1 Medical Brigade

Where located:  Ft. Hood

When in theatre:  2009-2010

Status:

The original name of the 1 Medical Brigade given to the unit when first organized in 1917, was the 1 Sanitary Train.

During WWI, the unit treated and/or evacuated over 20,000 casualties.  In 1939, they provided medical support to the participants of a 75^th anniversary event of the Battle of Gettysburg.

One of their duties during WWII, was to support the Ninth U. S. Army.  After the war, it was inactivated.

Called back to duty in 1968, they provided training of newly activated medical units prior to their deployment to Viet Nam.

In 2000, the unit was renamed the 1 Medical Brigade and served in OIF in 2009-2010.

We would bring in company commanders and their maintenance sergeants or whoever they chose and also the battalion commanders and their maintenance sergeants or whoever.  We would give the soldier help and instruction on what we felt he/she needed.  It could, at times, be a very long, very boring day with not much useful information being presented.  So I got to talking with my boss, COL Mel Carr, and said we need to come up with something different.  I said maybe we could redesign this and rather than stand in front of a classroom and bore the soldier to death, (most soldiers knew 90% of what the instructor was talking about in the first place and sometimes even more than the instructor knew) we can come up with some way we can get more participation from the soldiers so that they can get more out of it rather than sitting there being bored for two days.

We were hashing this out and I had my staff there and one of the members of my staff, Chief Ralph Bellini, came up with the idea of doing this like a job fair.  After more discussion, the “job fair” was the route we decided to go.  We located ourselves in Denver, that was very centrally located for our division, and we took over a motel that was there.  Out in the parking lot, we brought in some big trucks, but inside we had booths/venues set up that the soldiers could go to and sit down and talk face-to-face with the “subject matter expert” in the matter that they were talking about and get right down to the soldiers particular unit and that unit’s particular problems and see where they were at and what they needed to do to improve.  We had thirty-six different venues counting the exhibits outside.

Now outside with the trucks, we had them actually jacked up on their sides  with spotlights under them so the soldiers could walk right underneath the truck and point out the specific things they were looking at as they would go through their motor pools to tell whether the maintenance was being properly done.  We actually had the trucks up on a 45^o on their sides.  It was very interesting for the soldiers.  It was pretty cool.

We started off with an exam that the participants took and then they would self-grade their exams and with the results of that grading they could look and see which booth they needed to spend the most time at and to become more educated on that particular subject.  This facilitated the time the soldier spent learning that which he needed to learn.  Instead of spending their time listening to an instructor teaching them what they already knew, they could go to a booth and really spend quality time learning what they were needing to learn.  We had a three star general show up and he looked at it and said, “I’ve seen dog and pony shows before, but this is the first time I have seen an equestrian-canine extravaganza.”

If any of you have ever been to a military funeral in which taps was played, this brings out a new meaning to it.
Here is something every American should know.  We, in the United States, have all heard the haunting song, “Taps.”  It’s the song that gives us that lump in our throats and usually tears in our eyes when we listen to this melody.

But, do you know the story behind the song? If not, I think you will be interested to find out about its humble
beginnings.

Reportedly, it all began in 1862 during the Civil War, when Union Army Captain Robert Ellicombe was with his men near Harrison’s Landing in Virginia.  The Confederate Army was on the other side of the narrow strip of land.

During the night, Captain Ellicombe heard the moans of a soldier who lay severely wounded on the field.  Not knowing if it was a Union or Confederate soldier, the Captain decided to risk his life and bring the stricken man back for medical attention.  Crawling on his stomach through the gunfire, the Captain reached the stricken soldier and began pulling him toward his encampment.  When the Captain finally reached his own lines, he discovered it was actually a Confederate soldier, but the soldier was dead.

The Captain lit a lantern and suddenly caught his breath and went numb with shock. In the dim light, he saw the face of the soldier. It was his own son. The boy had been studying music in the South when the war broke out. Without telling his father, the boy enlisted in the Confederate Army.

The following morning, heartbroken, the father asked permission of his superiors to give his son a full military burial, despite his enemy status. His request was only partially granted. The Captain had asked if he could have a group of Army band members play a funeral dirge for his son at the funeral, but that request was turned down since the soldier was a Confederate soldier.  However, out of respect for the father, they did say they would give him one musician.

The Captain chose a bugler. He asked the bugler to play a series of musical notes he had found on a piece of paper in the pocket of the dead youth’s uniform.  This wish was granted.

The haunting melody, we now know as “Taps” used at military funerals was born.
The words are:

Day is done.
Gone the sun.
From the lakes
From the hills.
From the sky.
All is well.
Safely rest.
God is nigh.

Fading light.
Dims the sight.
And a star.
Gems the sky.
Gleaming bright.
From afar.
Drawing nigh.
Falls the night.

Thanks and praise.
For our days.
Neath the sun
Neath the stars.
Neath the sky.
As we go.
This we know.
God is nigh

I too have felt the chills while listening to “Taps,” but I have never seen all the words to the song until now. I didn’t even know there was more than one verse. I also never knew the story behind the song and I didn’t know if you had either so I thought I’d pass it along.

I now have an even deeper respect for the song than I did before.

Remember Those Lost and Harmed While Serving Their Country.
Also Remember Those Who Have Served And Returned; and for those presently serving in the Armed Forces.

I don’t have accreditation for this.   It was given to me by someone else who didn’t have accreditation for it either.

The embers glowed softly, and in their dim light,

I gazed round the room and I cherished the sight.

My wife was asleep, her head on my chest,

My daughter beside me, angelic in rest.

Outside the snow fell, a blanket of white,

Transforming the yard to a winter delight.

The sparkling lights in the tree I believe,

Completed the magic that was Christmas Eve.

My eyelids were heavy, my breathing was deep,

Secure and surrounded by love I would sleep.

In perfect contentment, or so it would seem,

So I slumbered, perhaps I started to dream.

The sound wasn’t loud, and it wasn’t too near,

But I opened my eyes when it tickled my ear.

Perhaps just a cough, I didn’t quite know, Then the

sure sound of footsteps outside in the snow.

My soul gave a tremble, I struggled to hear,

And I crept to the door just to see who was near.

Standing out in the cold and the dark of the night,

A lone figure stood, his face weary and tight.

A soldier, I puzzled, some twenty years old,

Perhaps a Marine, huddled here in the cold.

Alone in the dark, he looked up and smiled,

Standing watch over me, and my wife and my child.

“What are you doing?” I asked without fear,

“Come in this moment, it’s freezing out here!
Put down your pack, brush the snow from your sleeve,

You should be at home on a cold Christmas Eve!”

For barely a moment I saw his eyes shift,

Away from the cold and the snow blown in drifts..

To the window that danced with a warm fire’s light

Then he sighed and he said “Its really all right,

I’m out here by choice. I’m here every night.

It’s my duty to stand at the front of the line,

That separates you from the darkest of times.

No one had to ask or beg or implore me,

I’m proud to stand here like my fathers before me.

My Gramps died at Pearl on a day in December,”

Then he sighed, “That’s a Christmas ‘Gram always remembers.

My dad stood his watch in the jungles of ‘Nam,

And now it is my turn and so, here I am.

I’ve not seen my own son in more than a while,

But my wife sends me pictures, he’s sure got her smile.”

Then he bent and he carefully pulled from his bag,

The red, white, and blue… an American flag.

“I can live through the cold and the being alone,

Away from my family, my house and my home.

I can stand at my post through the rain and the sleet,

I can sleep in a foxhole with little to eat.

I can carry the weight of killing another,

Or lay down my life with my sister and brother..

Who stand at the front against any and all,

To ensure for all time that this flag will not fall.

So go back inside,” he said, “harbor no fright,

Your family is waiting and I’ll be all right.”

“But isn’t there something I can do, at the least.

Give you money,” I asked, “or prepare you a feast?

It seems all too little for all that you’ve done,

For being away from your wife and your son.”

Then his eye welled a tear that held no regret,

“Just tell us you love us, and never forget.

To fight for our rights back at home while we’re gone,

To stand your own watch, no matter how long.

For when we come home, either standing or dead,

To know you remember we fought and we bled.

Is payment enough, and with that we will trust,

That we mattered to you as you mattered to us.”

LCDR Jeff Giles, SC, USN

30th Naval Construction Regiment

OIC, Logistics Cell One

Al Taqqadum ,Iraq.

1-150 Assault Helicopter Battalion

Where located:  Delaware, New Jersey, Virginia, Vermont, and West Virginia

When in theatre:  2009 and 2010

Status:  Army National Guard

Originating in 1987 in Delaware, New Jersey, Virginia, and Vermont Army National Guards as the 150^th Aviation, this unit was reorganized in September of 1990, in the Delaware and New Jersey National Guards as the 1^st Aviation Helicopter Battalion.

 The unit was then again reorganized in October of 1993 in the New Jersey National Guard as the 1^st Aviation Battalion (Attack).

 After being reorganized in September of 2003 in the Delaware and New Jersey National Guards as the 1^st Aviation Battalion (General Support), it was once again reorganized in the Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and West Virginia National Guards as the 1^st Battalion (Assault).

 When the unit was deployed to Iraq during 2009 and 2010, the name it flew under was 1-150 Assault Helicopter Battalion.

1-77 Armor

Where located:  Germany

When in theatre:  2004 plus

Status:

The “Steel Tigers” were activated in Germany in 1996 and were stationed there for 12 years.  In 2004 they were added to the Dagger Brigade Combat Team where they served in OIF.