For 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 2018 was a year of intense training as Strike sought to maintain readiness, increase lethality and create physically and mentally tough Soldiers.
“I always tell my Soldiers that this is the best brigade in the Army, and that we can do anything – but we can’t do everything,” said Col. Joseph Escandon, commander of 2nd BCT. “The job of the leaders in this brigade is to ensure that we are focused on the right things, and that we continue to get better with each repetition.”
There were many of those repetitions available for Strike in 2018, beginning in March with the crucible of a rotation at the Joint Readiness Training Center at Fort Polk, Louisiana. The path to JRTC however, involved the rediscovery of a decade-old technique for deployment: The use of riverine barges.
“For the past 10 years, when a unit from Fort Campbell has deployed to Fort Polk for a JRTC rotation, the standard means of getting equipment to Louisiana has been line haul by rail,” said Maj. Andrew Colsia, 2nd BCT S4. “For this rotation, we transported more than 720 pieces of rolling stock by riverine barge from the port of Clarksville to the port of Alexandria, Louisiana.”
Following load out of all its equipment and vehicles, 3,427 Strike Soldiers soon descended on Fort Polk to participate in the highly-kinetic Decisive Action Training Exercise rotation against the forces of Geronimo, JRTC’s resident enemy. The rotation lasted 14 days, during which Soldiers cleared and seized terrain, overcame a dug-in defense and conducted a joint forcible entry with its unique air assault capabilities.
“Our successes at JRTC are important, but short-lived unless we use them to improve our internal standard operating procedures, as well as share lessons learned with the rest of the division,” Escandon said.
To that end, Strike hosted the leadership of 1st and 3rd brigade combat teams upon their return to Fort Campbell in April. This allowed the brigade to set its sister units up for success at future JRTC rotations. In addition, Strike was able to provide support as observer-controller-trainers in support of the 1st BCT field training exercise in June and the 3rd BCT FTX in December.
In June, Strike Soldiers represented the 101st Airborne Division in Normandy, France, at the 74th Anniversary of the D-Day invasion. Twenty-four Soldiers participated in the Game That Never Happened, a flag football game organized by Helen Patton, granddaughter of the late World War II Gen. George Patton. The Champagne Bowl was originally scheduled to be played on Christmas Day 1944, but was canceled because of the German counterattack into France, now known as the Battle of the Bulge.
Many Strike Soldiers spent the summer months away from Fort Campbell as they supported cadet training at the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York. The Soldiers of Task Force Falcon were primarily composed of the 2nd Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment.
“We had many great opportunities at West Point, where we took part in the first-ever CALFEX [Combined Arms Live Fire Exercise] and later in the summer at Fort Dix, New Jersey, where we were able to focus on increasing our own unit readiness,” said Lt. Col. Adam Sawyer, Command of 2-502nd Inf. Regt.
Back at Fort Campbell, Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 502nd Inf. Regt. and 1st Battalion, 26th Inf. Regt., began preparation for the October assumption of the Regionally Aligned Forces mission on the continent of Africa. Operating under United States Army Africa, their mission is to partner with host nation forces as well as participate in various multinational exercises vital to U.S. national security interests on the continent.
With so many Strike Soldiers heading in many different directions, Escandon placed a heavy emphasis on a new Strike streamer program that was put into place at the end of 2017. In 2018, he started to see the results.
“It only took one or two companies getting streamers, and it didn’t take long before the competitive spirit of our leaders started to do the rest,” Escandon said.
The streamer program has three categories. The Strike Tough Gold Streamer, for example, requires 90 percent of assigned Soldiers to complete a 4-mile run in 32 minutes or less, a 12-mile tactical foot march in less than four hours and a unit APFT average of 270 or higher. There are also Strike Marksmanship, Strike Discipline and Strike Safety streamers.
“There’s a reason we wear two black hearts on the side of our helmets,” Escandon said. “It takes twice the heart to be a Strike Soldier, and the streamer program is a chance for each company to push itself and show the rest of the brigade it has what it takes.”
Those twin black hearts saw an increase in numbers in October, as 1st Battalion, 320th Field Artillery Regiment, returned to the Strike team. Of course, most members of the battalion had never taken the hearts off after being assigned to the 101st Division Artillery in 2015, as they typically supported 2nd BCT in all exercises and training events.
Strike ended the year the same way it has since 1986, with a wreath-laying ceremony at the Gander Memorial. This year’s ceremony, however, was bittersweet as it marked the final ceremony at the current memorial located between Normandy and Screaming Eagle boulevards. Next year, a new and larger memorial will open across the street next to the Brig. Gen. Donald Pratt Memorial Museum.