Humvee convoy: A line of 108th Armor Humvees prepares to leave Forward Operating Base Cartwright for a morning mission at Fort Stewart Near Savannah. (Georgia National Guard photo by Sgt. Roy Henry)

108th Armor
Looking to New Missions, New Challenges

Story by Sgt. Roy Henry
Georgia National Guard
Public Affairs Office

When 1st Battalion, 108th Armor returns from Iraq it may find itself in a new role under the Army’s plan to re-designate brigades to “units of action.”

“Admittedly, the concept is still in the planning stage, and there are many things that have to be worked out,” said Lt. Col. John King, 108th commander, “but what we’re talking about here is leaving combat arms behind and becoming a reconnaissance security squadron.”

This transition includes bringing Troop E, 108th Cavalry into the battalion’s ranks. That concept is already being played out here at Fort Stewart as the 48th Brigade Combat Team trains up for its yearlong deployment, King said.

In its traditional role, 108th is the 48th’s “Sunday punch” on the battlefield, King explained. Once the brigade commander decides where he wants to penetrate an enemy’s line, he sends in the M1 Abrams tanks to tear it open, he said. By transforming the brigade to a “Unit of Action,” the 108th will, instead, tell the brigade where the ideal place in the line is to mount that attack.

“That means we’ll be a much lighter, much more mobile force, with emphasis on scout capabilities and electronic intelligence, and the ability to identify friend and foe,” King added.

Becoming that lighter, more mobile force means losing the M1s, he explained. The only tracked vehicles will be M2/M3 Bradley fighting vehicles for carrying scouts. Humvees also will carry scouts, as well as military intelligence personnel and electronic intelligence gathering equipment. According to the plan, trucks will move mounted infantry across the battlefield, King said before climbing into an up-armored Humvee and leaving Forward Operating Base Cartwright on For Stewart’s Northeast section to see his troops in action.

Maryland Army National Guardsmen Spc. Michael Rodenberg, left, and Sgt. Joshua Harris, perform preflight checks on the Raven Unmanned Aerial Vehicle. Capable of providing real-time intelligence, the Raven only requires three Soldiers for its operation. Troops of the 48th Brigade are learning to use the Raven at Fort Stewart . U.S. Army photo
One high-tech tool the 108th will have at its disposal is the military’s Raven, a radio-controlled unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) used in place of human eyes to find the enemy, he said. The 108th has been training with the Raven since the battalion arrived at Fort Stewart , and will be using the lightweight, propeller-driven aircraft while in Iraq .

Training with the Raven has gone well, King said, with troops becoming more proficient with its use each time it flies.

While nothing has yet been set in stone, it should be an easy transformation, King said, since many in the battalion, like himself, were once scouts.

King, for example, is a former scout and one-time commander of Griffin ’s Troop E, 108th Cavalry. His command sergeant major, Command Sgt. Maj. David Knowles is also a former scout and one-time 108th CAV first sergeant.

“Things have changed in the way wars are fought, and we must change with them,” Knowles explained while watching a column of Humvees prepare to leave for a mission outside FOB Cartwright’s wall of wire and dirt.

Pointing to a group of Soldiers getting into another group of Humvees, Knowles said, “If we’re going to accomplish that, there’ll have to be a reversal of roles, of sorts, regarding who will be teaching who.”

The older guys will certainly keep on teaching the younger folks how to “Soldier,” but it will be the young ones, the ones who have grown up with the video game controller in their hands, who will be teaching the older guys how to use today’s electronics to accomplish the mission,” he said.

When 1st Battalion, 108th Armor comes home a year from now, its role within the Army, within the 48th Brigade Combat Team may change, King and Knowles agreed. What will never change, they offered, is the ability of their Soldiers to step up to the challenge and make things happen.

King prepares to leave: Lieutenant Col. John King gets ready to board his up-armored Humvee and begin his day of traversing the battlefield and seeing how his tankers are doing with their missions. (Georgia National Guard photo by Sgt. Roy Henry)

 Abrams tc and loader: When the 108th makes the change from combat arms to reconnaissance, tankers such as Sgt. Mike Wells (left) and Spc. Marlon Pegues, both of Dalton's Company B will find themselves working out of a Humvee instead of an M1 Abrams tank. (Georgia National Guard photo by Sgt. Roy Henry)
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