Posted on: Monday, October 18, 2004
Soldier's shoulders tell tale of war
By William Cole
Advertiser Military Writer
By the best reckoning of Army officials, there was exactly one soldier deployed to Afghanistan with the 25th Infantry Division (Light) who was eligible to wear the "Tropic Lightning" combat patch of the Hawai'i division on his right shoulder.
Master Sgt. Terry Anderson • U.S. Army Lt. Col. Larry Adams-Thompson, now 55 and a chaplain, saw a lot of combat in Vietnam during his infantry days with the 25th in Tay Ninh in 1969 and 1970.
The Vietnam War was the last time the storied division deployed to a combat zone. But now the division and the combat patch associated with it are writing a new chapter on the right shoulders of about 10,000 more soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The patch will stay with Hawai'i-based soldiers — even as they transfer to other units elsewhere.
For many soldiers, it's a coveted and enduring badge of courage, much like the even harder to get Combat Infantryman Badge, signifying participation in ground combat with the enemy.
Master Sgt. Terry Anderson • U.S. Army About 4,500 Schofield soldiers deployed to Kuwait and then Iraq around January, and another 5,500 left for Afghanistan in March.
"This is the first time in 30 years that Tropic Lightning soldiers are combat vets, serving in one of the most highly decorated divisions in the Army," said division and Combined Joint Task Force 76 Command Sgt. Maj. Franklin Ashe.
Ashe, along with CJTF-76 and 25th Division commander Maj. Gen. Eric T. Olson, handed out combat patches and Global War on Terrorism Service and Expeditionary medals to troops in front of Bagram Air Base's Joint Operations Center.
Ashe estimates that between 3,000 and 4,000 CIBs also have been awarded within the division — "dozens and dozens" of them with stars denoting an earlier CIB before 1995, along with several hundred Combat Medic Badges.
The 2nd Battalion, 27th Infantry "Wolfhounds" out of Orgun-E, an old Soviet airfield near the Pakistan border, received their combat patches and CIBs about a week before Spc. Wesley Wells, 21, was killed Sept. 20 in a firefight.
The Libertyville, Ill., man was the fourth Schofield Barracks soldier to be killed in Afghanistan, and the first Wolfhound to be lost.
"Wells was wearing both awards (combat patch and CIB) when he got killed," said Company A commander Capt. Tommy Cardone. "It's very important. Most guys in 2-27 — definitely Alpha Company — have been in significant firefights and you have those moments of clarity. It's very important when you wear a CIB and have a combat patch, you know what it means and you know what you personally had to go through to earn it."
First Sgt. Charles Sasser, 38, a Ranger-qualified infantryman with division Headquarters and Headquarters Company, has been in the Army for 20 years with such vaunted divisions as the 82nd and 101st airborne, but did not go to Iraq in 1991.
In Afghanistan, Sasser earned the right to wear his first combat patch, that of the Tropic Lightning division. He said it's an important achievement that will be with him not only now, but when he returns home.
"When you are out and about in the Army and you see other patches, it's like being on vacation somewhere and seeing a relative, seeing a brother, and you go up to them and say, 'Who were you with there in Iraq or wherever?' and start talking about your experiences," Sasser said. "So the 25th patch is going to be out there circulating throughout the Army."
During World War II, the division fought on Guadalcanal and elsewhere in the Solomon Islands, and the Philippines, and in 1950, during the Korean War, blocked approaches to Pusan and drove the enemy to the Yalu River before being forced back by Chinese forces.
From 1966 until 1969 the division was heavily engaged in Southeast Asia.
A total of 4,547 Tropic Lightning soldiers were killed in action. The 25th now is the major ground reserve force for U.S. Pacific Command.
Ashe said part of the reason the combat patch ceremony was held halfway through the deployment was to boost morale.
"I have a saying — the five- to seven-month slump. Soldiers come out here on deployment and get right there in the middle, and you try to get excited that you're halfway done, but then you look ahead and it's 'Oh my God, I'm only halfway done,' " Ashe said. "So we're trying to find positive, uplifting kinds of things to keep the morale up and stay focused."
Reach William Cole at wcole@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-5459.
The taro leaf and lightning bolt, famous from the 25th's involvement in Southeast Asia and the movie "Platoon," initially is sewn on the left shoulder. When a soldier serves in a combat zone, he or she can then permanently wear it on the right, above the American flag.
Maj. Gen. Eric T. Olson, left center, commander of Combined Joint Task Force 76 at Bagram Air Base, Afghanistan; Col. Chuck Cardinal, CJTF-76 chief of staff; and Command Sgt. Maj. Frank Ashe, CJTF-76 command sergeant major, awarded Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary and Service Medals, and 25th Infantry Division combat patches, to soldiers during an Oct. 1 ceremony.
Soldiers with the 25th in Iraq already participated in combat patch and CIB awards. Units in Afghanistan have been receiving their patches, and a ceremony recently was held at Bagram Air Base — in conjunction with the division's 63rd birthday — to recognize the Hawai'i-based soldiers deployed in both countries.
The patch of the 25th Infantry Division (Light) will be worn by the division's combat veterans wherever they go in the Army.
