Story filed 7-24-05

By Edward Lee Pitts
Military Affairs

Soldiers with the 278th Regimental Combat Team now serving in Iraq say their experiences in recent months have shown them the need for the Army's planned restructuring of the Tennessee National Guard.

In e-mails to the Chattanooga Times Free Press, the soldiers said the Armywide transition from larger to smaller detachments would mean giving up some of the 278th's larger armored vehicles, such as the M1A1 Abrams tanks and armored personnel carriers such as Bradley fighting vehicles.

Those big guns long have been a staple of the 278th. The regiment is the only armored cavalry regiment in the National Guard, but 278th officers said the soldiers can and will adapt.

"A lighter, more mobile Army is something that has been a long time in the making," said Lt. David Andrews of the regiment's Cleveland-based Apache Troop. "It is an appropriate move."

Maj. Gen. Gus Hargett, the top officer of Tennessee's National Guard, said the Army's planned overhaul would affect most of the state's 150 units, including the elimination of more than 1,300 positions and two brigade commands.

"Although this transformation will change the face of the Tennessee Army National Guard as we know it, we feel the moves ... are what is best," Maj. Gen. Hargett said in a statement.

The changes will add more military police, signal and other support units while downsizing armor, artillery and engineer units, according to National Guard officials.

The Tennessee National Guard is looking at three different reorganization options, according to Guard spokesman Randy Harris. He said the options include consolidating armories and possibly moving the headquarters of the 278th from Nashville to Smyrna, Tenn. A final plan will be made public sometime in August, Mr. Harris said.

CHANGING FOCUS

Soldiers such as Lt. Col. Jeff Holmes, of Murfreesboro, Tenn., are proud of the 278th's "unmatched tradition" and "historic lineage" as an armored cavalry, which now may change.

"Once you've been armor, it will always be in your blood," said Lt. Col. Holmes, who enlisted in 1979 to be a tanker.

But the regiment has had recent practice going without its normal contingent of heavy equipment. For its current deployment the unit changed its name from an armored cavalry regiment to a regimental combat team to better reflect its makeup. In Iraq the 278th is composed of Guard units from six states including a New Jersey-based signal battalion and a military police company from Vermont.

There is a platoon of four tanks stationed at each of the 278th's three bases in northeastern Iraq's Diyala province. Many former 278th tankers have traded in armor for Humvees and been converted to scouts in Iraq, officials said.

While fewer 278th soldiers in the regiment will get to call themselves tankers after the regiment returns, Lt. Andrews said that will not be why soldiers choose to leave the regiment. Troops will be more likely to get out of the Guard for family reasons or because they do not want to be activated again for 18 months, Lt. Andrews said.

Most troops will elect to adapt with the regiment and take new military jobs because of friendships in the regiment or because they don't want to travel long distances to other units, Lt. Andrews wrote.

PEACEKEEPING NEEDS

Lt. Col. Holmes, the regiment's 3rd Squadron commander, wrote in an e-mail that more mobile and versatile units are what the military needs to respond to the terrorist threats of the 21st century. The old 278th structure designed more for fighting the professional armies of super power nations is becoming obsolete, he said.

"Pushing tanks across the world is a very time-intensive task, and it takes months to build combat power," Lt. Col. Holmes wrote. "A lighter force is quicker to deploy."

Lt. Col. Holmes wrote that the new Army also must bring noncombat skills to a battle zone "such as aid and assistance, peacekeeping and security force training."

"As a regiment we are doing all of these right now in our area of responsibility," he wrote.

But 278th solders say any changes should not eliminate tanks, as they provide a huge psychological advantage against enemies who do not possess tanks.

"I know we may not need as many tanks," wrote 278th Capt. Rick Walters. "But military history has shown over the years that the very best time to have tanks is when no one else has them."

E-mail Lee Pitts at lpitts@timesfreepress.com

On the Web: Photos by U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Russell Lee Klika of the 278th Regimental Combat Team are available on the Times Free Press Web site. Visit http://www.timesfreepress.com/kp.

Story Copyright to Chattanooga Times Free press