Fort Drum is located 20 miles south of the Canadian border in upstate New York. Most New Jersey Army National Guardsmen will spend their entire annual training at Drum.
The New Jersey National
Guard flexed its combat
muscles at Fort Drum for
almost all of August.
During the first half of the month, the 50th Brigade and the 42nd DISCOM (Division Support Command) practiced wartime skills in the north country. In the second half of the month, the 119th Corps Support Battalion, the 250th Signal Battalion and the 204th Air Weather Flight, New Jersey Air National Guard, supported the joint readiness exercise "Empire Peak."
All combined, it was the largest single deployment of New Jersey soldiers and airmen to Fort Drum since the retirement of the 50th Armored Division in 1991.
The 50th Brigade/DISCOM
task force had to contend with cold,
wet weather, alternating with hot
dry, dusty conditions during their
rotation. They echoed the old saying that "if you don't like the weather,
wait five minutes and it will change."
Training highlights for the 50th Brigade included tank gunnery by the
2-102nd Armor on the newly completed Range 25 Complex; force-on-force
maneuver operations by the 5-117th Cavalry;
LANES training for the 2-113rd Infantry and all
units participated in firing the Mark 19 automatic grenade launcher,
the combined 120mm mortar school, and
TOW missile firing. The 3-112th Field Artillery
completed an external evaluation which included firing more
than one hundred "copperhead" precision guided munitions during their AT period.
The 42nd DISCOM supported all maneuver training with medical, maintenance, supply, and transportation personnel, in addition to LANES training, a mass medical casualty exercise, and extensive night operations. DISCOM also moved howitzers, armored personnel carriers, tanks, and spare parts between New York and New Jersey during AT.
For the 119th CSB, the 250th
Signal Battalion and the 204th Air
Weather Flight, AT was a close
simulation to wartime deployment.
Operation ipEmpire Peakli started in
a staging area in Rome, New York,
more than fifty miles from Fort
Drum. Supporting units were required to provide logistics and com-
munications to a brigade more than
an hour away. Once pre-deployment activities were completed in
Rome, the 27th Infantry Brigade
and its supporting task force moved
tactically, at night over civilian roads
to Fort Drum. The troop movement
took almost sixteen hours because
of the large numbers of vehicles and
personnel to be moved. Once at
Fort Drum, the entire field area was
irsealedlg and all units and personnel
were considered targets for the opposing forces. The remainder of
their AT was spent in the field under
tactical conditions, under constant
threat of infiltration and attack.
The 250th provided communications to five scattered sites while
conducting tactical training; the 119th
CSB supported maneuver operations and supervised supply functions while maintaining the security
of the entire logistical support area;
the 253rd Transportation Company
was kept busy moving troops and
supplies to the embattled brigade;
and the 204th Air Weather flight
provided the brigade with current
forecasts as well as all flying weather
services to the Army aviation task
force for the entire exercise period.
It was a challenging month for the New Jersey warriors. More than 500,000 miles were logged by units with close to 45,000 meals served. All troops made it home safely, with only minor incidents and injuries noted. AT-2000 will go down in the history books as one of the most successful deployments in recent years.