140th Military Intelligence Battalion (United States)

140th Military Intelligence Battalion
(Combat Electronic Warfare Intelligence)
(Heavy Division)

140th Military Intelligence Battalion distinctive unit insignia
Active 1986–1995
Country United States
Branch United States Army Reserve
Type Military Intelligence
Role Combat Electronic Warfare Intelligence, Heavy Division type
Size 400 +/-
Garrison/HQ Patton USAR Center, Bell, California
Dessiderio USAR Ctr., Pasadena
Motto Semper Vigil (always watchful)
Mascot Fred, the exterminator cat (1990)
Engagements none
Decorations none
Battle honours none
Disbanded 1995

The 140th Military Intelligence Battalion (Combat Electronic Warfare Intelligence) (Heavy Division) of the United States Army Reserve was constituted on 16 July 1986, assigned to the 63rd Army Reserve Command ("Blood and Fire"), and activated with headquarters at the General George Smith Patton, Jr. United States Army Reserve Center, located at 5340 Bandini Boulevard in Bell, California. The battalion inactivated in 1995.

The battalion's full-time property book officer and supply sergeants were recognized as having the best-run unit supply operation of any battalion in the Army Reserve in both 1991 and 1992.

The 140th MI Battalion's activation was essentially simultaneous with the inactivation of the 309th Army Security Agency Battalion. The personnel and facilities of the 309th were initially transferred to the 140th at that time, although the lineage and insignia were not. Nine years later, the 140th was similarly inactivated essentially simultaneously with the activation of the 368th Military Intelligence Battalion, to whom the personnel and facilities were transferred without the lineage and insignia.

Location

The 140th MI Battalion, its HHS, A, B and C Companies were stationed at the General George S. Patton, Jr. United States Army Reserve Center, located at 5340 Bandini Boulevard, in Bell, California. Patton USAR Center, the sprawling General Services Administration warehouse complex to the south, the U.S. Postal Service's processing center to the north and north-east, the National Guard armory to the west, and the adjacent commercial buildings to the east and immediate south, were constructed on what had been Cheli Air Force Station until 1961. In fiscal year 1991, the battalion's offices and motor pool removed from the facility's World War II–era temporary structures, into newly constructed buildings in the reserve centre; the same postal address was retained. The centre's wooden warehouse building, in which offices had been constructed, was razed, leaving only the cinderblock arms vault above the building's high slab. A new steel structure was built atop the slab, with essentially the same footprint as the original building.

The 307th and, subsequently, 651st Military Intelligence Companies were located 24 km (15 mi) north of the battalion, at the Captain Reginald B. Desiderio United States Army Reserve Center on Westminster Drive in Pasadena, California.

Organization

Although assigned to the Army Reserve, the 140th Military intelligence Battalion was the organic military intelligence battalion of the 40th Infantry Division (Mechanized) of the California Army National Guard. The battalion's numerical designation followed U.S. Army custom of adding 100 to the supported infantry division's number; see also: the 1st Infantry Division's former 101st Military Intelligence Battalion and the 4th Infantry Division's former 104th Military Intelligence Battalion; cf: comparable battalions in armored divisions would have a number 500 greater than the division.

The battalion was composed of:

Training challenges

As the 40th Infantry Division's primary wartime trace was to the Eighth United States Army and the defense of South Korea, the 140th Military Intelligence Battalion was configured to specialize in the Korean and Mandarin Chinese languages. Obtaining and retaining language-qualified reserve soldiers in Southern California proved difficult.

Modest gains were made with the Army Reserve's institution of the Military Intelligence Special Training Element (MISTE, pronounced "misty") program, in which military intelligence units, including the 140th, were assigned language-qualified, MOS-qualified reserve soldiers (primarily those with prior active duty service) residing hundreds or thousands of miles away. Given the distance to be traveled, the MISTE soldiers would fly in to drill only bi-monthly, usually at Regional Training Site – Intelligence (RTS-I) at Hamilton Army Airfield north of San Francisco, California. The MISTE soldiers participated in annual training with the rest of the battalion.

Maintaining technical skills was also a problem, as much of the equipment—such as direction-finding trucks, radio intercept trucks, radio jamming trucks, inter alia—was prohibitively expensive for the Army to provide just to have it sit in storage twenty-eight days or more per month. Because of likely damage to streets, the battalion's M113 armored personnel carriers, M577 tactical operations center vehicles and M578 recovery vehicles were stored at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton; the three-hour round trip negated monthly training on the tracked vehicles.

When Iraq invaded Kuwait in August 1990, the four-year-old battalion was neither adequately manned nor trained for mobilization. Even had the battalion been at full, qualified strength, proficiency in Korean and Mandarin would have been of little use in Southwest Asia. Several of the battalion's reserve soldiers, however, were individually cross-leveled into other units and mobilized for Operation Desert Shield and Operation Desert Storm in 1990–1991.

Mission

Battalion

140th MI Battalion color

The mission of the 140th Military Intelligence Battalion (CEWI) (HD) was to command, control, staff, plan, and supervise its organic and attached companies which provide direct support intelligence, electronic warfare, non-communications intercept & analysis, human intelligence, counterintelligence, and ground surveillance radar support ot the 40th Infantry Division. The battalion was organized with the intent of being able to:

HHS Company

HHS Company guidon

Note: The contemporary edition of AR 840-1 prescribed headquarters company/detachment/battery/troop guidons as bearing simply the unit number and (if applicable) branch insignia or shoulder sleeve insignia; no "HHS", "HHC", "HQ" or other headquarters designation was authorized at that time.

The Headquarters and Headquarters Services Company contained most of the battalion's analysis, supply, and communications personnel, as well as all of the IEW support, administration, vehicle maintenance, communications maintenance, and food service personnel. Accordingly, unlike a stereotypical battalion headquarters company, the HHS Company of a CEWI battalion comprised over half of the battalion's total authorised strength. The company's missions were to:

The major items of equipment organic to HHS Company included:

Alpha Company

Alpha Company guidon

Company A (Collection and Jamming) was composed of three C&J platoons, a radio telegraphy team, and a traffic analysis section. Of the three C&J platoons, one each was concerned with:

The major items of equipment organic to Company A included:

Bravo Company

Bravo Company guidon

Company B (Intelligence and Surveillance) was divided into two very distinctive platoons. The ground surveillance radar platoon had three squads of scouts to carry, install, and utilise ground surveillance radars to observe enemy vehicle traffic. These three squads would provide GSR support to the division's three manoeuvre brigades.

The other platoon, known as the operations support element, was composed of two counterintelligence teams and two interrogation teams. The platoon was designed to conduct enemy prisoner of war interrogation and provide limited counterintelligence support to the division. Because an officer could not become qualified in either counterintelligence or human intelligence unless and until he or she completed the respective military intelligence officer advanced course, Company B was unusual in that the operations support platoon was led by a captain.

The major items of equipment organic to Company B were AN/PPS-5A Ground Surveillance Radar Sets.

Charlie Company

Charlie Company guidon

Company C (Electronic Warfare) was built around a large signals intelligence ("SIGINT") processing platoon composed of an analysis section, three non-communication intercept teams and five master control stations. Outside of the platoon was a radio teletypewriter section. Company C's mission was to:

The major items of equipment organic to Company C included:

Long Range Surveillance Detachment

LRSD guidon

Detachment D (Long Range Surveillance) was an airborne infantry detachment, designed to parachute far in advance of friendly lines with radios and sufficient provisions to sustain themselves. Once in position, they were to remain camouflaged, while observing enemy activity and other conditions of intelligence value, and report their findings via radio.

651st MI Company

651st MI Company guidon

The 651st Military Intelligence Company (Interrogation and Exploitation) (Echelons Above Corps), designed to support a theatre army, was composed of a document exploitation team, a target exploitation team, a technical intelligence section, and six interrogation & exploitation squads in two platoons. The company's mission was to:

The major items of equipment organic to the 651st MI Company included:

Insignia

Coat of Arms

Shield: Azure within an orle argent, in base a pyramid of the like and in chief a sun in splendor issuing to base five lightning flashes or and charged with a globe of the like grid-lined of the first.

Crest: That for the regiments and separate battalions of the Army Reserve: On a wreath of the colours, argent and azure, the Lexington Minuteman proper. The statue of the Minuteman, Capt. John Parker (Henry Hudson Kitson, sculptor), stands on the Common in Lexington, Massachusetts.

Motto

Semper Vigil (Latin for always watchful).

Distinctive Unit Insignia

The distinctive unit insignia is the shield and motto of the coat of arms.

Symbolism

Oriental blue and silver gray (white) are the colors associated with military intelligence. The sun represents the Greek god Helios who, according to mythology, could bring all secrets to light; surrounding a globe, it represents the unit's worldwide military intelligence mission. The lightning flashes suggest electronic warfare and communication capabilities. The sun and lightning flashes are gold and allude to California, the "Golden State," the unit's home area. The pyramid personifies longevity [ironically] and strength.

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