108th's King Receives
Prestigious Award from El Salvador  

By Pfc. Adam Dean
Georgia National Guard
Public Affairs Office

Lieutenant Col. John King, 1st Battalion, 108th Armor Regiment, displays his Gold Medal for Distinguished Service presented to him by the armed forces of El Salvador during drill on Aug. 19, 2006, at the battalion’s armory in Calhoun.

CALHOUN, Saturday, Aug. 19, 2006 – Georgia Army National Guard Lt. Col. John King was recently presented the El Salvador armed forces gold medal for distinguished service in a ceremony held at the National Guard armory here.

“It was a great honor to receive such recognition,” he said. “But I accept it on behalf of the entire battalion. It wasn’t an individual effort, but what all our Soldiers did that brought this award to us.”

The award was given to King, who commands the Guard’s 1st Battalion, 108th Armor, in recognition of a partnership between his unit and the Cuscatlan Battalion, an El Salvadoran unit that served alongside his during six months of joint operations in Iraq. King and 108th Armor, part of Georgia’s 48th Brigade Combat Team, returned in May from a yearlong deployment in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

The medal is embossed with El Salvador’s national emblem, a blue triangle and a burning torch, which hangs from a ribbon featuring the nation’s colors, blue and white. King also received a certificate signed by the president of El Salvador, a trophy and a special scarf.

The trophy is a knife stuck into a round stump of wood. Engraved on the knife’s blade are the dates during which the two units worked together. King said the scarf is dark green and features the Cuscatlan Battalion’s unit symbol.

This, he said, was given to him because he’s been named an honorary member of the unit. In describing the Salvadoran unit, King said it’s comprised of an anti-terror special forces element and a combat engineer contingent. “They don’t have a lot of fancy equipment. They’re meat and potatoes infantrymen, and very effective,” he explained. “The Iraqis had a lot of respect for them because they were just tough.

 “They also know how to sell democracy,” King added.

He went on to say he believes that because of the war that lasted nearly 10 years in El Salvador, the Salvadorans relate rather well to the Iraqis and what they are going through. He also explained that Salvadoran forces had to take care of insurgencies within the borders of their own country during and after their country’s conflict. Because of this, King said, it makes the Salvadorans invaluable to the goal of winning Iraqi hearts and minds.

“We have a lot to learn from them,” said King. “They are true masters of fighting insurgency.”

Cuscatlan also knows how to deal with rebuilding infrastructure and supplying basic human needs in the wake of a destructive insurgency, he continued. “These soldiers are experts in dealing with insurgency operations,” added King.

During its time in Iraq, the Cuscatlan Battalion worked with the 108th out of Camp Scania in the Babel province and in the south of Bagdad. The 108th operated as an armor task force there, bringing tanks and rifles to bear against insurgents.

Having grown up in Mexico, Spanish was King’s first language. He said that not having a communication barrier helped him to get close to the Salvadoran soldiers during their time together.

In his civilian life, King is Doraville’s chief-of-police He is a 23-year veteran of the Georgia Army Guard. He began his career as a private and later received his commission as a second lieutenant in 1985. During his near quarter-century of service, King has deployed for the first Gulf War, and also served as chief of operations for the active Army’s 3rd Infantry Division during its deployment to in Bosnia in 200.