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THE COLD WAR
Abridged Division Operations 1966-1992
Continued Defense of Western Europe
NOTE: This very abridged
summary for 1966-1992 is to be expanded.
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As the Vietnam War began to drain the Army's
manpower and its budget, the Spearhead Division continued to
train for its mission to defend the Fulda Gap, and to continue
as the "Point of the NATO Shield." The Soviet and Warsaw
Pact threat to Western Europe remained undiminished. In fact,
it was a time of steady modernization of the Soviet Army and
of rapid growth of Soviet nuclear weaponry.
But, undeniably, by early 1966 Vietnam would noticeably affect
all of the U.S. Army in Europe in terms of, for example, budgetary
restraints, a near-freeze on modernization, and an influx of
less-than-happy draftee's. Still, the division remained strong
and ready, if without such luxuries as flak vests, M16 rifles,
and large-scale helicopter support, which were reserved for Vietnam
until the early 1970's.
In January 1966 more than 22,000 soldiers from 3rd Armored Division
and 17 supporting units, including a German Armor brigade, moved
into the field south of Wuerzburg for a wintry mock war. The
complex FTX "Silver Talon" -- so named because it started
the Division's silver anniversary year -- rolled through a dramatic
four-day battle with a powerful aggressor force. There was action
to test every facet of the Division's strength, from the movement
of tanks and other heavy weapons over rugged terrain to the maintenance
of supply lines and artillery support and the tracking of the
hidden enemy.
With the end of the Vietnam War and the draft, the mid and late
1970's brought new challenges to the division. The army was in
a transition as it reformed itself to an all-volunteer force.
The decade was dominated by cleaning up the problems brought
on by the protracted war in Vietnam, to include morale and disciplinary
issues. Training at Grafenwöhr, Hohenfels, Wildflecken,
and in NATO exercises such as REFORGER continued to keep the
division busy as its conspicuous presence continued to deter
Soviet aggression.
The 1980's was a tremendous decade for the division and changed
its character in many ways. The Army finally fielded the new
equipment that it had been developing since the end of the Vietnam
War. Another reorganization initiative called Division 86 added
an Aviation Brigade to the organic Spearhead organization as
well as substituting a battery of the Multiple Launch Rocket
System (MLRS) in place of the General Support (GS) 8-inch howitzer
battalion. The M1 Abrams tank, M2 Bradley Fighting Vehicle, M3
Cavalry Fighting Vehicle, AH-64 Apache helicopter, and MLRS truly
modernized the fire power of the division.
Also during this decade the division's subordinate units again
changed designations as the army adopted the U.S. Army Regimental
System (USARS). Designed to foster esprit de corps and a sense
of continuity, USARS was meant to give soldiers recurring assignments
with different battalions of the same regiment. Units were redesignated
to align units in the continental U.S. with units stationed overseas.
In doing this, the historic relationships between divisions and
regiments were often broken. The regimental alignments meant
that Spearhead soldiers would primarily rotate between Ft. Hood,
Texas and Germany. A small minority, those aligned with the 18th
Infantry would rotate between Ft. Benning, Georgia and Germany.
In 1986 the division said farewell to 2-33 Armor which had served
with 1st Brigade for 23 years. The battalion's personnel left
Germany for Ft. Hood where they were assigned to the 1st Cavalry
Division. In turn the 1st Cavalry transferred 2-5 Cavalry (an
armor battalion) to the Spearhead Division. This COHORT rotation
was similar to the Gyroscope except it was done at battalion
level. 2-5 Cavalry only served with division for three months
before it was reflagged as 4-32 Armor under USARS.
On June 19, 1987, a 3rd Armored unit did what no other Army unit
had ever done. 1st Platoon, Company D, 4-8 Cavalry (an armor
battalion previously designated as 3-33 Armor) won the Canadian
Army Trophy (CAT). The CAT competition is like the America's
Cup of Tank Gunnery; it pits tank platoons from all the NATO
countries against each other in a competition that covers several
days. It was a great moment for the Army, the M1A1 tank, and
the Spearhead Division.
In November, 1989, the Berlin Wall came down. This event signaled
the coming end of Soviet dominance in Eastern Europe as well
as the downsizing of its military. Soviet military reductions
precipitated the drawdown of the U.S. Armed Forces, eventually
spelling the end of the mighty Spearhead Division, but not before
the division carried out one more mission in the sands of the
Arabian Desert as part of the U.S. VII Corps during the Gulf
War. |
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