possible. Finally, the national leadership somehow
The key to making all this happen is a rotation schedule based around something called the Division Ready Brigade (DRB). The idea is this: Each of the division’s three brigades spends six weeks on a round-the-clock alert status, as the designated unit that is ready to go on deployment. Then, within each DRB, the battalions have their own rotation within the six-week alert period. At any time, a single battalion is assigned as the Division Ready Force-1 (DRF-1, the battalion task force I described earlier), and is fully packed and primed to deploy within the prescribed eighteen-hour time limit.
You may think that the ability to put only 1/9th of a division into the air at one time sounds trivial, but you need to remember a couple of things. First, that battalion task force is a powerful unit that can sustain itself for a surprising amount of time in the field, especially if it is dropping into an area away from the core of enemy strength and with surprise. Secondly, additional DRF-sized units will be arriving shortly if required, sometimes only hours after the first one. Other brigade task forces can also be on their way within a day or two of the first being landed. The bottom line of this is that an international bully with ambition could have an entire 3,500-man airborne brigade in his backyard before a day goes by. Manuel Noriega found this little lesson out the hard way back in 1989.
By now you may be wondering what the other two brigades of the 82nd are doing while this one brigade is on alert status (called DRB-1 by the 82nd leadership). Well, they are usually either recovering from having just been the DRB (called DRB-3 status), or getting ready to be the DRB (called DRB-2). This means that the entire 82nd Airborne Division is on a continuous eighteen-week cycle. A cycle that has been continuously run since the end of the Vietnam War, with the exception of the period the entire division spent deployed to Southwest Asia for Desert Shield and Desert Storm. As might be imagined, the lives of those assigned to duty with the 82nd are molded around this cycle, which breaks down like this:
• DRB-1 (Six Weeks): The brigade has one battalion on a continuous two-hour recall status with the other two on five- and six-hour status respectively. This means that every trooper must be able to be rapidly contacted and able to return to Fort Bragg. When on DRB-1, the brigade is able to “push” the DRF into the air within eighteen hours, and get ready to send additional units over the next few days.
• DRB-2 (Six Weeks): The brigade is in a six-week training period getting ready to go on DRB-1 status. In addition, in the case of a multi-brigade deployment, the brigade on DRB-2 would be the second to go. Also, each year while on DRB-2 status, the brigade is deployed to the Joint Readiness Training Center (JRTC) at Fort Polk, Louisiana, to sharpen its fighting skills.
• DRB-3 (Six Weeks): This is where a brigade goes right after it finishes DRB-1. Called the “Support Cycle,” this is the time when troopers take some leave, and get to know their families again. It also is when new replacements rotate into the brigade, as well as a good time for experienced troopers to go to one of the many service schools necessary for keeping them sharp, as well as promotable. However, in the event of an actual deployment by the DRB-1 brigade, the DRB-3 brigade is assigned the job of being the “push” unit. This means that they will pack parachutes, service and load equipment, or do anything else necessary to get the other two brigades ready to head off to war.
As might be imagined, living in “the cycle” (as the troopers call it) is a tough business, especially on families and friends. At any time, day or night, a DRB-1 unit’s personnel may be beeped or called, and expected to be back to their unit in less than two hours. It is like walking a tightrope for six weeks at a time, with the threat of being thrown overseas into a war on less than a day’s notice! Clearly, this is not a life for everyone. Along with the parachute skills training that you saw in the second chapter, this is probably the toughest part of the airborne lifestyle. However, the folks at Fort Bragg, from General Crocker to the office clerks down at the brigade headquarters, all seem to want this way of life. It sets them apart, and is one of the reasons that many of them join the airborne. It is a life of structure and timing, as well as calculated risks and skills. For the “right kind” of soldier, it is the kind of thing they can build a career around.
It must also be said that this lifestyle does not just belong to the airborne troopers of the 82nd. Around the country at a number of Air Force bases (AFBs), airlift and other support units are standing their own watches to be ready for the call. For example, at any given point in time, there will probably be one or two squadrons of C-130s on alert at either Pope AFB, North Carolina, or Little Rock AFB, Arkansas. In addition, there will always be similar units at Charleston AFB, South Carolina, and McGuire AFB, New Jersey, prepared to accommodate heavy-lift or intercontinental deployments. Remember, the eighteen-hour rule applies just as much to the transport units as it does for the airborne. In their case, though, the airlifters have to be ready with enough airlift aircraft to move the units, equipment, and supplies specified by the alert contingency, and then get them to Pope AFB in time to load and launch within the eighteen-hour time limit. That’s a really big deal for folks who have to operate and maintain complex aircraft like C-130s, C-141s, and C-17s! However, it is what is needed to make the airborne capable of keeping its promise to the national leadership, and the country.
Life in the Cycle: The Summer of ?96
Perhaps the most exciting and amazing part of all that we have shown you thus far in this book is that it is done by people. Not robots or computers, but people. Those people have to want to do this job for the President and other national leaders to have the option of putting a military unit into the air towards a crisis area within eighteen hours. However, people
Prequel: DRB-1 (May 31st to July 26th, 1996)
For an 82nd Airborne brigade, a rotation cycle really starts when the unit comes off a DRB-1 status. For Colonel Petraeus and his 1st Brigade, this happened on July 26th, 1996, when they completed the DRB-1 rotation that they started the previous May 31st. They had gone onto DRB-1 just after finishing up Royal Dragon, which had been their final preparation to get sharp before the alert rotation. During this period a number of significant events took place, the biggest of which was the return of the 3rd Battalion of the 504th (3/504) Parachute Infantry Regiment (PIR) from the desert of the Sinai. One of the interesting jobs that periodically needs to be done by the units of XVIII Airborne Corps is to provide forces for peacekeeping duty in the Sinai. [53] This is done in conjunction with similar units from other nations, and the duty lasts for six months. In 1996, the 82nd supplied the peacekeeping effort with the services of the 3/504. However, by July, their tour of duty completed, the 3/504 was ready to come home. On July 7th, 1996, the first of three contingents from the 3/504 began their journey home. The two other contingents came home on July 15th and 22nd respectively. During their deployment the 3/504 had an outstanding record of achievement. So much so that the unit was put in for an Army Superior Unit Award, which is being processed as this book goes to press.
In addition, the troopers of the 3/504 got to show their mettle by winning the Multi-National Force Skills Competition trophy for their rotation. This is a series of scored combat-skills drills. Winning is a
Having all three of his battalions back home was a great relief for “Devil-6,” since he was already doing a
