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US Army Reviving the 11th Airborne Division in Alaska

Infanteer

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Interesting, the US Army will have 2 of the 4 BCTs of the 25 ID that are stationed in Alaska hived off and designated the 11 Airborne Division. US Army Alaska will become the new Division's HQ. The Canadian Army has a good relationship with that HQ, and its Deputy Commander is a Canadian GO.

 
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Been up there a fair bit with both Bdes. Very interesting, especially if they rerole 1/25 SBCT into an Airborne Bde.
I wonder if PACOM has asked for more Airborne formations.
 
I find this interesting:

Some rank-and-file troops and leaders in Alaska told Military.com they don't have the proper equipment needed to be the service's premier Arctic force. Some of that is due to its primary vehicle, the Stryker, being ineffective.

Army Chief of Staff Gen. James McConville and senior leaders in Alaska have told Military.com they are skeptical of the Stryker's capabilities in Arctic climates, mostly due to the wheeled vehicles' inability to maneuver effectively off road in the snow and not being built to operate in minus-65 degree Fahrenheit weather, the benchmark commanders in Alaska say is needed.

🍻
 
Time to reactivate 1st Cdn Parachute Battalion 😎
Or better yet the Mobile Striking Force?


The intervention of the Chinese into the
Korean War in late 1950 heightened
international tension and prompted a
reexamination of Canadian and U.S.
continental defence planning.

The Cabinet Defence Committee recommended in November
1950 that:

. . . the Committee be authorized to study as a matter
of urgency, preparations that could be made within
the next few months to meet the dangers of air attack
on central Ottawa in the event of war within the next
twelve months . . ,4S

The PJBD MCC planners were already way
ahead of the politicians. The General Officers,
Commanding of Eastern Command and
Western Command were authorized to conduct
defence planning liaison with their American
counterparts, Commander U.S. FirstArmy and
Commander U.S. Sixth Army respectively. The
defence of Alaska was the responsibility of a
separate command, U.S. Commander in Chief,
Alaska (CinCAL); GOC Western Command was
tasked to liaise with it.

By this point, the basic Security Plan of 1946 had evolved (in name
only) into the Canada-U.S. Emergency Defence Plan (EDP) or MCC 300/2.46

The gist of MCC 300/2 allowed for the
deployment of

one U.S. Regimental Combat Team (RCT-American version of the brigade group) to Greenland (Plan DIAMOND),
one RCT to Alaska,47
one U.S. RCT would be deployed alongside a Canadian MSF battalion group in New Brunswick, P.E.I, or Nova Scotia if necessary (Plan GARNET).

Newfoundland, Labrador, the North West territories and the Yukon were to be the responsibility of two MSF battalion groups and a third if one was not needed in the Maritimes.

Plan SAPPHIRE allowed for the deployment of an MSF battalion group to the New England states if warranted.48

Some additional thought was given to the use of MSF units in Plan DIAMOND but this was ruled out by Canadian planners who already had enough on their plate.49

So, in 1950 the intention for the defence of Canada and the North was

3x US RCTs and three Canadian Battalion Groups found from the Mobile Striking Force.

Sean Maloney's 1993 essay on the Mobile Striking Force


Everything old is new again.
 
Or better yet the Mobile Striking Force?




So, in 1950 the intention for the defence of Canada and the North was

3x US RCTs and three Canadian Battalion Groups found from the Mobile Striking Force.

Sean Maloney's 1993 essay on the Mobile Striking Force


Everything old is new again.
A yes. The Mobile Striking Force. That adventure into a shiny new RegF structure that proved inadequate to send to Korea so they crafted something old into a Special Force.

:unsure:
 
A yes. The Mobile Striking Force. That adventure into a shiny new RegF structure that proved inadequate to send to Korea so they crafted something old into a Special Force.

:unsure:

A Force that lacked the technologies currently available ....

Our neighbours want our grass cut. They're willing to do it and send us the bill if we don't. They've done it before (highways, pipelines, airfields, radar stations, weather stations, air defence systems, American fighters built in Canada...)
 
Time to reactivate 1st Cdn Parachute Battalion 😎

angry homer simpson GIF
 
Also will be interesting to see if US Army Alaska ( Non deployable HQ similar in some ways to our Division HQs) in the transition to 11th Airborne Division becomes an actual deployable combat division HQ .
If its just a rebadge of USARAK then I can see the decision being tied to the morale and welfare issues but if its a transition into a combat division HQ then that's a different avenue.
It seems like its primarily being driven by morale and welfare issues from the article so...?
Time will tell.
 
Just sit down and have a deep breath or two. During my last years of service, I was the desk officer for some of this stuff. We started to develop airborne forces in our three regular battalions, 1 RCHA, and others, in the late 1940s. The first airborne exercise was Sweetbrian circa early 1950 with the PPCLI and a troop of 1 Light Battery RCA up in the Yukon and Alaska, along with an American battalion group. It was, I think, still on the books, when I retired in 1994. NATO and Korea came along and we went from three to 15 (later 13) battalions in three years, deploying a brigade group to Germany and another to Korea, while still maintaining the MSF tasking.
 
Also will be interesting to see if US Army Alaska ( Non deployable HQ similar in some ways to our Division HQs) in the transition to 11th Airborne Division becomes an actual deployable combat division HQ .
If its just a rebadge of USARAK then I can see the decision being tied to the morale and welfare issues but if its a transition into a combat division HQ then that's a different avenue.
It seems like its primarily being driven by morale and welfare issues from the article so...?
Time will tell.

I'm sure that the conversion from a tropical 'leg' unit, to an arctic Airborne unit, will do wonders for mental health and suicide rates ;)

Xavier GIF by Big Brother
 
Units based at Fort Wainwright hosted by US Army Garrison Alaska:


Units based at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson (JBER) hosted by the 673rd Air Base Wing:

  • HQ, US Army Alaska
  • 4th Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 25th Infantry Division, "Spartans"
  • Arctic Support Command elements at JBER:
    • 17th Combat Support Sustainment Battalion (subordinate to Arctic Support Command at Fort Wainwright)
      • 4th Quartermaster Company (Theater Aerial Delivery)
      • 109th Transportation Company
      • 205th Ordnance Detachment (Modular)
      • 98th Maintenance Company (Support)
      • 486th Movement Control Team
      • 95th Chemical Company
      • 545th MP Detachment (Law Enforcement)
      • 9th Army Band
    • SFC Brevard NCO Academy
  • Army Field Support Battalion - Alaska (subordinate of the 402nd Army Field Support Brigade)
  • 59th Signal Battalion / Network Enterprise Center (subordinate unit of the 516th Signal Brigade)
    • Headquarters & Headquarters Detachment
    • 507th Signal Company[12] (Fort Greely)
    • Company C, 307th Signal Battalion (Expeditionary)[13]

Do we add the third Brigade Combat Team to the Division?
 
Probably not - there is already a Division with 2 Brigades in the US Army ORBAT. What I can see them doing is something akin to 3 ID where they affiliate a NG Bde.
Just thought they might appreciate the help. ;)
 
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