By Edward Lee Pitts Military Affairs

When the 278th Regimental Combat Team heads to Iraq in November, it will take a cross section of Tennessee towns, citizens and jobs with it, making it unlike a typical Army combat unit.

Col. Dennis Adams, the regiment’s commander, said the average 278th soldier is a 30-year-old homeowner living in cities from Jackson to Bristol with two children and a stable job. He said this level of life experience makes him careful whenever he gives out orders.

"I’m not dealing with a bunch of 18-, 19-year-olds who have just signed up to join the Army," he said. "One of our sergeants might be the president of a corporation or a bank executive, and that’s a big difference."

He said the soldiers’ everyday lives as police officers, firefighters, teachers, lawyers and business executives make the 278th an ideal unit to handle the job of peacekeeping and rebuilding Iraq.

"Those are skill sets the regular Army doesn’t have," he said. "We are coming to Iraq at the right time."

After spending the summer training at Camp Shelby, Miss., the 278th this week begins its final phase of training in Fort Irwin, Calif., where soldiers will spend about a month at the National Training Center before heading to the Middle East.

The newly named 278th Regimental Combat Team was known previously as the 278th Armored Cavalry Regiment. The name was changed about a month ago to reflect the expanded makeup of the unit. Smaller teams from other states have joined the 278th to bring the regiment to full strength.

Officials hope the team can function as peacekeepers and rebuilders, but its members have combat training to handle the guerrilla tactics insurgents are employing throughout Iraq.

Col. Adams said the 278th ultimately will spend about a year in northeastern Iraq patrolling the country’s border with Iran. The 278th will man forward-operating bases in an open area without many large cities but populated by a mix of pro-U.S. Kurds and representatives of the Sunni and Shiite sects of Islam. The unit initially will be attached to the 1st Infantry Division, which is based in Europe and is under University of Tennessee at Chattanooga alumnus Gen. Burwell "B.B." Bell.

Last week, Gen. Bell, the Army’s top commander in Europe, promised during a gathering at UTC that he would make a special point to visit and look after the 278th while it is in Iraq.

TRADITION AND DANGER

When members of the 278th arrive in Iraq, they will be part of the National Guard force making up about 40 percent of all American military personnel currently serving in Iraq. At least 175 guardsmen have died, more than a third in the last five months, according to Department of Defense records.

Col. Adams said seeing the recent beheadings of Americans in Iraq hardened his resolve.

"None of the 278th guys will be wearing jumpsuits on TV if I have anything to do about it," he said.

This will be the first time the 278th faces combat since elements of the regiment were used as replacement troops during the Korean War, according to Col. (Ret.) Matt McKnight, the 278th’s historian.

Col. McKnight said 278th history goes back to 1898 and the Spanish-American War. During World War I, three soldiers in the unit won Medals of Honor while fighting to break German lines in France.

In World War II, the unit, known by various names throughout its history, landed on Omaha Beach in Normandy just four days after the initial landings. It won a prestigious presidential citation during the war for driving into the heart of Germany and beating German tank divisions during the Battle of the Bulge.

"Most people don’t realize how distinguished this unit is," Col. McKnight said. "They have never failed to measure up to any task ever given to them."

‘BIG-GAME’ TRAINING

To ensure the tradition continues and the dangers lessen, the 278th’s training will intensify in coming weeks.

At Camp Shelby the 278th learned individual infantry skills and participated in small-scale combat training. The regiment’s next month in California will offer a more stressful and final dress rehearsal for Iraq.

"This is the big game," Col. Adams said. "It will be the whole regiment doing the same thing at the same time."

National Training Center spokesman Capt. Dan Gannod said the 278th’s battle readiness will be tested during realistic war games throughout the sprawling desert complex, which is as big as Rhode Island. During a 14-day exercise everything but real bullets will be thrown at the soldiers, he said.

"What they may see in Iraq in two months they will see here in two days," he said. "If you sweat more in training, you bleed less in combat."

He said the idea is to make sure the 278th’s worst day in Iraq actually occurs in the training center’s mock villages. The 278th will go on patrols, man checkpoints, conduct searches and oversee a mock election.

FAMILY MATTERS

"Name omitted -wife of soldier", of Dayton, Tenn., whose husband, Greg, is a 278th corporal, said she is glad the training in California will be intense.

"I want them to be over-prepared," she said.

Dayton resident "Name omitted -wife of soldier" said the regiment’s move to California brings home the sobering realization that loved ones will be deployed, but an upside is that families will save money. She said the cost of gas, hotel rooms and meals during visits to Camp Shelby almost every other weekend to see her husband, "Name omitted - soldier", ate up most of the additional pay her husband got for being full-time military.

"You live from one trip to the next," she said. "But as much as you love the trips, you hate them because they are so disruptive and tiring." "Name omitted -wife of soldier"

With the 278th’s departure to California, "Name omitted -wife of soldier" said it is finally sinking in that her husband soon will be gone.

"As long as they were in Mississippi, it was OK," she said.

McMinnville, Tenn., resident "Name omitted -wife of soldier", 20, said she is glad her husband, "Name omitted - soldier", 24, and the rest of the 278th are moving on to the next phase of training.

"I’m just ready for them to get going," she said recently while raising money for the 278th at the Warren County Fair. "The quicker it happens, the faster they get to come home."

E-mail Lee Pitts at lpitts@timesfreepress.com

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