24th Infantry Division (Mechanized) - Point of the Spear

24TH INFANTRY DIVISION

(MECHANIZED)

POINT OF THE SPEAR

Written by

RAYMOND C. WILSON

24TH INFANTRY DIVISION

(MECHANIZED)

POINT OF THE SPEAR

Published by Raymond C. Wilson at Smashwords

Copyright 2023 Raymond C. Wilson

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Cover Artwork: 24th Infantry Division’s Desert Storm Silver Anniversary Reunion

Also by Raymond C. Wilson

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Elvis Presley: His Music and Movies

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Whether or Not It’s a Weather Balloon?

Sleepy Hollow: Facts Behind the Fiction

The King and I: My Family Ties to Elvis

Elvis Presley: You’re in the Army Now

Lance of Longinus: The Spear of Destiny

POTUS & FLOTUS: Washington to Biden

Tecumseh’s Revenge: The Curse of Tippecanoe

Pennsylvania Bucktails: Civil War Sharpshooters

George Smith Patton: Four Men Who Shared the Name

Wounded Warriors - Their Struggle for Independence

McKee Family of Pennsylvania: Loyalists and Patriots

European Royal Bloodlines of the American Presidents

Pass in Review - Military School Celebrities (Volume One)

Pass in Review - Military School Celebrities (Volume Two)

Pass in Review - Military School Celebrities (Volume Three)

Pass in Review - Military School Celebrities (Volume Four)

The Making of Patton - An Academy Award Winning Movie

‘Twas Whose Night Before Christmas? Moore Vs. Livingston

If These Walls Could Talk: Huling Hotel and Pack Horse Inn

George Armstrong Custer and the Royal Buffalo Hunt of 1872

Beyond the Bighorn: The Afterlife of George Armstrong Custer

George Armstrong Custer and the Pennypackers of Pennsylvania

Kennedy Family of Pennsylvania and Their Native American Kin

Pass in Review - Military School Celebrities (Presidential Edition)

14th Cavalry Group in World War II - Story of Cavalryman Bill Null

Patton: Soldier Who Saved His Life and the One Who Caused His Death

Custer’s Luck Has Run Out: George Armstrong Custer’s Changing Image

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Out of Necessity: George Washington’s Surrender of Fort Necessity to the French

Table of Contents

Introduction

History of 24th Infantry Division

Operation Just Cause

Operation Desert Shield

Operation Desert Storm

After the 1st Gulf War

Afterword

Appendix 1: Operation Just Cause

Appendix 2: Operations Desert Shield/Storm

Bibliography

About Raymond C. Wilson

Introduction

More than thirty years ago, the soldiers of the 24th Infantry Division (Mechanized) answered the call of their Nation and went to war, first to defend Saudi Arabia and then to liberate Kuwait by defeating the Iraqi Army. There were predictions casualties could be as high as 30% yet they stood side by side determined to accomplish the mission victoriously and bring each other home. In an outstanding performance of professionalism and leadership the Victory Division lived up to its namesake and accomplished the mission with lighting speed as the Point of the Spear of Operation Desert Storm in 1991.

Memorial service for fallen Taro Leaf soldiers

War is never without cost, sixteen ‘Taro Leaf’ soldiers (including my good friend Captain Tommie W. Bates of 1st Battalion, 14th Field Artillery) paid the ultimate price for freedom during the Persian Gulf War. Many others were wounded and even more came home with unexplained illnesses and the hidden wounds of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. It is for these men and women that our great Nation owes a debt of gratitude and remembrance. Each made a commitment, each soldier signed the dotted line to serve, protect and defend even to the point of death.

I was assigned to the 24th Infantry Division (Mechanized) from July 1988 until December 1991. During that entire period of time, I was detailed to the Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Personnel (ODCSPER) at the Pentagon as Program Manager of the Battalion S-1 Program. As Program Manager, I was tasked to use the 24th Infantry Division (Mechanized) as a testbed organization to develop administrative procedures and software modules for the Tactical Army Combat Service Support Computer System (TACCS) in order to improve efficiency in the Battalion S-1 sections.

Soldier operating the Tactical Army Combat Service Support Computer System (TACCS)

My mission was to reduce the administrative workload by fifty percent in each Battalion S-1 section throughout the 24th Infantry Division (Mechanized) so the number of authorized personnel could actually complete all of their administrative duties without the use of ‘shadow clerks’. It was a common practice throughout the U.S. Army for Battalion S-1 sections and company orderly rooms to use additional soldiers (infantrymen, artillerymen, armor crewmen, etc.) as ‘shadow clerks’ to perform administrative duties in order to keep up with their workload. For a battalion with an authorization of seven administrative clerks in its S-1 section, it was not unusual to find an additional seven ‘shadow clerks’ performing administrative duties.

General John A. Wickham, Jr. (Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army)

General John A. Wickham, Jr., U.S. Army Chief of Staff, found this situation unsustainable and tasked Lieutenant General Robert M. Elton, Deputy Chief of Staff for Personnel (DCSPER), to fix it. The DCSPER appointed Colonel Edward M. Strong as Director of the Army of Excellence (AOE) Personnel & Administration (P&A) Task Force. In turn, Colonel Strong selected me to be the Battalion S-1 Program Manager in 1988.

Colonel Edward M. Strong (Director of AOE P&A Task Force)

I had previously been a member of Colonel Strong’s AOE P&A Task Force for three years (first as Program Manager of Army Sponsorship and then as Program Manager of Reassignment Management). These duties on the AOE P&A Task Force were in addition to my regular duties as a Military Personnel Analyst in the Mobilization and Movement Control Branch at the U.S. Army Military Personnel Center (MILPERCEN) in Alexandria, Virginia.

Impressed with my ability to handle two jobs at the same time with little or no supervision, Colonel Strong handpicked me to be the Battalion S-1 Program Manager with duty station at Fort Stewart, Georgia. While performing my duties at Fort Stewart, I was 600 miles away from my immediate supervisor (Colonel Strong) in the Military District of Washington. In order to keep Colonel Strong (and his successors Colonel Neil N. Snyder III and then Colonel Neil Grotegut) up-to-date on my progress at Fort Stewart, I had to fly back and forth to Washington, D.C. on a regular basis