"This past weekend I spent many hours reviewing the 14th Cavalry and related websites.  It was nice to read about the history of the regiment from a firsthand perspective and to get a chance to see faces, places and equipment from the past.  I enjoy military history and I've been dismayed about the lack of available historical documents, photos, military heirlooms, etc that's available to our younger soldiers to see and read about.  Our history wall in our troop area is very spartan.  I would be glad to send photos of the regiment as it exists today.  I have many photographs available.  Most highlight the equipment and soldiers of Dragoon Troop.  Dragoon Troop is referred to as the Surveillance Troop of the 1st Squadron, 14th Cavalry.  It is often referred to as the  "Reconnaissance, Surveillance and Target Acquisition Squadron" vice simply the Cav.  My troop has three line platoons.  They are the UAV Platoon, the Multi-Sensor Platoon and the Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Reconnaissance Platoon.  The UAV Platoon is equipped with the Shadow Tactical Unmanned Aerial Vehicle.  The Multi-Sensor Platoon is equipped with the PPS-5D Ground Surveillance Radar, the Improved Remotely Monitored Ground Sensor, and the Prophet Signal Intelligence Directional Finder.  The NBC Platoon has the M93 Fox reconnaissance vehicle."
 
 

Fellow 14th Cavalry Veterans,

Here is another brief update on what is going on in the 14th Regiment. As you know the regiment currently has two active squadrons, both based at Fort Lewis, Washington.

The 1st Squadron, 14th Cavalry serves as the Reconnaissance, Surveillance and Target Acquisition Squadron in the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division.

The 2nd Squadron, 14th Cavalry serves as the RSTA in the 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division.

Both squadrons serve as the eyes and ears for the brigades they serve in. The brigades, referred to as Stryker Brigade Combat Teams, have led the modernization of the Army into a far lethal force than was ever available before. Previously the Army only had light and heavy forces with which to fight conventional battles. Recognizing the need for units that were rapidly deployable but equipped with weapons that allowed them to go head-to-head with significant forces, the Army began to transform some of its brigades. Stryker brigades have three battalions of infantry, a cavalry squadron, an artillery battalion, a brigade support battalion, anti-tank company, engineer company, military intelligence company and signal company.

The next brigade scheduled to undergo transformation is the 172nd Infantry Brigade (Airborne), Fort Wainwright, AK. As part of their transformation the 3rd Squadron, 14th Cavalry will again unfurl its colors and troop guidons and be welcomed back to active duty. Welcome back boys! The reactivation ceremony is scheduled for the summer of 2004. I'll send more information as I can get it.

After beginning transformation almost two years ago, 3/2 SBCT is rapidly approaching the date when it will be declared operational. 3/2 SBCT will deploy to the National Training Center, Fort Irwin, CA for a desert rotation in March and to the Joint Readiness Training Center, Fort Polk, LA for a jungle and urban operations rotation in May. While at Fort Polk the brigade and 1st squadron will receive their final certification of combat readiness by the Department of the Army. Following that the brigade is expected to deploy sometime later this Summer.

1/25 SBCT and 2nd Squadron are currently undergoing the initial stages of transformation. The units are fielding equipment and rapidly progressing through their individual and collective training tasks. They should be declared operational in approximately 18 months.

That's about all from my foxhole.

Regards,

CPT Parrinello
 
 

Fellow 14th Cavalry Members,

The squadron has been very busy lately. Due to events in the Middle East and the deployment of the 3rd Infantry Division to SWA, their previously scheduled rotation at the National Training Center, Fort Irwin, CA, was\line canceled. Instead of going to the Yakima Training Center we instead went to the NTC for the months of March and April. This was the first time the entire Stryker Brigade Combat Team deployed for a field exercise. As expected there were some challenges and some good lessons learned. It was odd for us to find ourselves training in the California desert against the 11th ACR (OPFOR) while our brothers and sisters were fighting real battles in Iraq. To the person we wished we could have been with them.

The rotation, however, went well as our systems excel in the desert. The star of the rotation were our unmanned aerial vehicles and SIGINT systems. The OPFOR simply couldn't hide from them. The UAV was able to identify their laager sites early on and was able to track the movement of their equipment where ever they went. The UAV would track upwards of 45 vehicles at a time and then conduct target hand-off with ground scouts who would track them until handed off to the infantry battalions or fired upon by the artillery battalion. The Prophet performed really well in the desert and was detecting OPFOR communications beyond 25 kilometers away. It seemed that when the UAV was down for weather we still got a detailed picture from the Prophet. Not to be out done, the ground scouts and other sensors all did a bang up job. The Commander, Operations Group, remarked that in four out of five battles the RSTA Squadron was able to provide a 90% read on enemy disposition. Only in the last battle, when weather conditions were bad and ground losses were heavy, did we fail to give the Brigade Commander the information necessary for victory. It was a series of good battles for the Cavalry. We're fortunate to have decent commanders, good equipment and great soldiers.

Next, after a short break of 12 days the Squadron and Brigade are off to the Joint Readiness Training Center. We will arrive no later than May 11, download equipment from the ships, and then prepare to enter the "box" for our rotation. Both the terrain and weather will make this rotation much more challenging. We expect to do well and finally get our certification from the Department of the Army and Congress. Following that who knows when and where we'll go but we expect to unfurl our colors overseas later this year.

That's all from my foxhole.  More to follow when we return.

CPT Parrinello