By Captain Alana
Schwermer and Sergeant First Class Steve Payer
Headquarters,
State Area Command
The
following article originally appeared in the Summer 2003 is of
The Grizzly
Smoke still rose from
the rubble of what had been the World Trade Center Towers in
Manhattan when President George Bush authorized a call-up of
Reserve troops for Homeland Defense and Civil Support missions
named Operation NOBLE EAGLE. Now, almost two years after the
attacks that prompted the creation of NOBLE EAGLE, the 2nd Brigade,
40th Infantry Division has taken Command and Control of Fifth
Army western base clusters in support of NOBLE EAGLE III.
The 2nd Brigade is in charge of seven battalion clusters,
or about 3,500 personnel. Colonel John Harrel, Chief of Staff,
for the 40th Infantry Division, said that units assigned to NOBLE
EAGLE I and II had to ask their base commanders for permission
to attend military schools or to conduct training. Under
NOBLE EAGLE III, the military base commanders still have operational
control of the units assigned to their installations, Harrel
said. But the 2nd Brigade will organize the units
schooling and training.
The 132nd Engineer Battalion,
the 1st Battalion, 149th Armor Regiment; the 1st Battalion, 185th
Armor Regiment, the 870th Military Police Company, and several
other California National Guard units, have been an integral
part of NOBLE EAGLE I and II. The 1st Battalion, 185th Armor
Regiment and the 1st Squadron, 18th Cavalry Regiment are the
primary California National Guard units involved in NOBLE EAGLE
III.
The California National Guard will now be the Command and Control
Center for other National Guard units from Washington, Oregon,
Texas, and several other states for NOBLE EAGLE III. In May 2003,
60 members of the 2nd Brigade of the 40th Infantry Division,
based in Los Alamitos, were mobilized to serve as Command and
Control of Operation NOBLE EAGLE III under the Fifth Army Headquarters,
located at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, Texas. They
are an adjunct to the Fifth Army staff to work all the NOBLE
EAGLE Forces, said Colonel Jacob Van Goor, Director, Organization,
Training, and Mobilization.
Each site owns its own forces. They are doing administration
and some training for all of the different sites. The unit on
the site will be controlled by the installation. The 2nd
Brigade is Command and Control for western base clusters under
Fifth Army. Base clusters are made up of units assigned to Fifth
Army divided into geographic regions. The 2nd Brigade is supporting
NOBLE EAGLE III through April 2004.
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