8/17/2019 The Pershing Cable (Spring 1986)

1/2

PERSHING

CABLE

Vol. 23

No

. 2

Quick Reliable Accurate

SPRING 1986

56th Brigade gains

new na~e

status

Haddock commends command s progress

• .

rig. Gen. Raymond

E.

Haddock, commander of the 5eth Fie

ld Anlllery

Command,

and

CSM Thaodont Jackson, eommancl Hrgeant major

of

the command, eeM the

brigade colors during the redealgnatlon ceremony on Herdt K ne.

Story and

photo

by Stephen

S e h r ~

The

S6th

Field Anilleey Brigade

was

rede

signated the S6th Field Artillery Command

and it's firing battalions were inaccivated and

re-activated as

uniu

of the 9th Field Anil

lery R,gimcnt during

.a

ceremony

at th•

Hudt

Kaseme Gymn nium, in SchwiibiJch

Gmiind, Friday January 17, 1986.

According

to

the Command Resource

Manag,mcnt Office th•

d«ign

ation of bri

gade did not completely describe the unit's

funciions, mponsibilines and capabilities.

Rcdc

s

ignation

as a command occured speci

fic.J ly

to

implement new doctrine, remedy

prior organ1utional dcficicnci« and en

hance survivability and combat effectiveness.

With the implementation of the Regimen

tal Synem

came new

names for

th

e firing

battalions. The 1st Battalion, 81st Field

Ar

tillery,

louted

in Neu Ulm,

is

now the 1st

Batulion,

9d,

Field Anillery Regiment the

1st Ban.Jion, 41st Field Artillery, in Schwa

bisch Gmiind has become the 2nd Ban,lion,

9th Field Artillery Regiment and the )rd

Banal.ion,

84th Field Artillery, stationed

in

Hcilbronn, was red«ignucd the 4th Batta·

lion, 9th Field Anillery Regiment, The 4th

Infantry Regiment was also activated. It

consisu of only one bar ulion, the 2nd Bat·

talion, 4th Infantry Regiment, whose head

quarters uc in Neu-Ulm.

ln addition, the )8th Signal Battalion was

welcomed into ,he command when it

was

activated

as

the newest a

nd

one of the largest

signal battalions in the U .S.

Army 

Also,

Echo Company, SSth Maintencnce

Ban.Jion, ...bicb recently moved

10

Goppin·

gen, is now the 193rd Aviation

Co

mpanr a

sepcratt unit directly under the contro o

the Command.

The event ..,as reviewed by Lt. Grn. Tho

mas 0 . Ayers, deputy commander in chief,

U.S. Army, Europe and Seventh Army and

Brig. Gen. R.aymond E. Haddock, comman

der, S6th Field Anillory Command.

The uremo ny, which was executed in

tn ·

ditional military style, begin with a presen

tation

of

honors and colors and proceeded

with the 84th United States Army Band

per·

forming the national

An

thems

of

he Fcdtral

Republic of Germany and the United Satu

of America.

Following the introduction, the colors of

the Command

1

J uniu were cased and new

ones symbolii.ing their activation

or

redes

ignation were unfurled,

The last event on the agenda was the re

d«ignation of the Brigade. With the casing

of

the old colon and the present.anon

of

the

new ones the unit stepp~d into the future a.s

the

S6ch Fie ld

Artillery Command.

Recently, Haddock discussed the well

being

of

the unit

in

his firn

Sme of

the

Command Address since the unit's rcdes·

ignation. The evrnc took pla

ce in

Rodman

Theater

on

Bismarck Kaseme,

"Just

as

corporations

get

together with

their stockholders 10 discuss the condition

of

their businesses, we need to talk about

the state

of

the command

,•

H~ddock told

the aud

ience of

senior

NCOs

and officers

from around the command. "We

as

seni

or

leaders need

to chc k

ourselves,• he contin

ued. ·The most important thing we can

leave bohind us

is

• trained capable leader,•

ho

sai

d,

Haddock then spoke on issues that cover

ed the several key areas

of

combat readiness

- training, maintaining, practicing discipline

and having fun.

Haddock cited facto and figum in his

speech

that reflected the quality

of

Pershing

soldiers. Some

of th

ose

faru '•re

:

- six out

of

every 10 soldim earned awards

in

1

98S.

- the

S6rh

F.A. Command had

die

best re

enlistment program in Europe for

I

985.

- the 193rd Aviation Company hu the best

a

vi

ation safety record

in

Europe.

- the percentage of soldiers who had posi

tive

urinalym

was

far below the Unittd

Stat« Arrny Europe's average of S per

cent.

Haddock also nid that support of

ch

e

fa

mily was extremely imponan1. •

It's our

community, and can only

be as

good

as

we

malt, it. We need

to

make sure that our sol

diers

get

rime off (

to

,hue with their funi

lies).•

·our com bat

readiness

is

moving in the

right direction.

I commend you,• Haddock

told his audience,

in

the conclu,ion of his

addreu. "We have leaders who

a.re

1 .

ing

weU and we have the best soldiers I've ever

stcn ..

New battalion s signal growing stronger

Story

by William Coffey,

Jr.

Since it's inception, )8th Signal Batulion

ha, grown from , handful of personnel co a

force of over nine hundred. During that

time, it

has

been able

10

organize from the

ground up and uilor itself to

fit

the combat

missjon .

The lnittal

ion was

re

activa1ed

for

lhe fi

rst

t

im<

since

19~S

on January 17. It

is

the

newest Bmalion

.,.ith1n

the S6th F

ield

Anil

lery Command and one

of

the largest signal

b, n

alions

in

the Unittd Sutes Army.

The Smalion's 900-plus soldiers have the

mi

ssion o providing comm,nd control

communications for the S6th Command

Headquarters, SSth Support Battalion Head•

quarters, 2nd Battalion, 4th Infantry Head

quarters, and forward communications sup

port to each

of

the Command's three firing

Battalions.

The formation

of

a signal ban.Jion within

this command brings a

new

focus on com

munications r~uircments for the Com·

m,nd. A consolidation of sign

al

personnel,

equipment and expenise will mean more ef

fectivo planning, training and maintenance

for this Command's communications

us

en .

When

as

k

ed

about training, Sgt. Kenneth

L.

Owens, section chief, D Company 38th

Sig

nal. stated, • Herc, we do a uaining sche .

dule, go by what we

y

,nd the rraining ac-

Nally gets done.• He continued, Now we

have

tlic peop

le

'up-c

op'

that can acNally

coordinate

our

signal assets and profile our

(signal) ,

hou

10 get communications.•

Quality personnel and teamwork

ue

a

must for combat re

ad inus.

According

10

Sp4

Dennis A. Havens,

Jr

., Radio Teletype

(RATI) operator, D Company )8th Signal,

"I know a lot

of

our Platoon Scrgcanu from

up

on

'the hill' (Ha.rdt Kaserne, 2/9 FA

Bn

);

they're cxcollent people. I think they picked

the right people 10 get che battalion mned.

They're qualuy people leading the troops.•

For others like PFC Tracie S. Tnub, m

tclitc communications operator, 0 Com-

pany )8th Signal, "everyone working

1oge1

-

her• is what she ~kc, best about the batta

lion's ptrsonnel.

She sees

the future

of

her

unit as being able

to munuin

combat readi

ntss,

beausc

· evcryone

1

s determined

to

make it ,he best.•

T

o be s

ur

e that the 56th Field Anillery

Command geu the right data and input

needed 10 accomplish iu mission if that ume

ever comes," is ,he

way

Owens defines the

38th

1

primary mission.

Bue

it was best sum•

maritcd by

Pfc.

Tr

oy

Shore

s,

Alpha Com

pany, )8th, when

he

stated that tho

miu

ion

of the 38th Signal batulion

is

simply 10

be

S

ignal Ready.·

8/17/2019 The Pershing Cable (Spring 1986)

2/2

Tests help

clean

up our act

Early detec·tion the first step for correction

Story by John D'

Amato

With recent revelations

of

wide-spread

drug abuse in sport$

and Olher

sectors, many

people: are looking

at

the Armed Services

and their handling

of

alcohol and dru~-rela

tcd problems.

The

services arc now being re

ferred

to

as

pioneers

in

innovative programs

which c:ombine

earl

y screening, identifica·

tion and rehabilitation.

lnnov.ations, such a.s the Portable

Urinalysis Kit introduced

in

1982, caused a

substantial drop

in

drug

ust with.in tht Unia

tcd

Smcs

Army, according

to

Sgt. Larry

Reed,

NCO C of

the 2nd Battalion, 9th

Field Artillery's Drug and Alcohol Program.

The kit's frequent use coupled with tough

enforcablc guidelines for commanders, and a

workable rehabilitation program showed

soldiers that the Army was concerned with

the hea

lth of its

soldiers and serious about

eradicating drug and alcohol abuse.

If

penalties for drug and alcohol abuse

'9.'Crc

c

onsidered

tough

in

the

past, Reed

claims ,hat they are

even

stricter now  • As

many as 40 to

45

%

of

those soldiers who

come up positive on the urinalysis test

arc

being chaptered

out of

the Army, Reed

said. In addition to the administmive dis

ch2rgcs that the ehap«ring• procedures

utilize, soldiers can a.lso face punishment un-

der

the Uniformed Code

of

Military Junice.

•When a soldier messes around with any

kind

of substance, li

ke

marijuana

or

coc,aine,

tha

t soldier is

a '•are that

the penalties

are re

-

all

y hard,• Recd said.

"first

offenders con

g