high praise for 82nd div arty’s support of hurricanes katrina and rita relief

8/8/2019 High Praise for 82nd Div Artys Support of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita Relief

1/4

As the inevitable beat o the modulartransormation drum continues, Iwant to share with you the phenom-

enal perormance o our Division Artil-lery under Colonel [COL] Vic [Victor]Petrenko and Command Sergeant Major[CSM] Roger Howard as it conductedone last Div Arty operational mission to astandard betting its reputation as the bestDiv Arty in the history o our Army.

As you know, the 319th AFAR [Air-borne Field Artillery Regiment] is themost decorated artillery regiment in ourArmy. It is an organization that traces its

roots rom the muddy trenches and horse-drawn artillery pieces o World War I tothe storied actions o Normandy, Salernoand Holland through the rebases oVietnam across the line in the sand tothe mountains o Aghanistan and themost dangerous streets o Baghdad. The319th Redlegs are the most procientartillerymen in the history o our Army,and they continue to coordinate the mostdevastating lethal joint res our enemieshave ever experienced.

Since the Global War on Terrorism be-gan, we have asked these proessionals to

conduct every conceivable nonstandardmission simultaneously with their pri-mary task o delivering lethal res. Wehave asked them to man 120-mm mor-tars, conduct MSR [main supply route]security along the most dangerous routesin Baghdad and command and controlmaneuver units in Aghanistan. It is t-ting that their last operational missionwas, perhaps, their most rewarding:AllAmericans helping Americans.

The ollowing is a short synopsis o

their actions in Louisiana in support oKatrina and Rita relie eorts.

New Orleans Louis Armstrong Inter-national Airport (NOIA) Commandand Control, Evacuation and Security.The Div Arty TAC [tactical commandpost] and 1-319 AFAR (minus) werethe rst elements rom the 82nd on theground on the evening o 3 September,about seven hours ater they were noti-ed by watching President Bush makethe announcement that he was sendingthe 82nd to New Orleans on CNN.

COL Petrenko, CSM Howard and theirParatroopers immediately assessed theenvironment at the airport and wentinto action.

Lieutenant Colonel [LTC Barry S.] DiRuzza and CSM [Samuel B.] Campbell[command team o 1-319 AFAR] orga-nized the absolute chaos o thousandso desperate evacuees who were strewnthroughout the lth-ridden terminalso the airport. These leaders added e-ciency and direction to the evacuationo 8,836 people within their rst 12 hourso being on the ground.

It is hard to put intowords the immediateeect that these DivArty Paratroopershad as they calmlyand condently l-tered into the air-port. Their maroonberets caused aninstantaneous andinectious aura ohope that reverber-ated throughout thechaotic scene.

The Div Arty TAC,recognizing a de-ciency in the man-agement o the e-vacuation eort,brought more than25 dierent agen-cies together in anorganized ashion.During the next twodays, the Joint Inter-agency Operations

Cell (JIOC) established by the Div Artyormed the center o gravity at NOIAor all aspects o the evacuation eort andmuch o the relie activity in the area.

As the Director o Flight Operations atNOIA told me, without the leadershipprovided by the Div Arty TAC, it wouldhave taken at least two additional weeksbeore he could have opened his doorsto commercial trac again.

When all was said and done, our DivArty helped acilitate the evacuation omore than 25,500 citizens o the New

Orleans area and 200 pets rom NOIA.Security and Nonstandard Missions.

While the Div Arty TAC and 1-319AFAR were handling the airport mis-sions, the Div Arty continued to fow theremainder o its HHB [headquarters andheadquarters battery] and 2-319 AFARinto NOIA by ground convoy (a total o150 pieces o rolling stock) rom FortBragg, North Carolina, and MILAIR[military air].

Upon arrival, the Falcons Fury Bat-talion [2-319 AFAR], led by LTC AlShoner [Wilson A.] and CSM Jimmy

HighPraisefor8ndDivArtysSupportof

HurricanesKatrinaandRitaReliefThis is a reprint of an email prais-

ing the outstanding performance ofthe 82nd Airborne Division Artillery(Div Arty) in support of HurricanesKatrina and Rita relief. It was sentin September to former commandersof the 82nd Airborne Division by thecurrent commander, Major GeneralWilliam B. Caldwell IV. We reprintthis email with his permission.

Editor

Soldiers from C/1-319 AFAR escort Hurricane Katrina evacuees

through NOIA.

sil l-www.army.mil/famag November-December2005


2/4

Tomlinson, secured and repaired the pe-rimeter o NOIA and took responsibilityor search and rescue in the New Orleanssuburbs o Bonnabel and Metairie.

Simultaneous with this mission, thebattalion headquarters integrated intothe FEMA [Federal Emergency Manage-ment Agency] Urban Search and RescueOperations Cell and provided security,

leadership and organization or 55 urbansearch and rescue missions that operatedby boat and LMTVs [light medium tacti-cal vehicles] in the fooded areas o NewOrleans. As the airport evacuation nearedcompletion, 1-319 AFAR added to therescue eort by also providing a battery.These teams were responsible or enter-ing the most devastated and dangerousareas o the city, saving countless livesand evacuating citizens in the nal dayso the rescue eort.

Upon entering one house in a foodedarea, these superb artillerymen ound

an elderly woman in a wheelchair up toher waist in toxic water where she hadbeen alone or our days with limitedood and drinking water. While theylited her wheelchair out o the muckywater to place her into a small boat,she remained completely silent as shestrained to kiss each o the Paratrooperson the cheek.

This integration into the FEMA Searchand Rescue Cell was so critical that LTCShoner and his sta were asked to de-velop the long-range urban search andrescue plan or FEMA and New Orleans,

which is currently being executed as de-signeda true testament to the battalionsadaptability and proessionalism.

Remains Recovery Teams (RRTs).Due to the phenomenal proessional-ism and genuine respect that the FuryBattalion displayed to ellow Americancitizens, the Division CSM [Wol W.Amacker] personally selected Fury to

assist the FEMA sanctioned RRTs asthey anned out across the devastatedcity o New Orleans to conduct the mostsolemn o all missions: collecting theremains o ellow Americans.

The civilians executing this necessary,demanding and sensitive mission were inawe o the remarkable compassion andrespect that our Paratroopers displayed,day in and day out, or more than twoweeks. Not a single day went by thatthey did not express their overwhelminggratitude to me and CSM Amacker orthe actions o these compassionate and

respectul Redlegs.Assumption of the Algiers District. As

the evacuation center at NOIA closedand terminals became open to publicair trac, we sent the Div Arty to as-sume control o the Algiers District, anarea devastated by the winds and rain oKatrina. The Falcons Fury Battalion,with a battery rom 1-319 AFAR, tookover the area rom the 2nd BCT [Bri-gade Combat Team] rom the 1st Cav[1st Cavalry Division]. The battalionquickly assessed the inrastructure andservices o the area and integrated with

the local leadership and public serviceorganizations to make an immediateand continuing positive impact withinthe community.

At a local mission church led by PastorJames N. Brown, a hero who rode outthe storm in his house across rom hischurch, the battalion provided its cooksand other Paratroopers to help distribute

ood and prepare meals that served morethan 8,000 citizens o the community.Large posters o the 82nd Airborne Divi-sion Patch are now proudly displayed inevery window o the church.

The Div Artys physicians assistantwas instrumental in setting up medicalsupport sites by gathering and syn-chronizing assistance and assets romvarious medical resources throughoutthe community. These medical sites wereresponsible or conducting 380-plus im-munizations and lling 700 prescriptionsor drugs to the neediest citizens o the

community.TheFury Battalionaggressively evalu-

ated local inrastructure and worked withthe local councilwoman, New OrleansPolice and other agencies to prepare orthe return o the population, includingproducing and distributing more than15,000 handbills to the returning citi-zens. The eorts o the Div Arty wereso successul that the Algiers Districtwas among the rst areas to reopen itsdoors to local businesses and was therst to welcome the return o citizenson 19 September.

Hurricane Rita Relief Operations inthe Calcasieu and Vermilion Parishes.As Hurricane Rita bore down on thesouthwestern Louisiana coast, I deployedCOL Petrenko and his sta to serve asthe division lead command and controlelement to the Vermilion Parish, an areacovering more than 900 square miles ofooded plains and damaged or destroyedtowns.

Ater driving through hurricane-orcewinds and rain, the Div Arty TAC inte-grated into the Lake Charles EmergencyOperations Center (EOC) and coordinat-

ed directly with Lieutenant General [Rus-sell L.] Honore and his sta to providethe rst assessments o the destructionin the Lake Charles region.

By mid-aternoon on this same day,2-319 AFAR ound itsel in the Laay-ette area, leading joint reconnaissancemissions with an anti-terrorist battalionrom the USMC now OPCON to [underthe operational control o] our divisionand conducting joint search and rescueboat missions in the vast fooded areas

PhotobyCPLSamK

ilpatrick,

55thSignalCom

pany(CombatCamera)

Soldiers from 2-319 AFAR gather water and meals ready-to-eat (MREs) for residents in a

New Orleans neighborhood during Task Force Katrina.

November-December2005 Field Artillery


3/4

o the Vermilion Parish. Thebattalion also had our LRSD[long-range surveillance detach-ment] rom 313th MI [MilitaryIntelligence] and engineers romthe 307th Engineers as part o itstask orce.

The Div Arty also integratedinto the EOC in Abbeville, Loui-

siana, to assist in the commandand control o the numerousrelie organizations pouring intothe devastated area.

The Div Arty and the 2-319AFAR battalion stas coordi-nated and conducted countlessover-fights o the destroyed par-ish with local, state and ederalocials to assess all key acili-ties and inrastructure.

In addition to these missions,the Paratroopers rom the 1stand 2nd Battalions o the 319

AFAR continued to display their respectand honor or their ellow Americancitizens by helping more than 195 el-derly Americans move back rom BatonRouge to their assisted-living homes inLaayette.

As a testament to the success o theireorts, the local high school in Vermil-ion Parish ocially adopted 2-319 andhonored the Paratroopers by having350 T-shirts made on their behal andtreating them to home-cooked meals ojambalaya and gumbo daily.

Hurricane Rita Relief Operations in

Cameron Parish. Simultaneous withtheir operations in the Vermilion Par-ish, I launched 2-319 via UH-60s, withtwo hours notice on 26 September tothe most southwestern Louisiana par-ish o Cameron. With 950 square milesfooded, the parish was hit the hardestby Hurricane Rita in Louisiana.

The Paratroopers immediately began

clearing debris rom primary roads,coordinating over-fights or key civilianleaders and assisting USDA [US Depart-ment o Agriculture] representatives andlocal armers in delivering water andhay to more than 3,000 head o cattlestranded in what was once elds andmarshland.

At the completion o this mission, 2-319 AFAR had delivered more than 20tons o hay, 25 water troughs and 10,000gallons o resh water to the areas cattle,the primary source o livelihood orthe hardworking citizens o Cameron

Parish.Additionally, while two o the Div Artys

Paratroopers were on a routine recon-naissance mission, they happened upon ateam o marine biologists who had beenstaying with a stranded dolphin or morethan 48 hours. The Paratroopers helpedthis team by coordinating or a Coast

Guard helicopter. They then wadedchest deep into the fooded areawhere the dolphin was stranded,helped lit it into the helicopter andescorted it to the Gul o Mexicowhere it was released to swim toreedom.

Effects-Based Operations (EBO).During all these relie eorts, the

division FSE [re support element]was the center o gravity o mydivision sta. No other element wasso ideally suited or collating andsiting though the large amountso inormation gathered by oursubordinate elements and the DTAC[division tactical command post].

The FSE presented the inorma-tion in a ashion that acilitatedsenior-level decision making anddeveloping and communicating avision or uture operations. Daily,I took the key nuggets o inorma-

tion presented by the FSE to brie andinorm the key civilian, military andpolitical authorities. The senior leadersin FEMA, the JTF [Joint Task Force],and the New Orleans and LouisianaGovernments relied heavily on the in-ormation provided by Major [Daryl L.]Fullerton and Master Sergeant [PhilipP.] Serrano [division FSE] to make thebest possible decisions or the peopleo New Orleans.

As all o you can see, it was a terricperormance by Vic and his crew! Notsurprisingly, the Div Arty continues to

perorm above and beyond expectationsat all levels.

I could not have picked a better teamto transorm into the Armys newest Air-borne Brigade Combat Team next year,the modular 82nd Airborne Divisions4th BCT.All the Way!

Bill [MG William B. Caldwell IV]

PhotobyGerryJ.

Gilmore

New Orleans resident Alexcener Reaux, 74, thanks SSG

Samuel H. Zoker for his help outside her home in Algiers,

Louisiana, 17 September. Zoker is with A/2-319 AFAR.

On 16 October 2005, the 4th Bat-

tleeld Coordination Detachment(BCD) was activated at Shaw AFB,South Carolina. The commander isColonel Glenn Harp; his SergeantMajor is Michael Pinkney. A BCDis the senior Army liaison elementin the theater air-ground operationssystem representing the ground orland component commander to the aircomponent commander, normally theAir Force. The 4th BCD will supportCentral Command (CENTCOM) in

coordination with the Ninth Air Force.

The 4th BCD joins our other BCDsthroughout the world. The 1st BCD atFort Bragg, North Carolina, is a contin-gency BCD and supports CENTCOM,Northern Command (NORTHCOM) andSouthern Command (SOUTHCOM). Itis orward deployed in the CENTCOMarea o operations. The 3rd BCD sup-ports ground component orces in Koreaand coordinates with the Seventh AirForce at Osan Air Base. The 19th BCDis at Ramstein AFB, Germany, and sup-

ports US Army Europe (USAEUR),

coordinating with the 32nd Air Op-erations Group. The 2nd BCD is anArmy Reserve unit at Hurlburt Field,Florida, that supports US Army andUS Air Force Pacic at Hickam AFB,Hawaii.

The 4th BCD at Shaw AFB is ex-pected to be ully operational by thebeginning o FY07.

COL Jerey W. Yaeger, DirectorJoint and Combined Integration

Directorate (JACI), Fort Sill, OK

Battlefeld Coordination Detachment Activated

sil l-www.army.mil/famag November-December2005


4/4

DispatchfromIraq:TheConstitutionalReferendum

Ill be the rst to admit that aterweeks o reading nothing but intel-ligence reports on insurgents who had

vowed to turn the Iraqi constitutionalreerendum into a bloodbath, we rolledout the gate this morning expectingWorld War III.

We dont usually patrol. When wedrive out in our gun-trucks, its usuallywith a specic and limited objective inmind and almost always at night. Weusually leave patrols to the Inantry. Buttoday, wed oered to pitch in and helpexpand the presence on the streets todeter would-be troublemakers.

The whole team was pretty wound up,expecting to be blown up at any minute.

Mouths were dry and knuckles werewhite around weapons grips.

And then a unny thing happened. Themoment we came near the rst pollingstation, our combat patrol turned intoa parade.

The city had been completely closedo to non-ocial vehicle trac or thepast ew days, and most businesses wereclosed or today, at least. The weatherwas beautiul: clear and relatively cool.The streets were lled with amilies intheir nest clothes and children playingsoccer.

Some people walked the streets capedin Iraqi or Kurdish fags while childrenwaved miniature versions o the fags.Some children waved printed copieso the constitution that were as big astheir young bodies, copies they almostcertainly couldnt read yet. The momentthe children caught sight o us, pande-monium broke loose as they chased aterus yelling, Hey, Mister! and Americagood!

While the adults were less demonstra-

This is an email to friends and family

from Sergeant B, a Special ForcesMedic in 3rd Battalion, 5th SpecialForces Group, who is in Iraq. It de-scribes his experiences in Kirkuk on15 October, the day of the Iraqi con-stitutional referendum. His captain,a former Field Artilleryman, passedhis email to us. This email is reprintedwith Sergeant Bs permission.

Editor

tive than the children, every ew eet aman or woman resh rom voting would

hold up an ink-stained index nger andthen transition the gesture to a thumbsup with a smile and obvious pride.

This pattern repeated itsel through-out the city this morning. We drovethrough the streets eeling like visitingroyaltyeven in some neighborhoodswhere riendliness toward Americansis ar rom customary.

Another positive sign: everywheretoday we saw Iraqi police and soldierswalking bareaced among the people.Usually, they ear the insurgency somuch that most wear ski masks to pro-

tect their identities. Today, they walkedopenly among the people and generallybasked in the well wishes and pride othe public at large.

We stopped to let our Iraqi interpret-ers cast their ballots, but we could notget closer than a block rom the actualpolling site due to the immense crowdso happy voters. Sergeant S, the teamsergeant, and I hopped down rom thegun-truck to escort the Terps [Soldiersslang or interpreters] to the school withits makeshit voting booths. We walkedthrough the crowds ollowed by no less

than 50 children who took turns muster-ing the courage to run up and shake ourhands or fash us thumbs up.

At the polling site, a portly election

ocial patted down male voters orweapons. Apologetically, he inormed us

that we could not bring our rifes, pistols,grenades and other assorted explosivesinside the polling station.

Iraqi law, he said. We ound this bothamusing and immensely heartening. Wetold him that we would wait outside whileour Terps voted.

But youre not going to vote? heasked disappointedly.

No, we replied, thats just or Iraqis.The ocial, who obviously had a loosergrasp on eligibility requirements thanweapons policy, responded, But weare brothers!

Obviously, there are many parts o thiscountry where public sentiment is verydierent. Even here, many days we de-spair that our work and sacrices meananything. And, o course, the people inour intelligence reports are out there,even i they oten ail to bring aboutthe carnage and destruction that aretheir aim.

But on this Distinguished Day, asone o our Terps called it, my teamsaw a whole lot o people who seemedgenuinely proud to be Iraqis and excitedto have a chance to be heard.

I can think o a ew people who werepretty proud to be Americans too.

Sergeant B, SF Medic3/5 SFG, Iraq

Local citizens participate in the referendum voting in Samarra, Iraq, 15 October 2005.

AirForcePhotobyTSgtAndyDunaway,1stCombatCameraSquadron

8 November-December2005 Field Artillery

high praise for 82nd div arty’s support of hurricanes katrina and rita relief

Documents