Category Archives: US Army

M9, relieved

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The Beretta M9 Tomb of the Unknown Soldier variant has been used to conduct over 100,000 wreath-laying ceremonies and has been carried by NCO Sentinels on 279,850 Guard changes. It has been replaced by the new Sig Sauer M17 Tomb variant.

In this video, Soldiers from the 3d U.S. Infantry Regiment (The Old Guard) received brand new ceremonial M17 Pistols replacing the M9. The pistols were specially made to uphold standards of the Sentinels of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

More on the new Sig in my column at Guns.com

Just where are the divisions?

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From the current 122-page Profile of the United States Army, just released (click here) below are some of the more relevant maps showing, among others, the locations of the 10 active divisions, 8 National Guard divisions, and other USAR units and commands.

Keep in mind that when the Cold War ended in 1990, there were 18 active divisions (although seven were two-brigade units with “round out” enhanced readiness Guard brigades) alone, as well as 10 full-strength Guard divisions and 9 independent active-duty, 3 USAR, and 15 Guard combat brigades (not counting round out units). But then again, FY89 funded 770,000 active component personnel, which is a good bit more than what we have today.

100 years ago today, a man from Wichita

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Here we see “The Highest Possible Courage,” by John D. Shaw, courtesy of the U.S. National Guard Bureau. It depicts the last moments of 2LT Erwin Russell Bleckley, the first of three National Guard aviators to receive the Medal of Honor during the 20th Century. They gave the medal to his family.

A Wichita bank teller by trade, Bleckly joined the Kansas Guard in June 1917, aged 22, and soon found himself attached to the federalized 130th Field Artillery, which was part of the newly-formed 35th Infantry Division. Volunteering to be seconded as an artillery observer to the 50th Aero Squadron once “Over There” in France, he was in the air in a DH-4 attempting to locate and resupply by air the famous “Lost Battalion,” some 554 men of the 77th Infantry that were trapped by German forces in the Argonne over the first week of October 1918.

Bleckley’s MOH citation:

2d Lt. Bleckley, with his pilot, 1st Lt. Harold E. Goettler, Air Service, left the airdrome late in the afternoon on their second trip to drop supplies to a battalion of the 77th Division, which had been cut off by the enemy in the Argonne Forest. Having been subjected on the first trip to violent fire from the enemy, they attempted on the second trip to come still lower in order to get the packages even more precisely on the designated spot. In the course of his mission the plane was brought down by enemy rifle and machine gun fire from the ground, resulting in fatal wounds to 2d Lt. Bleckley, who died before he could be taken to a hospital. In attempting and performing this mission 2d Lt. Bleckley showed the highest possible contempt of personal danger, devotion to duty, courage, and valor.

As noted by the Guard, “Goettler was dead when the French troops reached him. Bleckley died before the French could evacuate him to a medical aid station. However, his notes from the mission narrowed the search area where the trapped soldiers might be found.”

Of the Lost Battalion, only 194 walked out unwounded after a relief force linked up with them on October 8.

The spirit of 1898 at The Tomb

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While the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington is a hallowed place, established in 1921 with the Unknown Soldier of the Great War and guarded in all weather 24/7/365 since 1937, it has few tie-ins to the nation’s conflicts before the 20th Century. That is about to change in a small but interesting way.

On 18 October, four specially-made ceremonial Sig Sauer M17s will replace the current M9 Berettas carried by the Tomb Guard Platoon’s NCOs (Sentinels carry the M14, and that is not going to change).

These new sidearms are extremely interesting pieces with a non-railed aluminum grip module rather than the M17 (P320)’s standard polymer frame, a high-polish stainless steel slide, wood grip inserts, a 21-round 9mm magazine, and lots of other features.

(Photo: Sig)

Take a closer look at those grip inserts:

They contain the Distinctive Unit Insignia for the 3rd Infantry Regiment (The Old Guard), parent unit of the platoon.

The wood itself? It comes from the decking of the protected cruiser USS Olympia (C-6/CA-15/CL-15/IX-40), the former flagship of Commodore Dewey in the Spanish-American War that later brought home the Unknown Soldier of World War I in 1921.

More on the new Sigs here.

The ACOG leash…

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Army’s PS Magazine put out the correct way to retain a CCO.

“No more disappearing sights,” the Army on CCO leashes via infotoon from last year:

“Too many times we are seeing Soldiers use lacing wire or 550 cord incorrectly causing damage to the weapon and optic. Note, if you are still using 550 cord make sure that it is not wrapped around the gas tube under the handrail, the cord can melt due to high heat,” says PSM.

Is that a Thompson M4?

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This great picture popped up on MilMag, a Polish firearm magazine, showing a group of U.S. Army Soldiers milling about, digging the heat somewhere sand-colored.

On a closer look, one, a Spc. Lord, has what looks like a dead ringer for a Thompson M1921/28 submachine gun foregrip affixed to his M4 handguard, like a baller.

Now, THIS is a field mod I can get behind.

Some reverse image searching (thanks for not listing anything about the photo, Mil Mag!) found that the group was from the Tomahawks of the 2nd Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment, 4th SBCT, 2ID as they were operating in in Takhteh Pol district, Kandahar province, Afghanistan. The photo was taken 05.02.2013 by Staff Sgt. Shane Hamann with the 102nd Public Affairs Det.

In search of more images of Spc. Lord’s epic Tommy gun M4, it was no joy. A follow-up image by Hamann took three weeks later showing the specialist involved in personnel searches at a traffic control point in Panjwai district, shows him with a more traditional forward grip.

Sigh. I bet it was magnificent while it lasted.

Army adds an armored brigade

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Looks like Big Green wants more M1s on active duty. Hmm, armored warfare. So 1980s Fulda Gap…

DoD’s presser:

Today the U.S. Army announced that the 1st Brigade Combat Team of the 1st Armored Division (1/1 AD) stationed at Fort Bliss, Texas, will convert from a Stryker brigade combat team (SBCT) to an armored brigade combat team (ABCT); and the 2nd Brigade Combat Team of the 4th Infantry Division (2/4 ID) stationed at Fort Carson, Colorado, will convert from an infantry brigade combat team (IBCT) to an SBCT.

“Converting a brigade combat team from infantry to armor ensures the Army remains the world’s most lethal ground combat force, able to deploy, fight, and win against any adversary, anytime and anywhere,” Secretary of the Army Mark T. Esper said.

This conversion contributes to Army efforts to build a more lethal force and is an investment to increase overmatch against our potential adversaries — one more critical step to achieving the Army Vision. This effort also postures the Army to better meet combatant commander requirements under the 2018 National Defense Strategy.

“The Army leadership determined that we needed to covert two brigade combat teams to armor and Stryker in order to deter our near-peer adversaries or defeat them if required,” said Maj. Gen. Brian J. Mennes, director of force management.

Conversion of the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division, and the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, will begin in the spring of 2019 and spring of 2020 respectively.

This will provide the nation a 16th ABCT bringing the total number BCTs in the Regular Army (RA) and Army National Guard (ARNG) to 58. There will be a total of 31 BCTs in the RA, to include 11 ABCTs, 13 IBCTs and seven SBCTs. The ARNG will have a total of 27 BCTs, to include five ABCTs, 20 IBCTs and two SBCTs, ensuring a more balanced distribution between its light and heavy fighting forces.

That scattergun love

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“PFC. Art Burgess, a candidate in the Ranger Indoctrination Program (RIP), 2nd Battalion, 75th Infantry (Ranger), fires a Winchester-built Model 12 combat shotgun during special weapons training at Range 31, 13 January 1982.” The gun has been modified with a heat shield over the barrel, a bayonet lug/sling swivel, an over-folding buttstock, and pistol grip.

Dig the early PASGT kevlar vest with the old-school M1 pot. Soooo early 1980s. (DA-SN-83-09168 Via NARA)

The U.S. military fell in love with the Winchester 97 as a trench shotgun in WWI but soon augmented those with the much more widely-sold Model 12. The Army and Marines brought these guns to the Great War (700) World War II (over 68,000) and Vietnam.

They served as riot guns with military police, trench guns in the front lines, and in support duties. While officially replaced by newer Remington 870s and Mossberg 500s since then, these old vets still continued to get spotted in pictures of US soldiers in harm’s way as late as the recent conflicts in Iraq. Odds are, there are some still in armories somewhere, especially in reserve and National Guard units.

Yankees medics show ‘Primum non nocere’ 100 years ago today

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A group of wounded German Army prisoners receiving medical attention at first aid station of U.S. 103rd and 104th Ambulance Companies (Field Hospital), attached to the 26th “Yankee” Division’s 101st Sanitary Train. These prisoners were taken from second line trenches during the opening attack of the Battle of Saint Mihiel on the 12th of September 1918, while the Yanks were “over there” as part of the American Expeditionary Force.

Formed largely from six New England National Guard units– half from Massachusetts– as noted by the Army’s CMOH, “During World War I, a press conference of Boston newspapermen was called by the Commanding General [ Maj. Gen. (Nat. Army) Clarence Ransom Edwards, USMA 1883] to determine a nickname for this division, which had just been inducted from New England National Guard units. The adopted suggestion was, ‘Call it the ‘Yankee Division’ as all New Englanders are Yankees’, and a dark blue monogrammed ‘YD’ on an olive drab background was officially designated as the division insignia.

The 26th still exists today, as the 26th Maneuver Enhancement “Yankee” Brigade, in Natick, Mass, primarily a unit of the Massachusetts Army National Guard. In addition to a host of streamers earned on its second trip to Europe in 1944-45, the Yankees earned streamers in 1917-18 for Champagne-Marne, Aisne-Marne, St. Mihiel, Meuse-Argonne, Ile de France and the Lorraine, suffering an amazing 100% casualty rate, some 18,000 soldiers.

The Mass Guard celebrated the 100th Anniversary of the division recently.

A ceremony for the 26th’s 100 birthday, with Doughboys standing with the colors in front of a mural showing the Decoration of regimental colors, U.S. 104th Regiment, U.S. 26th Division, at Boucq, France, April 28, 1918, by General Passaga, 32nd French Army Corps, the first American regiment cited for bravery under fire.

One enduring legacy of the 26th is Sgt. Stubby, an orphan pup the big-hearted Yankees adopted in 1917 and later became the mascot of the divisions’ 102nd Infantry Rgt. Postwar, he lived at Georgetown University and has been in the Smithsonian since then, still wearing his medals and 26th YD patch.

Never underestimate household materials

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From the collection of the U.S. Army Ordnance Training and Heritage Center, Ft. Lee:

This is a Vietnamese, homemade, floating water mine that was made circa 1970. It is constructed of a cardboard box wrapped in black plastic. There are nine aqua and white colored plastic flotation devices with wrapped charge simulated in between. It is held together with four wooden sticks that are tied together with rubber strips and cordage. Also, there is approximately 100 ft. of cord for directing purposes. During the Vietnam conflict, there were many of these types of devices employed in the rivers and canals of South Vietnam.

If it seems silly, keep in mind that a team of VC waterborne sappers were able to mine the WWII-era MSTS-manned jeep carrier USNS Card and put her on the bottom of Saigon harbor, although she was soon refloated and repaired.

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