Publication:Chattanooga Times Free Press
Date:Thursday, March 03, 2005
Section:Front Page; Page:1

Designated War Veterans

By Edward Lee Pitts Military Affairs

CAMP CALDWELL, Iraq — Nearly one year to the day after the Army alerted the 278th Regimental Combat Team to prepare for duty in Iraq, soldiers with the Tennessee-based National Guard unit received combat patches signifying they can now call themselves war veterans.

Soldiers with the 278th’s units lined up in formation Wednesday morning and faced their commander, Col. Dennis Adams, in front of an oversized replica of the regiment’s insignia.

"We are a very proud organization steeped with traditions," Col. Adams said to his soldiers. "You have lived up to those traditions, and it is only fitting today we gather here to honor the regiment."

At the conclusion of the colonel’s speech, he and his soldiers ripped off the tape covering their newly ironed-on combat patches, worn above the U.S. flag on the shoulder of every soldier in the regiment.

Sporting the new patch, the soldiers shouted the regiment’s motto, "I Volunteer Sir," which dates back to 1846 when more than 30,000 Tennesseans volunteered for the Mexican War, giving the state its nickname.

The round combat patch includes three stars adopted from the Tennessee flag. A wavy blue three-armed partition represents the Holston and the French Broad rivers forming the beginning of the Tennessee River in Knoxville, the location of the regiment’s headquarters. The regiment, then called the 278th Armored Calvary Regiment, was alerted for possible mobilization on March 1, 2004, and landed in Kuwait, under its reconfigured name of the 278th Regimental Combat Team, in November. Soldiers with the 278th are well aware of the dangers of life in a combat zone.

Last week, a soldier with another regiment died in the 278th’s sector, which stretches along eastern Iraq near the country’s border with Iran.

Staff Sgt. Eric M. Steffeney, 28, of Waterloo, Iowa, died Feb. 23 in Tuz when an improvised explosive device detonated, according to a U.S. Department of Defense news release. Sgt. Steffeney was assigned to the 184th Ordnance Battalion, 52nd Ordinance Group, Fort Bragg, N.C.

Deployed units are authorized to wear a combat patch after being in a combat zone for 30 days.

Lt. Col. Wayne Honeycutt, the regiment’s executive officer, said the regiment delayed its ceremony until after being here a little more than 100 days so it would align with the first anniversary of its initial prepping for Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Since arriving here in December, the regiment’s nearly 4,000 soldiers have been spread between three camps in their sector.

"It’s an historic day for us and for the National Guard with the things we are doing here," Lt. Col. Honeycutt said.

The regiment also is eligible to wear the rainbow patch of the 42nd Infantry Division, which oversees the 278th. However the majority of soldiers here have chosen the 278th patch.

"This regiment hit the ground running and has not stopped," said Maj. Gen. Joseph Taluto, the commander of the 42nd Infantry Division, who presided over the ceremony.

Maj. Gen. Taluto praised the regiment’s aggression in arresting insurgents on the division’s target list, tracking down weapons and working with area Iraqi Security Forces.

"They have done more combat patrols and operations than most units have done in their first months here," he said. "They have a huge area, but they are pressing out in it with a minimum amount of people."

Command Sgt. Maj. James Pippin, the regiment’s highest ranking noncommissioned officer, said the proactive demeanor of the soldiers is squelching the insurgency.

"Insurgents are afraid to come out now when the 278th RCT is on the road," he said. "They back off, and some of them call us cowboys."

During the regiment’s first 100 days here, soldiers encountered roadside bombs, ambushes, direct firefights and indirect fire in the form of mortars and artillery attacks.

"The only thing left is a tank battle," said Col. Adams, who signaled out the captains in the regiment for their frontline leadership on the battlefield.

First Sgt. William Barnes with 1st Squadron’s Deacon Battery, said the relative quiet of the 278th’s sector does not take away from the battle stress his men face daily.

"Whether it is a humanitarian mission or not, it is all a combat environment as soon as we roll outside the gate," he said. "The uncertainty is constant."

Spc. Nicholas Deaton, of Rome, Ga., said Iraq first felt like a combat zone to him after a roadside bomb exploded in one of the more than 20 convoys he has been in since arriving here. Spc. Jacob Jadoobirsingh, 20, of Chattanooga, said the combat patch shows the regiment’s members have performed missions against an enemy after years of drilling and preparation. "In the military, you train all the time and you rarely get to do what your job is," he said. "Now, we’ve actually been in the real situation."

Lt. Aaron Jones, a regimental chaplain, said the ceremony marks another milestone in the 278th’s journey bringing the soldiers one step closer to home.

"You do so much and so much is going on that time moves so fast," he said. "Of course you want to be home, but I wouldn’t trade this experience for anything."

The current incarnation of the 278th can now be mentioned alongside its forebearers who fought in such conflicts as the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, the Mexican War, the Civil War, both world wars and the Korean War.

Col. Adams told the troops to be proud of the combat patch and the honor and respect that comes with it in the military community.

"Your peers at home will be envious, but they must travel the miles that you have come to earn this privilege," said Col. Adams, who gets to wear a combat patch for the first time in his 25-year military career.

Highlighting the fact that this is a combat zone, snipers silently climbed down from the roofs of surrounding buildings after the ceremony ended while Blackhawk helicopters hovering overhead kicked up the sand below.

E-mail Lee Pitts at lpitts@timesfreepress.com

U.S. Army Photo by Staff Sgt. Russell Lee Klika - Maj. Gen. Joseph J. Taluto, commander of the 42nd Infantry Division, left, and Col. Dennis Adams, commander of the 278th Regimental Combat Team, salute during a ceremony in which members of the Tennessee-based National Guard unit received combat patches.

U.S. Army Photo by Staff Sgt. Russell Lee Klika - Maj. Gen. Joseph J. Taluto, commander of the 42nd Infantry Division, passes a combat patch to Col. Dennis Adams, commander of the 278th Regimental Combat Team.

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