Why was the 5th Moved?
I've tried searching QP and Google but can't find anything on this. My questions is, why was 5th Group moved to Campbell in 1988? Then two years later 3rd Group was re-activated at Bragg. Why wasn't 3rd Group just activated at Campbell?
I was just wondering. Thanks! |
5th group move to Campbell
Hi Tony,
Thats a great question. I was there with the 5th up till about three years before the move. The rumor mill at that time had it that they wanted the 5th to work more with the 160th and that the 7th was going to be pulling back its Panama FOB onto Bragg. Anyway, hopefully somebody has the staright story. thanks Chet |
Nobody has it.
Nobody has the straight story. But there are a bunch of pieces of stories floating around that anybody can make into just about any story they want.
By the mid-80s 5th Group was spending a bunch of time at Ft Bliss. Even had 5th Group Forward there. 5th Gp (FWD) had all the modified vehicles and were the base instructors when the battalions rotated through for their yearly training. The world on the street was "We were going". In our off time we were cruising around town checking the neighborhoods, homes, prices, etc. A few problems with Bliss were ranges. TRADOC covered most of Bliss and the rocket guys had White Sands. Any of the long range vehicle movements took a ton of coordination. 5th Group was working with aviation but mostly stuff like CH-47s, heavy lift, long range. Little birds were fun to play with but hard to sling a jeep under them. Then BANG, one day, It's not Bliss it's Campbell and 3rd Battalion is staying at Bragg to become 1st of the 3rd. Only the Army can do stuff like that.:D Pete |
We moved in 1986 not 88, I was one of the first to arrive at Ft Campbell.
I heard it was a very "political" move to say the least. If you find out why we moved I'd sure like to know......;) (then again any place away from Fayettenam was a good place in those days.) |
We got tired of them moping around Bragg looking like somebody kicked their dog, so we kicked them off.:p
Plus, we already had all their Gore-Tex...:lifter |
Holy Crap!!!!!! You guys were issued Goretex? I didn't find that until I was out. Got the 'first generation' stuff. Worked great for a few years, then became 'plugged up'. For the seams you had to buy and apply a Goretex seam sealer. The Second generation GT had all the seams taped.
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I remember when 1/10th was issued one of the first generations of Goretex, it was either 1983 or 1984. They were ordered to wear it strictly in the field and not in garrison. IIRC the order was an attempt to prevent jealously amongst the legs or at least that was the ostensible reason provided. |
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At Devens in 84, we had all the cool Gore-Tex (light and heavy), G-T boots, Eco-tats, ponchos, polypro(2 full systems - light and heavy) - all courtesy of Natick - and they let us wear it whenver we wanted, all the legs were MI students, support, medical or ARNG units.:munchin |
Guys,
I asked a friend who was pretty much involved in the move at that time. You would have thought that a move to Bliss would have made much more sense because of the B-500 ops going on out there at the time. Even we in the 7th used to use that area for our desert training--basing out of Oro Grande and training between there and Cloudcroft in NM...which has a LOT of desert before you ever reach the mountains of the Lincoln National Forest area. Anyway, according to my friend, everyone thought the move was coming to Fort Bliss...but they obviously didn’t have the vision and foresight of the CSA (GEN Wickham). Several staff studies were done for the CSA and they all came back with the western US as the location to move 5th SFG. On each one, he told them that was the wrong answer. When one finally came in that said Campbell, he took it. The rest of the story is that the CSA had supposedly promised the communities of Clarksville/Hopkinsville a “brigade-sized unit” and there were houses going up all over the place in preparation for it. However, when the 1500 or so 5th SFG ffolkes showed up versus a typical brigade of nearly three times that number, the most common question in the community was “where is everybody else?” They had gotten an O6-level unit as promised--but not the numbers of troops in an Infantry brigade, which is what the communities were expecting. It was quite a let-down for them. Anyway, that’s the story as I heard it and has been generally passed down through the ages of ARSFC… Richard PS-Old Coe Lake DZ near White Sands was not a soft landing, either. |
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Why was the 5th Moved?
Several staff studies were done for the CSA, who was GEN Wickham then. They all came back with the western US as the location to move 5th SFG. On each one, he told them that was the wrong answer. When one finally came in that said Campbell, he took it.
The rest of the story is that Wickham had supposedly promised the communities of Clarksville/Hopkinsville a "brigade-sized unit." They got an O6-level unit, but not the numbers of troops in an infantry brigade, which is what the communities were expecting. It was quite a let-down for them. BMT |
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One more thing. I have nooooooo clue what GT boots are. After that description. I am ok with that. |
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The "Real" reason
Okay guys. You all fail poli sci 101 or "How sxxx really takes place in the USA". There was one reason for the move and the same reason that Ft Campbell will never close.
The reason..drum roll, please; FOUR(4) Senators!! |
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