"The Cost Of Freedom Is Not Free" 10th MOUNTAIN DIVISION - THEN & NOW A TRADITION OF COURAGE - VALOR - HONOR The History of the 10th Mountain Division Post World War II - The Present 10th Infantry Division 1948-1958 To meet the Army’s requirements to train large numbers of replacements the 10th was reactivated as a training division on July 1, 1948, at Fort Riley, Kansas. It didn’t retain its wartime designation as a Mountain Division and as result lost its "Mountain" tab. The Division had the mission of processing and training new soldiers for service with other Army units. The outbreak of the Korean Conflict in June 1950, enlarged this mission. A total of 123,000 men completed basic training with the 10th during the period 1948-1953. In January 1954, the Department of Army announced that the 10th Division would become a combat infantry division, and be sent to Europe under a new rotation policy. The 10th Training Division was reduced to zero strength in May 1954. The personnel and equipment of the 37th Infantry Division were brought to Fort Riley, and on June 15, 1954, became the new 10th Infantry Division. In what became known as Operation Gyroscope, the 10th replaced the 1st Infantry Division in Germany. The headquarters of the 10th Division was located in Wurzburg, with all units stationed within a 75 miles radius. Stretched in an arc, from Frankfurt to Nurenburg, the 10th occupied a strategic center position in the NATO defense forces. With 9 Infantry Battalions, 4 Artillery Battalions, and one Tank Battalion, the 10th Infantry Division was a powerful military force. The 10th Division was in turn replaced in Germany by the 3rd Infantry Division in 1958. The 10th was then sent to Fort Benning, Georgia and inactivated on June 14, 1958. 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry) - 1985 to Present The Division was officially reactivated on February 13, 1985, at Fort Drum, New York as the 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry). The division commander after reactivation was Brigadier General William S. Carpenter. The 10th was the first division of any kind formed by the Army since 1975 and the first based in the Northeast US since World War II. The 10th Mountain Division (LI) was designed to meet a wide range of worldwide infantry-intensive contingency missions. Equipment design was oriented toward reduced size and weight for reasons of both strategic and tactical mobility. Desert Shield/Storm 1990-1991 Although the 10th didn’t deploy to Southwest Asia as a unit, about 1,200 10th Mountain Division soldiers did go. The largest unit to deploy was the 548th Supply and Services Battalion with almost 1,000 soldiers, which supported the 24th Mechanized Infantry Division in Iraq. Following a cease-fire in March, the first Division soldiers began redeploying to Fort Drum. The last soldiers were welcomed home in June 1991. Hurricane Andrew Relief - Florida 1992 Hurricane Andrew struck South Florida on August 24, 1992, killing 13 people, rendering an estimated 250,000 people homeless and causing damages in excess of 20 billion dollars. On September 27, 1992, the 10th Mountain Division assumed responsibility for Hurricane Andrew disaster relief as Task Force Mountain. Division soldiers set up relief camps, distributed food, clothing, medical necessities and building supplies as well as helping to rebuild homes and clear debris. The last of the 6,000 Division soldiers to deployed to Florida returned home in October 1992. Somalia 1992-94 Operation Restore Hope - December 1992 to May 1993. On December 3, 1993, the Division headquarters was designated as the headquarters for all Army Forces (ARFOR) of the Unified Task Force (UNITAF) for Operation Restore Hope. Major General Steven L. Arnold, the Division Commander, was named Army Forces commander. The Division’s mission was to secure major cities and roads to provide safe passage of relief supplies to the starving Somali population. Due to 10th Mountain Division efforts, humanitarian agencies declared an end to the food emergency and factional fighting decreased. A Company, 41st Engineer Battalion built a 160 foot Bailey bridge north of Kismayo. It was the largest Bailey bridge built outside the U.S. since the Vietnam War. Beginning in mid February 1993, the Division began the gradual reduction of forces in Somalia. Operation Continue Hope - May 1993 - March 1994. On 4 May, the UN assumed the task of securing the flow of relief supplies in Somalia. All remaining Division units in Somalia came under the control of a new headquarters, United Nations Operations in Somalia (UNOSOM II). 2-14th Infantry Battalion Aids Rangers - 3-4 October 1993 On 3 October, Special Operations Task Force Ranger (TFR) conducted a daylight raid on an enemy stronghold, deep in militia-held Mogadishu. The Rangers had successfully captured some of warlord Mohammed Farah Aidid’s key aides but went to the aid of an aircraft shot down by enemy fire. They were quickly surrounded by Somali gunmen. The 2-14th Infantry quick reaction force (QRF) was dispatched to secure the ground evacuation route. As darkness fell, the 2-14th Infantry was reinforced with coalition armor and for three hours they fought a moving gun battle from the gates of the Port to the Olympic Hotel and the Ranger perimeter. The 2-14th was successful in linking up with the Rangers and began withdrawal under fire along a route secured by Pakistani forces. As dawn broke over the city the exhausted soldiers marched, rode, and stumbled into the protective Pakistani enclave at city stadium. For 2-14th soldiers, the ordeal had lasted over twelve hours. The 2-14th had a total of twenty-nine soldiers wounded and one killed. One 41st Engineer Battalion soldier, attached to 2-14, was injured in the firefight and later died of his wounds in a hospital in Lanstuhl, Germany. Task Force Ranger suffered nineteen killed, fifty-seven wounded, and one missing (captured, later returned alive). Estimates of Somali militia losses were three hundred killed and over seven hundred wounded. With six and a half hours of continuous fighting, this was the longest sustained firefight by regular US forces since the Vietnam War. The last divisional combat unit stationed in Somalia, 2d Battalion, 22d Infantry returned home March 12, 1994. In all, some 7,300 soldiers from the 10th served in Somalia. Operation Uphold Democracy - Haiti 1994-95 The Division formed the nucleus of the Multinational Force Haiti (MNF Haiti) and Joint Task Force 190 (JTF 190) in Haiti during Operation Uphold Democracy. The MNF-Haiti was the US led coalition force in Haiti which included soldiers from 20 nations. More than 8,600 of the almost 21,000 troops in Haiti wore the 10th Mountain Division patch. At 0930 hours, on 19 September 1994, the Division’s 1st Brigade conducted the Army’s first air assault from an aircraft carrier. This force consisted of 54 helicopters and almost 2,000 soldiers. They occupied the Port-au-Prince International Airport. This was the largest Army air operation conducted from a carrier since the Doolittle Raid in World War II, where Army Air Force bombers were launched off of a carrier to attack Tokyo. The Division’s mission was to create a secure and stable environment under which the legitimate government of Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide could be reestablished and democratic elections held. The final step in preparing for Aristide’s return from exile occurred early on October 13th, when General Cedras, his family and members his de-facto government left the country for Panama. When President Aristide returned to the Port-au-Prince International Airport on October 15, 1994, his security was provide courtesy of the 10th Mountain Division. The 10th Mountain Division handed over control of the MNF-Haiti to the 25th Infantry Division on January 15, 1995. The Division redeployed the last of more than 8,600 Division soldiers who served in Haiti by January 31, 1995. Operation Joint Guard - Bosnia 1997 The 642d Engineer Company deployed for Bosnia on March 18, 1997 for a 6 month tour constructing and maintaining roads and base camps. Two companies of the 2d Battalion, 14th Infantry deployed for Bosnia a day later. B Company’s mission is to defend a critical bridge site, C Company’s mission is to act as the theater reserve. Task Force Eagle - 1998-2000 In the fall of 1998, the division received notice that it would be serving as senior headquarters of Task Force Eagle, providing a peacekeeping force to support the ongoing operation within the Multi-National Division-North area of responsibility in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Preparations began immediately for Stabilization Force 6. While division staff began planning, soldiers began training. The division split into two operations: Task Force Drum-for those remaining in the North Country-and Task Force Eagle, set to deploy to Bosnia. Warfighting skills remained the focus of the division's training. In preparation for the Bosnia assignment, four major events were staged in 1999, including an SFOR6 conference in Tuzla, Bosnia; a deployment exercise at Fort Drum as a rehearsal; a conference at Fort Drum and Fort Hood, and an inter-theater rehearsal by some staff members, with other units in Bosnia. Selected division units began deploying in late summer, to link up with their commander, Maj. Gen. James L. Campbell, who had preceded his soldiers to Bosnia. Approximately 3,000 division soldiers deployed. Meanwhile at Fort Drum, every effort was made to ensure the safety and care of soldiers and families remaining at home. After successfully performing their mission in Bosnia, the division units conducted a Transfer of Authority, relinquishing their assignments to soldiers of the 49th Armored Division, Texas National Guard. By early summer 2000, all 10th Mountain Division soldiers had returned safely to Fort Drum. After adding humanitarian, training and operational deployments together, the 10th Mountain Division (LI) had earned the distinction of being the most deployed Army division during the 1990s, a period which had seen the greatest number of missions for United States military forces-reserve and active-since the end of World War II. Working Towards the Future-JCF-AWE 2000 The Joint Contingency Force-Advanced Warfighting Experiment (JCF-AWE) wrapped up in September 2000 when soldiers from the division's 1st Brigade successfully completed the nearly month-long exercise at Fort Polk's Joint Readiness Training Center. The JCF-AWE was designed to improve, demonstrate and validate the enhanced lethality, agility and effectiveness of combat systems on future battlefields by focusing on three major goals: Expand the commanders' situational awareness through digitized command and control, enhanced communications, and improved interoperability between systems, processes and procedures; Enhance military operations in urban and complex environments; and, Improve the ability of military forces to plan and conduct forced and early-entry operations. These goals were met by integrating dozens of new technological initiatives such as digitized communication systems, unmanned aerial vehicles, and thermal-sighted weapons. In less than a year's time the brigade soldiers received basic technical instruction on the new technology, and they then learned how to put these systems to use in tactical, combat situations. Again division soldiers had a unique experience: Helping to mold the future of the infantry. SPECIAL THANKS TO The United States Army Installation Management Agency FOR THE NARRATIVE & PHOTOS