108th Training Command (Initial Entry Training)

108th Training Command (IET)

108th Division shoulder sleeve insignia
Active 1946 – present
Country United States of America
Branch United States Army Reserve
Type Initial entry and leader training
Garrison/HQ Charlotte, NC
Nickname(s) Golden Griffins
Motto Princeps Excerendo
Colors Red and gold
Engagements War in Southwest Asia
Commanders
Current
commander		 Maj. Gen. Leslie A. Purser

The 108th Training Command (Initial Entry Training) is a United States Army Reserve unit headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina. At its activation, the unit was designated as the 108th Airborne Division, but in 1952 was redesignated the 108th Infantry Division. In 1956, the division was again reorganized, this time to the designation as the 108th Division (Institutional Training). Under the U.S. Army Reserve Transformation of 2005, the 108th was reorganized to is current structure as the 108th Training Command (Initial Entry Training (IET)). The command is currently one of the largest in the Army Reserve, commanding and coordinating 9,000 soldiers.

The 108th Training Command (IET) is a subordinate unit in the United States Army Reserve (USAR) which is a federal reserve force of the United States Army. Together, the Army Reserve and the Army National Guard constitute the reserve components (RC) of the United States Army.

Over its 60-year history, the 108th Division frequently has been called upon to pilot several new missions for the Army and Army Reserve. Over the years, the division has played an important role in pioneering and developing several training methods and policies still in use today.

History

Shoulder sleeve insignia of the 108th Airborne Division (1946–1952).

Early history

The 108th Division was activated in 1946 as the 108th Airborne Division of the United States Army Reserve and was headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. Manning during this period was relatively small and funding for airborne training, equipment, and airlift support was minimal.

In 1952, the division was reorganized into an infantry division and its headquarters was moved to its present location in Charlotte, North Carolina with all its subordinate units located in either North or South Carolina. In 1954, the division helped test a new method of rifle qualification known as "trainfire." In 1956, the division was selected to serve as a prototype for an Army Training Division. This meant reorganizing again to conduct basic and advanced individual training, should the division be called to active duty.

Units (1946–1956)

Note: In 1952 the 108th Airborne Division was reorganized and redesignated as the 108th Infantry Division. The 519th, reorganized as infantry, was reassigned to the 81st Infantry Division and the 485th, also reorganized as infantry, was reassigned to the 87th Infantry Division. Concurrently, the 321st and 323d Infantry Regiments were reassigned from the 81st to the 108th. Source: U.S. Army Center of Military History, Fort McNair, Washington, DC

Vietnam

In the 1960s, the division established its own drill sergeant school patterned after the active component school. In 1968, the 108th Division was restructured under its current brigade concept. During the Vietnam era, 108th Division soldiers during annual training were used to conduct interim training for soldiers waiting to begin basic training. In the 1980s the division developed an updated and more practical mobilization plan. During those same years the division began conducting basic training by ourselves at Fort Jackson under new Mobilization Army Training Center and Provisional Training concepts.

End of the Cold War

In January 1991, more than 300 108th Division soldiers were called to active duty to support Operation Desert Storm, marking the first mobilization ever for members of the 108th Division. The soldiers assisted in the retraining of individual soldiers at Fort Jackson who were recalled up to military duty. In late 1993, the 108th Division accepted the mission to pilot a new concept in Army training called Future Army Schools Twenty-first Century. This not only expanded the geographic size of the 108th Division to add the states of Georgia and Florida, but added 10 new US Army Reserve Forces schools to the division's force structure. Those schools were later reorganized into functionally aligned school brigades.

This gave the 108th Division a new mission. While keeping its mission of conducting initial entry training for new soldiers entering the Army, it now conducts specialized skill training for thousands of soldiers, both officers and enlisted, in the southeastern part of the United States.

In 1996 the 108th Division was assigned another completely new mission to conduct Reserve Officer Training Corps training at three colleges and universities in Florida, Georgia and South Carolina. That program has been expanded nationally. In October 1998, 108th Division assumed command and control of the former 265th US Army Forces School in Puerto Rico, which added an 8th Brigade. In 2001, the ROTC structure was officially designated the division's 9th Brigade. In 2004, a reorganization of the Army Reserve resulted in the 108th Division expanding into Alabama and Mississippi.

Twenty-first century

Between 2001 and 2007 over 2,000 soldiers from the 108th have mobilized and deployed in support of the Global War on Terrorism. The 108th is in the middle of its biggest mobilization in history. Almost 1,000 soldiers from across the United States are deployed to Iraq and Kuwait to help train, maintain, and sustain Iraqi security and police forces as part of the military’s exit strategy from Iraq. The 108th Division had 4,000 soldiers assigned to units over 300,000 square miles (780,000 km2) in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida and Puerto Rico in 23 cities and towns.

In 2008, the command was reorganized and currently has three subordinate divisions, the 95th Training Division (Initial Entry Training) based in Oklahoma City, Okla., the 98th Training Division (Initial Entry Training) based in Rochester, N.Y. and the 104th Training Division (Leader Training) based in Ft. Lewis, Wash. The command is currently one of the largest in the Army Reserve, it supports initial military training and ROTC (leader training). Currently the command has over 10,000 soldiers assigned throughout the United States, Guam, and Puerto Rico.

The current Commanding General of the 108th Training Command (IET) is Major General Leslie A. Purser

Former Commanding Generals

Notable soldiers of the 108th Training Command (IET)

CSM Michael D. Schultz former USARC Command Sergeant Major

Subordinate units

References

  1. ↑ http://www.tioh.hqda.pentagon.mil/Catalog/HeraldryMulti.aspx?CategoryId=4197&grp=2&menu=Uniformed%20Services
  2. ↑ http://www.tioh.hqda.pentagon.mil/Catalog/HeraldryMulti.aspx?CategoryId=7564&grp=2&menu=Uniformed%20Services
  3. ↑ http://www.tioh.hqda.pentagon.mil/Catalog/HeraldryMulti.aspx?CategoryId=9477&grp=2&menu=Uniformed%20Services&from=recent

External links

Coordinates: 35°13′07″N 80°48′23″W / 35.2185°N 80.8063°W / 35.2185; -80.8063

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