US Army: Task Force Santa Fe
v.2.0 March 10, 2002

Jim Milne

 

  The 35^th (Santa Fe) Infantry Division is an ARNG division, headquartered at Fort Leavenworth, KS., assigned to V Corps in Germany. On 30^th November, 2001, divisional units in Arkansas, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri and Nebraska received alert notifications warning of mobilization in early January, 2002. The purpose was to provide a brigade sized task force to be assigned to USAREUR in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. The 66^th Infantry Brigade from Illinois would provide the command and control structure to Task Force Santa Fe. Three battalion sized task forces would be under command. The operation would be for a two year duration, with four six month rotations. The deployment was designed to relieve those AC units providing base security and force protection, allowing them to resume regular training and duties.

  The initial mobilization date would be 2^nd January, 2002, with Fort Stewart, GA., being the mobilization station. The deployment to Germany would be in three waves, staging out of Hunter AAF, GA.

  The Task Force and 66^th Infantry Brigade Headquarters would be established at Germersheim Army Depot. The installation is quite large, occupying 454 acres and having 147 buildings, many of which have been unoccupied since 1992. Germersheim is in the Rhine-Pfalz region southwest of Mannheim. Base support is provided by an Area Support Team drawn from the 411^th Base Support Bn. This made the activation of elements of the 634^th Forward Support Bn unnecessary.

  The first “wave” arrived at the Replacement Center at Rhine-Main AB, 22-24^th January. The second wave, on 7^th February. While the third wave is due in mid-February.

 

                        Initial Task Force Composition on 9^th January, 2002.

 

UNIT                                                 STATION                           Personnel

HQ/HHC, 66th Infantry Brigade         Decatur, IL.                             99

HQ/HHC, 1-178th Infantry                 Chicago, IL.                             79

Co A, 1-178th Infantry                       Woodstock, IL.                        135

Co B, 1-178th Infantry                       Elgin, IL.                                  108

Co C, 1-178th Infantry                       Aurora, IL.                               142

HQ/HHC, 1-149th Infantry                 Fort Knox, KY.                         190

Co B, 1-149th Infantry                       London, KY.                             142

Co E, 1-149th Infantry                       Somerset, KY.                          81

Co B, 2-123rd Armor                         Marion/Madisonville, KY.          83

Co C, 2-123rd Armor                         Benton, KY.                              76

HQ/HHC, 2-137th Infantry                 Kansas City, KS.                     153

Co B, 2-137th Infantry                       Lawrence, KS.                         142

Co C, 2-137th Infantry                       Wichita, KS.                             98

Co A, 2-130th Infantry                       Mattoon, IL.                             142

Co B, 2-130th Infantry                       Effingham, IL.                          109

Co C, 2-130th Infantry                       Litchfield, IL.                            74

Co A, 1-131st Infantry                       Bartonville, IL.                         142

Co B, 1-131st Infantry                       Bloomington, IL.                      142

Co C, 1-131st Infantry                       Kankakee, IL.                          142

 

 

 

                                       The First Wave

 

HQS/HHC  66th Infantry Brigade	Germersheim AD.
HQS/HHC 1-178th Infantry	Germersheim AD.
Co A  2-130th Infantry	Kaiserslautern/Pirmasens.
Co B 1-178th Infantry	Wiesbaden AAF. (?)
Co C  1-178th Infantry	Germersheim AD.
Co B 2-130th Infantry	?

 

The units departed their home stations on 7^th January, flying to Fort Stewart. They arrived at Rhein-Main AB 22-24 January.

 

                                     The Second Wave

 

HQS/HHC, 1-149th Infantry	?
Co B, 1-149th Infantry	?
Co E, 1149th Infantry                            -	?
Co B, 2-123rd Armor [dismounted]	?
Co C, 2-123rd Armor [dismounted]	?
Co A, 1-178th Infantry	Stuttgart, Panzer Kaserne  & Patch Barracks
Co C, 2-130th Infantry	“              “, dets. At Bad Aiblung & Garmisch.
Co A, 1-131st Infantry	?

 

The units departed their home stations on 17^th January for Fort Stewart. Deployment to Germany occurred in the first week of February. Units were on station 7^th February.

 

                                       The Third Wave

HQS/HHC, 2-137th Infantry                             ?

Co B, 2-137th Infantry                                      ?

Co C, 2-137th Infantry                                      ?

Co B, 1-131st Infantry                                      ?

Co C, 1-131st Infantry                                      ?

 

Departed their home stations on 5^th February for Fort Stewart, GA. They are expected to deploy in mid February.

 

                                            Future Deployments

 

  This section is somewhat speculative as virtually nothing is known about the succeeding rotations. However in the author’s opinion, they will not be provided from 35^th Infantry Division resources.

   As part of the ARNG Division Redesign, the 35^th is undergoing an extensive reorganization. The 67^th Brigade from Nebraska and Kansas has converted to a CSS role and is now the 67^th Area Support Group. 2-137^th Infantry is the last remnant and is scheduled to convert to CS/CSS units in the future. The 149^th Brigade (Kentucky) has just merged with Alabama’s 31^st Armored Brigade and is reorganizing. 1-149^th Infantry had only two companies available for the Task Force, hence it was necessary to “chop” two dismounted armor companies from 2-123^rd Armor. Also 1-149^th Infantry is scheduled for conversion to CS/CSS in the future. Alabama’s 1-167^th Infantry will replace the 1-149^th in the brigade, but has also been activated for Homeland Defense and is unavailable. At this point Illinois’ 66^th Bde is the only stabilized brigade in the division. Since they are providing the bulk of the first rotation, it seems unlikely that they would be called again. This could happen if their tour of active duty was extended by a further six months. I think the following rotations will be provided by the other NG divisions.