Fort Huachica

[kato13]

shrike6 07-30-2004, 09:01 PM Who was working on this? I somebody mentioning something about an MI brigade. I was wondering if you knew about B Troop, 4th Cavalry Regiment; and if you had included it in your orbat for it. http://huachuca-www.army.mil/USAG/btroop/default.asp

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Webstral 07-31-2004, 12:31 AM The unit in question is the 111th Military Intelligence Brigade. I have kept B/4th Cavalry as a horse-mounted reconnaissance unit under the control of the post but occasionally tasked to the 111th.


Here is a brief summary of events at Fort Huachuca in 1995 and 1996:


1995

When the Sino-Soviet War starts, Major General Frank Thomason is the Commanding General of Fort Huachuca and the Military Intelligence School & Center. Thomason has long nurtured a survivalist bent. He uses this opportunity to create a special project cell at Huachuca--the Contingency Detachment. With a handful of personnel, the CD takes thirty days to come up with a very rough analysis of how a strategic nuclear exchange would affect the Fort Huachuca Area of Operations (FHAO) and the resources the post would have available to maintain operations.


The initial report is grim. Southeastern Arizona is a desert, after all. Water is scarce. The CD reports that EMP would almost certainly shut down power across much of the nation. In short order, the transportation network would cease to function, and fuel deliveries to Arizona would slow to a trickle. Without electricity, the desert society of southern Arizona would lose most of its ability to pump water from aquifers--the main source of water for Fort Huachuca and Tucson. Food reserves are inadequate to feed the local population for more than a few months. The ability of the FHAO to grow enough food to feed the local population is highly suspect at best. In other words, as it stands the FHAO is poorly equipped to survive any sort of nuclear exchange.


Thomason promptly orders the CD to start cataloguing local resources in detail. The Pentagon has taken an interest in contingency planning since the start of the Sino-Soviet War, and Thomason orders the CD to take the Pentagon's material to the next level. What can be done to enable Fort Huachuca and the surrounding area to survive a nuclear exchange?


Over the next several months, the CD conducts an impressive effort to assess available resources, research means of sustaining the FHAO, and learning about technologies that might be of use. The CD receives more personnel and a greater budget. Through his G-5, Thomason reaches out to create partnerships in the civilian world with organizations like the University of Arizona in Tucson to share knowledge and the burden of research. Mrs. Thomason adds valuable input by encouraging military wives to start intensive gardening projects to provide useful data for agricultural projects.


1996

In mid-1996, the CD presents its first major project review. Numerous schemes for better utilizing the available water, generating electricity, farming the land, and other priority issues are advanced. Other issues such as enforcing martial law, guarding the border, training and maintaining the troops, equipment, and maintenance are raised. At this point, the challenges seem overwhelming, and Thomason nearly shelves the project.


However, the Pentagon creates a new department--the Contingency Planning Division. The CPD is in charge of getting CONUS posts ready to face a nuclear exchange. Upon being organized, the CPD immediately looks for test beds and project leaders, which it finds quickly at Fort Huachuca (among other locations). The CPD sends funds, personnel, and resources to Huachuca to bolster Thomason's efforts in hopes that the lessons learned there can be disseminated across the Southwest.


In cooperation with the University of Arizona, the Fort Huachuca Contingency Detachment (FHCD) sets up experiments to reproduce Third World arid agriculture techniques in the Tucson area and in the Fort Huachuca area. Intensive gardening efforts on-post increase and receive additional resources.


At the same time, requirements for electricity and industry are addressed. The FHCD compiles lists of machine tools required and creates lists of technical drawings and manpower needed.


The efforts at Fort Huachuca receive support from an unexpected direction: the newly-refurbished Arizona State Guard (AZSTAG). In the response to fears of escalating war in 1995, many states reactivate the state guards that provided states with military forces during WW2, when so many of National Guard units were sent overseas. AZSTAG forms a battalion in Cochise County, drawing heavily on the community of retired Army and Air Force personnel in the area. In 1996, these volunteers undertake a variety of missions throughout Coshise, Pima, and Santa Cruz Counties on behalf of the FHCD and state government.


The West German invasion of the DDR in October 1996 adds fresh impetus to contingency efforts throughout CONUS. The CPD identifies several regional linchpins which will serve as main efforts for survivability planning until the whole of CONUS can be brought up to speed. Fort Huachuca is earmarked for funding for additional facilities and equipment purchases, including photovoltaic arrays, seed and farming equipment, machine tools, armory equipment, and weapons.



Webstral

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