BATTLE OF FORT HOOD Chapter
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Chapter
2 2
BATTLE OF FORT HOOD
March 2005
Battle Of Fort Hood
I n the spring of 2005, the leadership of
the brigade. His reaction was one of disbelief. “I
was, like, you’ve got to be kidding me. I just
the 36th Combat Aviation Brigade heard the first
took this job,” Adams said.
rumblings that the unit may be called upon to
Many members of the brigade, including
deploy to Iraq. The unofficial word came down
Adams, had spent a year on peacekeeping duty in
from the National Guard Bureau in Washington,
Bosnia in 2003 and 2004. Now they were faced
D.C. Another National Guard aviation brigade
with the likelihood of more time away from their
that had originally been chosen for the deployment
families and more challenges on a new front.
was unable to accept the assignment. The word
Their first hurdle would be pulling together a team.
was that the nation would call on Texas to take
For the next 12 to 18 months, the brigade leaders
the mission. Start preparing, the brigade leaders
were told, because you have just over a year to would spend their days crafting a combat-ready
train your troops, field your equipment and get force that was fully trained and equipped for the
everyone and everything to the Middle East. The tasks—and the dangers—it would face during
36th CAB was destined to become the first fully Operation Iraqi Freedom. The brigade leaders
transformed National Guard aviation brigade to named their group Task Force Mustang. They
go into Iraq. had no idea what obstacles, frustrations, triumphs
LTC Rick Adams of Houston, Texas, and sorrows awaited them, both in training and
had become the brigade operations officer in the at war. For several months, until official orders
Headquarters and Headquarters Company (HHC) were cut, they were not even certain the mission
just two weeks before that unofficial word reached would go through.
Undergoing rigorous training, a soldier endures the heat in preparation for Iraq.
35
Answering The Call
One of the brigade’s young leaders, successful or how pleasant your trip is going to
1LT Erika Besser of Austin, Texas, enlisted be. So you just get in the frame of mind, ‘Hey
in the National Guard in 1996, when she was this is my assignment, I’m going there to do it.’
17. After college in southwest Texas, she was As an officer, I have to be a leader. I have to
commissioned and had to choose a branch. “I be a good example to the guys I’m asking to go
chose aviation. What else is there?” Besser with me. I have the philosophy that you can’t
learned to fly Blackhawks. live worried but you can’t be careless.”
Besser did not volunteer for the Iraq That spring, the brigade had only about
deployment. “I was told I was going,” she said. one-third of the personnel required to perform the
“Your frame of mind is going to determine how mission in Iraq, Adams said. It had only two of
36th Infantry Division soldiers head toward a Blackhawk for the culmination air assault (Mobilization Readiness
Exercise) for the 36th CAB. The final exercise took place in the air above south Texas.
36
Battle Of Fort Hood
the six battalions it would need in country. Much Mary in Williamsburg, Va., and in 1983 was
of the responsibility for building it back to full commissioned in the Army as an infantry officer.
strength would fall squarely on the shoulders of He went to flight school at Fort Rucker, Ala., and
the brigade commander, COL Vernon A. Sevier learned to fly UH-60 Blackhawk helicopters.
Jr., his staff and a handful of other key people His first post: Korea. Sevier said he enjoyed that
in the Texas National Guard. It would be up to year because it gave him the opportunity to do a
them to find the pilots, crew chiefs, mechanics, lot of flying. In 1987, Sevier left active duty to
support personnel and all of the skilled soldiers attend law school at the University of Texas at
who would fill the brigade’s ranks. It would be Austin. He had always wanted to be an attorney,
up to them to get them to Iraq, ready to fly. he said, and he thought that he had achieved what
“We were told, ‘You must show up in Iraq he could as an active duty Army officer and pilot.
by June 2007,’ ” Adams said. “In the meantime, He joined the Texas National Guard that same
we had to figure out how to get there.” year, and for the next 20 years he served both the
MAJ Troy Meuth, a full-time Guardsman civilian and the military communities.
from San Antonio, Texas, said he and the others
did not know where the battalions were going to
come from or what the brigade was going to look
like.
At the time, COL Sevier was a traditional
Guardsman—known in the Guard as an
M-Day soldier. That meant Sevier took part in
National Guard activities on a part-time basis:
COL Vernon A. Sevier Jr.
36th CAB Commander
one weekend a month and two weeks each
summer. In his civilian life, he worked full-time Sevier was on a business trip that spring
as an environmental attorney for a petroleum of 2005, when one of the brigade’s full-time staff
corporation in Houston. members called to alert him about the possible
Sevier grew up in Baltimore, Md. He deployment. By late May, Sevier said, there was
took part in the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps enough certainty that the 36th CAB would indeed
(ROTC) program at the College of William & be sent to Iraq to bring the brigade’s leaders
37
Answering The Call
together in Austin for an in-progress review. was to contact the Texas National Guard to see
They talked about personnel, equipment needs if there were Texas soldiers with the necessary
and the brigade’s readiness status, but it would occupational skills who would voluntarily join
be months still before they received orders. the brigade for the deployment. At that time,
“I had some doubt in my mind that it there were 19,200 Army Guard soldiers in Texas.
would ever actually happen,” Sevier said. Adams and his colleagues worked closely with
After the news of the likely deployment MG Charles G. Rodriguez, the Texas National
sank in, Adams packed his belongings in Guard’s adjutant general, and his staff to fill as
Houston, said goodbye many of the Brigade’s
“
to his family and moved unit gaps as possible The
to a hotel in Austin, the
I had some doubt in my goal was not attained.
capital city of Texas. The
mind that it [deployment] They also depended
”
brigade headquarters is
would ever actually on the assistance of
located there, at Austin-
happen. COL Guy Schultz, the
Bergstrom International operations officer for the
- COL Vernon Sevier, Jr.
Airport. Adams knew Texas National Guard’s
the challenges would Army forces. That effort
be significant and they padded the brigade’s
would demand his time and close attention in the roster by 400.
coming months. There was much work to be done. At the same time they were working with
The brigade needed to bring to Iraq one battalion the Texas Guard officials, brigade leaders, with
of AH-64 series Apache attack helicopters; two the assistance of COL Schultz, were consulting
battalions of UH-60 series Blackhawk helicopters; with the NGB. The bureau found two Blackhawk
a general support aviation battalion with CH-47 battalions—1st Battalion, 131st Aviation Regiment
twin-rotor Chinook helicopters, including UH- (Assault) from Alabama, also known as the
60 MEDEVAC aircraft; and an aviation support 1-131st Assault Helicopter Battalion (AHB), and
battalion. A fixed-wing component was also 1st Battalion, 108th Aviation Regiment (Assault)
needed to complete the brigade. from Kansas, also known as the 1-108th Assault
The first step that brigade leadership took Helicopter Battalion (AHB)—that were available
38Battle Of Fort Hood
to join the brigade. That left a need for a General would assemble at the mobilization training
Support Aviation Battalion (GSAB). The station, Fort Hood, and still the brigade was at
brigade’s own battalion, the 2nd Battalion, 149th about 60 percent strength. Watkins joined Adams
GSAB, had only recently returned from a tour in and Meuth in the task of finding the right people
Iraq with another unit, so it could not be recalled with the right skills. The outside battalions that
for another deployment so soon. An attempt to were to join the brigade, the 1-108th and the 1-
recruit a GSAB from Iowa failed, but ultimately 131st, were not at full strength either, Watkins
the 2nd Battalion, 135th GSAB from Colorado was said. Efforts were made to fill the 1-108th with
found to be able and willing to serve with the soldiers from the Kansas National Guard and the
brigade and became part of the team. 1-131st from the Alabama National Guard.
Even as the search for personnel began, The 1-108th AHB was short an entire
the brigade continued to lose troops to other company, Watkins said, so a company from
missions well into August, Sevier said. He and Iowa, C Company, 2nd Battalion, 147th Aviation
his staff were competing with regular, standing Regiment, was selected to join the battalion and
obligations, including the peacekeeping mission became B Company, 1-108th AHB. That company
in the Balkans. Soldiers from the 449th Aviation stayed intact but that did not always happen. The
Support Battalion (ASB), such as mechanics, who brigade’s own attack unit, 1st Battalion, 149th
had skills that were common to many missions, Aviation Regiment, also known as the 1-149th
were being siphoned off to other tasks. Attack Reconnaissance Battalion (ARB), was
Notification to begin training came in short a company as well. A company of pilots
August 2005, Sevier said, and the brigade was from Missouri was chosen to join that battalion.
able to keep the soldiers it had and start heavily “The company was a mixture of seasoned veterans
recruiting others. The alert orders came in and brand-new pilots,” Watkins said. Due to the
October. Finally there was no doubt about it. varying levels of experience, the Missouri pilots
The brigade was going. were dispersed among the existing companies in
LTC Brandon Watkins of Georgetown, the 1-149th ARB to leverage the experience of the
Texas, joined the 36th in December 2005 to serve entire organization.
as the brigade’s personnel officer. There was “There was a lot of that,” Watkins said,
a month remaining before the brigade leaders “trying to think creatively on how to get the unit
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