3rd Brigade 3rd Infantry Division inactive

[C-grunt]

So today marks the last time that Brigade Headquarters of the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division at Ft Benning Ga will lower their colors.

The Sledgehammer Brigade has a storied history reaching back to WWI. Audie Murphy's battalion, 1/15 Infantry, was in 3rd BCT. We spearheaded the invasion into Iraq in 2003 and had multiple deployments since.

This has been surprisingly emotional for me. Im not crying or anything but it hurts more than I thought it would. I hate to see the history, some of which I had the pleasure to be apart of, being dismantled.

Someone made this video showing the history of the Brigade with pctures and videos. Its very well made and I wanted to share it with yu guys.

Our motto was "Not fancy, just tough"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AOkNrnDqf5s

[Averageman]

I was assigned to C co 2-64 Armor in April of 1981. Conn Kaserne Schwinefurt FRG. I turned 19 a couple of weeks later.
I will always have a place in my heart for 3rd ID and 2-64 Armor, I learned everything I needed to know about being a Soldier and a Tanker while I was there.
They finally dragged me kicking and screaming to Frankfurt to get on the plane to CONUS in late 1989 and I hated coming back.

[sinister]

I was just at Kelley Hill last month for the All-Army.

Sad to see the place so quiet.

Well done, Sledgehammer, well done.

[diving dave]

Sad, ya gotta wonder what the hell is going on. Anyone see the special report on Fox the other day about Marine aviation? The Corps is cannibalising F18's to keep others flying, pilots not getting enough flight time, etc.....

[sinister]

Sure. The Commander-in-Chief says we're finally at peace, we no longer face an imminent threat to national security, and America should profit from the tax dividend of a smaller active armed forces posture.

[Averageman]

Sure. The Commander-in-Chief says we're finally at peace, we no longer face an imminent threat to national security, and America should profit from the tax dividend of a smaller active armed forces posture.

After all as the "Didonuffins" Momma said "Who's gonna feed my Babies?
For a Guy who claims to be a Constitutional Scholar and a Professor or Constitutional law, I sometimes wonder if he understand what the few duties of the Federal Government are in that document and how handing out free stuff became one of them?

[Caeser25]

Sad, ya gotta wonder what the hell is going on. Anyone see the special report on Fox the other day about Marine aviation? The Corps is cannibalising F18's to keep others flying, pilots not getting enough flight time, etc.....

No but my cousin was a Marine MP for over 30 years and a whole bunch of them were forced to retire a couple years ago and were replaced with civilian staff. He said alot of support personnel were replaced with civilian staff too. Getting to arms room at 0600 only to wait for laquesha to show up at 0900.

[SteyrAUG]

Looks like a lot of restructuring rather than an end of an era.

http://www.armytimes.com/story/military/pentagon/2015/01/09/3rd-infantry-brigade-deactivation/21513655/

[Wake27]

No but my cousin was a Marine MP for over 30 years and a whole bunch of them were forced to retire a couple years ago and were replaced with civilian staff. He said alot of support personnel were replaced with civilian staff too. Getting to arms room at 0600 only to wait for laquesha to show up at 0900.

If anything they're cutting those civilian contracts and making the Soldiers do that stuff again. Especially area beautification details. They have to pay the Soldiers, they don't have to pay civilians to do stuff that the Army can do, training be damned.

[C-grunt]

Looks like a lot of restructuring rather than an end of an era.

http://www.armytimes.com/story/military/pentagon/2015/01/09/3rd-infantry-brigade-deactivation/21513655/

That's 2nd Brigade in Ft Stewart.

[Averageman]

If anything they're cutting those civilian contracts and making the Soldiers do that stuff again. Especially area beautification details. They have to pay the Soldiers, they don't have to pay civilians to do stuff that the Army can do, training be damned.

There is a lot to be said for paying a civilian 9 bucks an hour to cut grass and pull weeds rather than to lose the training time.
In many cases with more technical things it is amazingly more cost efficient to hire contractors to do some work while they train the Soldiers.