaconda 18 April 2004. With numerous guests and personnel watching the ceremony, BG Oscar Hilman, 81st Brigade Combat Team Commander, accepted the job of security from Colonel Patrick Donahue II, Commander of the 82nd Airborne Division's 1st Brigade. This was the first time the 81st Brigade had served as a combat element in theater since World War II. Their movement to Iraq represented the largest deployment of the Washington State National Guard, with assigned units from California and Minnesota, since that war.
During the deployment, the 81st Brigade's units were stationed across multiple locations in and around the Baghdad area as well as Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. The 1st Battalion, 161st Infantry was stationed in the Green Zone, while the 1st Battalion, 303rd Armor, was at Camp Victory South; the 181st Support Battalion was at LSA Anaconda; the 216th Air Defense Artillery (Minnesota ARNG) at Baghdad IAP; Troop E, 303rd Cavalry at Camp Doha, Kuwait; another Armor Battalion dispersed across three sites south of Baghdad; a Field Artillery Battalion in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, and the 898th Engineer Battalion dispersed across multiple sites.
The 1st Battalion, 303rd Armor and the 1st Battalion, 161st Infantry of the 81st Brigade Combat Team conducted their Transfer of Authority ceremony's on 17 April with their respective out-going units. The 1st Battalion, 303rd Armor accepted authority for Camp Victory South in Baghdad from the 2d Battalion (Airborne), 505th Infantry, 1st Brigade, 82nd Airborne Division during its Transfer of Authority ceremony. The 1st Battalion, 161st Infantry accepted authority from the 2d Battalion, 6th Infantry, 1st Armored Division during its Transfer of Authority ceremony in Baghdad. The 1st Battalion, 161st Infantry was responsible for the security and combat operations of a densely populated area of southeast Baghdad known as Al Zafranaya and Jsr Diayla. The battalion operated primarily out of Forward Operating Base Gunner (later renamed to FOB Highlander in honor of the battalion's nickname), Baghdad, Iraq. For its performance in combat, the 1–161st Infantry was awarded the Meritorious Unit Citation by the Department of the Army.
The largest overseas mission of the 81st Brigade was its deployment to the Middle East to combat the Iraqi Insurgency from March 2004 to March 2005. The brigade was broken up, and its components extensively reorganized to meet the mission requirements:
| Unit | Organizational Notes | Area of Operation |
|---|---|---|
| 81st Bde (-) | HQ, 181st Armor Brigade | LSA Anaconda |
| 1st Battalion, 161st Infantry; 1st Battalion, 303d Armor | Attached to 1st Cavalry Division | Central and Southeast Baghdad |
| "Task Force Tacoma" | Company A, 1st Battalion, 185th Armor (after fall 2004); Company B, 1st Battalion, 185th Armor; Company B, 160th Infantry (CA Army National Guard); Company A, 579th Engineer Battalion (CA Army National Guard); and other elements. Attached to 1st Infantry Division | Area surrounding LSA Anaconda (2004), Mosul (2005) |
| 1st Battalion, 185th Armor(-) | Minus Company B, 1st Battalion, 185th Armor, and Company A, 1st Battalion, 185th Armor after fall 2004 | Various sites in Southern Iraq |
| 2nd Battalion, 146th Field Artillery; Troop E, 303d Cavalry | Troop E, 303d Cavalry Baghdad | Various sites in Kuwait, Battery B, 2d Battalion, 146th Field Artillery in Saudi Arabia |
A total of ten brigade soldiers died from enemy action over the course of the deployment, the majority of those from the 1st Battalion, 161st Infantry, the unit most directly involved in day-to-day combat operations.
Personnel who were members of 1st Battalion, 161st Infantry earned the Meritorious Unit Citation for their performance in OIF II, Baghdad.
Personnel who were members of Company B, 1st Battalion, 185th Army and Company A, 579th Engineer Battalion, part of Task Force Tacoma, earned the Valorous Unit Award as a subordinate unit of the 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division during Operation Founding Fathers 5 January 2005 – 15 February 2005 in Mosul.
Upon its return from overseas in March 2005, the brigade began to reorganize in accordance with the Army's new "Unit of Action" Brigade design. The armor and infantry battalions became evenly filled with armor and infantry companies, and the engineer battalion reduced to two companies and made part of the battalions they had traditionally supported. The separate companies were collected into a Troops Battalion.
The 81st brigade was alerted for a FY 2009 deployment in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom, the Brigade received their Mobilization Order on 19 March 2008 from the Department of Defense. The Brigade completed pre-mobilization training at Fort McCoy, WI and then deployed to Iraq in the October 2009. The main focus of the brigade in OIF was security and "force protection operations." The deployment is expected to last one year including Mobilization and Demobilization time.
– – The Brigade was lead into Iraq by Colonel Ronald Kapral and State Command Sergeant Major Robert Sweeney. – – During their time in Iraq, the brigade was visited by Washington state Governor Christine Gregoire and Washington Adjutant General, Brigadier General Toney. –
– – Troop A, 1st Squadron, 303rd Cavalry Regiment received the Distinguished Service Unit award. The award was received on behalf of the unit by Captain Patrick Gehring and First Sergeant Travis Wise.