98th Infantry Division (United States)

98th Infantry Division

98th Infantry Division shoulder sleeve insignia
Active 15 September 1942 – 16 February 1946
1947–present
Country  United States
Branch  United States Army
Type Infantry
Size Division
Garrison/HQ Fort Benning, Georgia
Nickname(s) "Iroquois" (special designation)[1]
Engagements World War II
Commanders
Current
commander		 Brigadier General Tammy Smith
Insignia
Distinctive unit insignia

The 98th Infantry Division ("Iroquois"[1]) was a unit of the United States Army in the closing months of World War I and during World War II. The unit is now one of the U.S. Army Reserve's training divisions, officially known as the 98th Training Division (Initial Entry Training). The 98th Training Division's current primary mission is to conduct Initial Entry Training (IET) for new soldiers. It is one of three training divisions subordinate to the 108th Training Command (IET).

Following its initial organization in 1918, the 98th Training Division (IET) has experienced multiple cycles of activation, training, deployment and deactivation as well as substantial reorganizations and changes of mission. Since 1959, however, the 98th Training Division (IET) has been a unit of the U.S. Army Reserve with the primary mission of training Soldiers. Formerly headquartered in Rochester, New York with longstanding historical ties to New York and New England, the 98th Training Division (IET) was moved to Fort Benning, Georgia in 2012,[2] and exercises command and control of units located throughout the eastern U.S. as well as Puerto Rico.

World War II

The 98th was activiated as one of the Army's infantry divisions on 15 Sep, 1942 at Camp Breckinridge, Kentucky, filling its ranks primarily with Soldiers from the New York and New England regions. A "triangular" division organized around a three-regiment (the 389th, 390th and 391st Infantry Regiments) core, the 98th spent the next 18 months training on all aspects of warfighting at Camp Breckinridge,Kentucky, Camp Forrest, Tennessee and Camp Rucker, Alabama in anticipation of combat in the Asian theater. Arriving in Oahu, Hawaii on 19 April 1944, the roughly 15,000 Soldiers of the 98th relieved the 33rd Division of responsibility for the defense of the Hawaiian islands and continued training for deployment to Asia. Slated as a participant in Operation Olympic, scheduled for 1 November 1945 one of two planned invasions of Japan, the war drew to a close before the 98th was deployed to an active combat zone. Instead, the 98th Division arrived in Japan on 27 Sep 1945 and served in Osaka, Japan as part of the occupying force until 16 February 1946 when the unit was inactivated.

Awards earned by 98th Division Soldiers during this period include: Legion of Merit-1; Soldier's Medal-8; Bronze Star −146.

Commanding Generals during the World War II era were Major General Paul L. Ransom (September 1942 – November 1943), Major General George W. Griner, Jr. (November 1943-26 June 1944), Major General Ralph C. Smith (15 July 1944 – 30 August 1944) and Major General Arthur McK. Harper (November 1944 - 16 February 1946).

Post World War II

On 18 April 1947, the Iroquois Division was reactivated in Rochester, New York on reserve status and began training for combat in the new Cold War environment. It had been previously planned to be an airborne division. A note on the troop list nevertheless indicated that the unit was to be reorganized and redesignated as an airborne unit upon mobilization and was to train as such.[3]

The reorganization of 1 May 1959, redesignated the 98th Infantry Division as the 98th Division (Training) and set the unit on a course lasting to the present - training Soldiers. The regimental heritage was retained with the 389th, 390th and 391st Infantry Regiments organized as Basic Combat Training (BCT) regiments and the 392nd Infantry Regiment organized as an Advanced Individual Training (AIT) regiment.

Additional changes occurred in 1968 with the movement toward a brigade-based structure: the 389th Infantry Regiment became the 1st Brigade (BCT), the 390th Infantry Regiment became the 2d Brigade (BCT) and the 392nd Infantry Regiment became the 3rd Brigade (AIT-Engineer), the only Engineer Pioneer training unit in the Army Reserve at the time. The 3rd Brigade/392nd Infantry Regiment was based in Hillcrest, New York and performed Engineer AIT training of Soldiers at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri during their annual two week training periods throughout the Vietnam War. The changes of 1968 also ushered in the designation and training of Army Reserve Drill Sergeants, a significant and enduring innovation. Additional reorganization in 1994 redesignated the unit as the 98th Division (Institutional Training), a change in which the 98th retained its previous IET mission but also acquired the missions and force structure formerly associated with to the U.S. Army Reserve Forces schools. The 98th would maintain this basic organization and mission for the next 14 years.

Post 9/11

On 3 September 2004, the 98th Division received mobilization orders for Operation Iraqi Freedom. This mobilization was to be the first overseas deployment for the unit since World War II. The mission, known as the Foreign Army Training Assistance Command (FA-TRAC), consisted primarily of training the new Iraqi Army and Iraqi security forces. An expeditionary force of more than 700 Iroquois warriors were trained and equipped at four sites: Camp Atterbury, Fort Bliss, Fort Hood and Fort Benning.

The demands of Operation Iraqi Freedom required an accelerated training schedule which crammed as many warfighting skills as possible into a forty-one day period. This was the 98th's first substantial exposure to the asymmetric battlefield, requiring training in counterinsurgency techniques and preparing to face an opponent who did not fight along traditional fronts. The 98th made full use of the 33,000 acres at Camp Atterbury and marched everywhere. It was at Camp Atterbury that the advisory support teams (later renamed military training teams), the heart of the FA-TRAC mission, transformed to cohesive units in long days.

In fall 2004, the 98th Division arrived in Baghdad and filled the ranks of the Multinational Security Transition Command-Iraq (MNSTC-I), the unit charged with assisting the Iraqi government in developing, training and equipping the new Iraqi security forces. The unit used its pool of drill sergeant and instructor expertise to train Iraqi soldiers and officers to prescribed standards under the constant threat of insurgent attack and under austere conditions.

Instruction and support teams spread out across all points in Iraq from Al Kasik in the north to as far south as Umm Qasr. They established contact with Iraqi security units with the help of interpreters and helped build the six divisions of the new Iraqi Army. They also established officer and noncommissioned officer education schools at the Kirkush Military Training Base. They trained Iraqi police, the Highway Patrol, the special Police Commandos and the Iraqi Border Police.[4]

The division also fielded soldiers to such other locations as Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, the Horn of Africa, Kuwait, Jordan and Afghanistan.

Five 98th Training Division soldiers were killed in action during the division’s deployment to Iraq in 2004-05. [5]

Current organization

General

Nickname: Iroquois.

Shoulder patch: The 98th Division Patch consists of a shield in the shape of the Great seal of the State of New York, with the head of an Iroquois Indian Chief. The five feathers represent the five original Iroquois nations: the Seneca, Onondaga, Oneida, Cayuga and Mohawk. The blue and orange-gold colors are those of the Dutch House of Nassau, the earliest settlers of New York State. On September 8, 2012, the Armed Forces Reserve Center at Fort Benning, Georgia, where the unit is located, was memorialized in honor of Chaplain Elmer W. Heindl who had served in the 98th.[6]

Commanding generals

References

 This article incorporates public domain material from the United States Army Center of Military History document [http://www.history.army.mil/html/forcestruc/cbtchron/cbtchron.html "The Army Almanac: A Book of Facts Concerning the Army of the United States U.S. Government Printing Office, 1950"].

  1. 1 2 "Special Unit Designations". United States Army Center of Military History. 21 April 2010. Archived from the original on 9 July 2010. Retrieved 12 July 2010.
  2. ↑ 98th Training Division moving from Rochester, N.Y. to Fort Benning, newspaper article by Ben Wright, correspondent for the Ledger-Enquirer (Columbus, GA), 4 Sep 2012. Retrieved 23 Apr 2013.
  3. ↑ John B. Wilson, Maneuver and Firepower, Chapter 8
  4. ↑ Iroquois Warriors in Iraq, by Steven E. Clay, published by Combat Studies Institute Press, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. 2007. Retrieved 26 Apr 2013.
  5. ↑ 98th Training Division Soldiers Honor Fallen Comrades, article written by Col. Paul Wegman Chief of Staff 98th Training Division (IET) for publication in The Griffin, 20 Sep 2010. Retrieved 26 Apr 2013.
  6. ↑ http://www.catholiccourier.com/regional-life/monroe/features/chaplain-memorialized-at-reserve-center/
  7. ↑ Stahl, Resford, May Be Named Undersecretary of the Army. Article by Lorraine Ray, Schenectady Gazette, 21 Feb 1961. Retrieved 23 Apr 2013.
  8. ↑ General Stahl Visits, article published in the Oswego Valley News (Fulton, NY), 27 Mar 1974. Retrieved 23 Apr 2013.
  9. ↑ Extract from Judas Goats and the Price of Broken Leadership by Victor Gomez, page 111. Published by RoseDog Books, Pittsburgh, PA, 2011.
  10. ↑ Major General Charles D. Barrett, honorary remarks by Rep. John R. Kuhl, Volume 154, Number 79, Pages H3782, Legislative House, 14 May 14, 2008. Retrieved 23 Apr 2013.
  11. ↑ Norbert Rappl, R.O.T.C. Seneca Battalion Oral History Project, St. Bonaventure University (NY). Retrieved 23 Apr 2013.
  12. ↑ Extract from Judas Goats and the Price of Broken Leadership by Victor Gomez, page 140. Published by RoseDog Books, Pittsburgh, PA, 2011.
  13. ↑ Promotion Announcement, relating to Peter A. Gannon, as published in a Memorandum for Correspondents (No. 267-M) by the U.S. Department of Defense in DefenseLINK, 26 Dec 1996. Retrieved 24 Apr 2013.
  14. ↑ Wilson selected as new USARC deputy commanding general, Army News article written by Headquarters, U.S. Army Reserve Command for publication in the Triad Online, 26 Apr 2002. Retrieved 24 Apr 2013.
  15. ↑ Maj. Gen. Charles E. Wilson profile, in article entitled, "African-American Leaders. Different Destinations: Same Service," in periodical US Black Engineer & Information Technology, Jan-Feb 2007, page 51. Retrieved 24 Apr 2013.
  16. ↑ DAY WORK TO DUTY, the autobiography of Major General Bruce E. Robinson, AUS Ret. Retrieved 25 Apr 2013.
  17. ↑ Retired General Back in South Hill, Practicing Law and Sharing What He Has Learned, book review by Day Work to Duty by Bruce E. Robinson authored by Dawn Chase in the periodical Virginia Lawyer, October 2009, Vol. 58, page 56. Retrieved 25 Apr 2013.
  18. ↑ Extract of Encounter With History: The 98th Division Institutional Training and the Global War on Terrorism, 2001-2005, edited by Timothy J Hansen, Jocene D. Preston; published in 2006 by Evolution Impressions; pages 6, 120, 170. Retrieved 25 Apr 2013.
  19. ↑ Iroquois Warriors in Iraq, by Steven E. Clay, published by Combat Studies Institute Press, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. 2007. Apprnedix B: 98th Division Key Personnel, 2004–2005, Page 253. Retrieved 26 Apr 2013.
  20. ↑ Major General Robert Catalanotti, USA ’80, Alumni, Assumption College (article from the spring 2006 issue of Assumption Magazine), updated 27 Jun 2011. Retrieved 21 May 2013.
  21. ↑ Excerpt of 108th Training Command Stands Ready as Force Multiplier, article written by Command Sgt. Maj. William J. Payne, published in The Griffon, 20 Sep 2010. Retrieved 21 May 2013.
  22. ↑ Excerpt from General Officer Announcements: Nomination for promotion of Army Reserve Brig. Gen. Robert P. Stall, U.S. Department of Defense News Release, Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Public Affairs), 4 Aug 2010. Retrieved 21 May 2013.
  23. ↑ Brig. Gen. Dwayne Edwards, Commanding General 98th Training Division (IET), article in the Website of the U.S. Army Reserve, 2010, Retrieved 21 May 2013.
  24. ↑ Mikey Kloster is the newest addition to the 98th Training Division, published by BenningTV as recorded on YouTube, 17 Dec 2012. Retrieved 23 Apr 2013.
  25. ↑ Headquarters, 98th Training Division (IET) Changes Command, article written by Master Sgt. Deborah P. Williams, 108th Training Command (IET) Public Affairs; published in The Griffon, quarterly periodical of the 108th Training command, 20 Feb 2013; Vol 38.1, Spring 2013 issue
  26. ↑ Army Reserve commander gets star in ceremony Saturday, article by Ben Wright, published by the Ledger-Enquirer (Columbus, GA), 27 Feb 2013. Retrieved 23 Apr 2013.
  27. ↑ Fort Benning Photo Gallery. Retrieved 21 May 2013.
  28. ↑ "First openly gay general to take command of Army Reserve unit at Fort Benning". ledger-enquirer. Retrieved 2016-02-20.
  29. ↑ Jones, Irisha. "Brigadier Gen. Tammy Smith takes command of 98th Training Division at Fort Benning". www.wtvm.com. Retrieved 2016-02-20.
  30. ↑ Kirkland, Danielle Wallingsford. "New 98th Training Division commander looks to 'set conditions for success' | Article | The United States Army". www.army.mil. Retrieved 2016-02-20.

An Encounter With History: The 98th Division and the Global War on Terrorism: 2001–2005: Publisher: Defense Department, Army, Army Reserve Command, 98th Division (Institutional Training)

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