4th BCT going inactive, but historic 'Band of Brothers' still building its story
At Forward Operating Base Salerno in Afghanistan, Command Sgt. Major Lamont Christian, command sergeant major of 2nd Battalion, 506th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team 'Currahee,' holds a 101st Airborne Division combat patch, which was awarded to soldiers of the unit on the 69th anniversary of D-Day, June 6, 2013. While Afghan forces have transitioned to a lead role in security, the U.S. combat mission continues. / US ARMY/SGT. JUSTIN A. MOELLER
FORT CAMPBELL, KY. — For a commander, it’s tough enough being told that your brigade is being eliminated while you’re at home station. It’s tougher when you’re in a combat zone with those same soldiers.
It’s even worse when the news comes less than two days after you’ve lost another soldier, the third in a month, in a war that few people back home even realize is still going on.
For Col. Val C. Keaveny Jr., commander, 4th Brigade Combat Team, “Currahee,” 101st Airborne Division, currently in a fight that is still “hot” in Afghanistan, that was the way the week of June 23 started.
Sgt. Corey E. Garver, Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 506th Infantry Regiment, was killed by an improvised explosive device on the 23rd, on a Sunday in Paktiya Province. His death came just weeks after 2nd Lt. Juston L. Sisson, Headquarters and Headquarters Company, and Spc. Robert A. Pierce, Alpha Company, both of 1st Battalion, 506th, were killed by a vehicle-borne suicide bomber in Paktiya Province on June 3.
Two days after Garver’s death, the news came down from on high that the brigade was getting the ax, along with nine other brigades in the Army’s latest restructuring. The news came as a blow to a unit already trying to recover from a hard hit.
For now, however, it looks like the core of the 4th Brigade – the 506th Infantry Regiment that is the source of the Currahee legacy – along with other parts of the brigade, will survive. The 101st Airborne Division commander recognizes the importance of preserving as much history in the transition as he can.
The flags of units with serious combat heritage are far more than pieces of cloth. They are in their own way also living things, invested with the spirit and pride that come with a history that is instilled in and embraced by soldiers who understand what it means to carry its weight in their mental rucksack.
The Currahees do the instilling as well as any unit in the 101st or the Army. They are the “Band of Brothers” brigade, after all.
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I thank you.
Welcome to obummerland.
How many times American leadership has downsized our military only to build it back up again when the political conditions are right. Are military members, families, tax payers, freedom benefiting? Nope, it's all about world elite, politicians, money grubbers filling their trough at the expense of "we the people".
What a tragedy, men and women dieing near daily, the acting CIC taking a vacation in Africa, while our troops are still in battle, and as the Colonel says, America doesn't even realize it. I'm going to post a letter another warrior wrote to the despicable, cowardly Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff as another example of our military being betrayed...
A great tribute to great warriors.
Kind of reminds me of the argument the body had one day. All the parts of the body were claiming the right to rule.
A small sound was heard, trying to get over the uproar, and was finally recognized. Lo it was the bung hole. Everyone was laughing themselves silly, and the bung hole closed down. The eyes watered and blurred, the ears stopped hearing, the arms were weak, and the legs wbbled. The brain became fuzzy, and the heart began to race. Finally some one shouted, OK OK
and till this day the bung hole reigns.
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I cannot help but notice the contrast between what is written hereabout the flags being "living things" /"far more than pieces of cloth" An idea I can understand far more than I can agree with Colin Powell's convenient LIE about our American flag which he said once needs no defense That it is nothing more than strips of brightly colored cloth.That its desecration is protected speech.In my mental diddybag is the notion that if desecration of Our flag is protected speech--then so ought be the fight that such desecration begs. When we lose-- or reject the image of Our flag being like those unit flags/guidons then I wonder how we can claim the title of Patriot? I notice the weakest link in the current chain of command did not wear a flag pin on his lapel when he first usurped the Office he has defiled. Now that he has--until he has fulfilled the Psalm and his Office taken by another I cannot fly the colors he claims-for we do not serve nor see the same United States of America.