On this day 25 years ago (Commentary Thread)

[chico20854]

It's been said before, but I, like many others, continue to enjoy these daily posts. As someone with a deep and abiding interest in cold war submarine simulations and a former Harpoon player, I especially appreciate 'the War at Sea' aspect; something cannon seems to deal with only tangentially.

Glad you are enjoying it! I'll keep churning these out; 1997 was a busy year!

[chico20854]

And then there's the phenomenon of the "unlucky" formation (or ship) that, often unfairly, develops a reputation as being "cursed". This superstition/belief, when widely held by members of a unit, can contribute to its continued poor performance. It can become a sort of self-fulfilling prophecy.

And there's the related phenomenon of a unit that has a reputation as being a poor performer, the opposite of the units with a high esprit-de-corps and long, glorious history. The one that sticks in my head is the 23rd ID, infamous for its role in the My Lai massacre.

[shrike6]

A little confused, the 21st Cav was a TDA unit in charge of Apache training and was called the "Apache Training Brigade" before mid 1996. Did they stop training Apache Pilots for the US Army and allies when III Corps deployed Also where are the 16th, 164th, 165th or theFlying Mustangs of 15th Av Bde being used

[chico20854]

A little confused, the 21st Cav was a TDA unit in charge of Apache training and was called the "Apache Training Brigade" before mid 1996. Did they stop training Apache Pilots for the US Army and allies when III Corps deployed Also where are the 16th, 164th, 165th or theFlying Mustangs of 15th Av Bde being used

I BS'd that as part of an attempt to get each of at least the primarily active-duty corps an aviation brigade. (GDW's assignment of 6 ACCB and 18th Avn Bde gave XVIII Airborne Corps two and left none for III Corps).

What I have from my notes for 21 ACCB:
This unit was originally formed in the mid-1980s as a centralized training unit for AH-64 Apache battalions, known as the Apache Training Brigade. By 1993, the Apache had been widely fielded and the unit initially was slated to deactivate, but instead it was retained and designated as III Corps supporting combat aviation brigade, assigned two AH-64 battalions and single UH-60, CH-47 and support aviation units.
1-229th Attack Helicopter Bn: 18 AH-64, 13 OH-58C, 3 UH-60A
4-227th Attack Helicopter Bn: 18 AH-64, 13 OH-58C, 3 UH-60A
1-108th Aviation Bn (USAR): 46 UH-60
3-159th Aviation Bn (USAR): 72 UH-1H
Co G, 104th Aviation (CT NG): 13 CH-47D
(I created the Apache units, the other units came from elsewhere in the force structure, which was a hot mess!)

The other aviation brigades I have are:
1 (Training) - Remains at Rucker under TRADOC
6 ACCB - XVIII Airborne Corps
11th - VII Corps
12th - V Corps
17th - 8th Army
18th - XVIII Airborne Corps
21 ACCB - III Corps
22 - XI Corps
27 - XX Corps
66 - I Corps
128 - SOUTHCOM
160 SOAR - SOCCENT
166 - XXIII Corps

Filling those units out required the creation of three attack helo battalions (two active duty for 21 ACCB and a USAR AH-1 battalion for 22nd Bde); between those units, the divisional aviation brigades and cav squadrons and the ACRs the US Army's inventory of helicopters looks pretty slim, even with continued Cold War-era production rates.

[chico20854]

May 26, 1997

1st Sqadron, 116th Armored Cavalry Regiment (Idaho National Guard) arrives on the outskirts of Olesno.

General Barnaberi, CENTCOM commander, is pressed by the leadership on Capital Hill on his plans for an offensive to drive the Soviets out of Iran. He replies that the shipping situation prevents him from sustaining any advance that he would launch.

Unofficially,

The Swiss ambassador in New Delhi reaches out to the American ambassador. He has been contacted by the Soviet ambassador, who desires to meet with the Americans to discuss conditions to end the war.

Headquarters, XIX Corps is stood up from the 102nd and 122nd ARCOMs at Little Rock AFB, Arkansas to oversee mobilization and support to civil authorities in Arkansas and Louisiana.

The US Army Provost Marshall declares "5th Squad" an illegal organization, making continued membership or activity subject to criminal prosecution.

The American attack submarine USS Pintado departs Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on its patrol (scheduled initially to patrol an area southeast of Petropavlovsk-Kamchakta). The boat is never heard from again.

In northern Poland, III US Corps pauses to allow its logistic trail to catch up, recover some of the vehicles that had been lost in the prior day's battle and chase down the enemy light forces (both regular and partisan) that are operating in the corps rear area. One disturbing development is that the corps attack helicopter battalions are only able to replace 20 percent of the Hellfire and 25 percent of the TOW anti-tank missiles expended in the battle.

Back in Germany, Seventh US Army is expanding its area of operations, with a complex shuffle of units on the line. VII US Corps, which had been responsible for the Czech border from its boundary with Poland west to the western end of Czechoslovakia opposite the Hof Gap, moves east into Poland, deploying units opposite the Czech 4th Army to defend the NATO offensives southern flank. I British Corps moves in to assume responsibility for VII US Corps sector, while XV US Corps, recently declared operational, takes up positions in Bavaria, using newly arrived units to keep the Czech-Soviet forces in southern Germany hemmed in. Within those corps some units are reassigned, with engineer and artillery units, in particular, shifted into Poland.

XI US Corps is released into NORTHAG reserve, initially occupying Wrocław. It is not moved farther into Poland because the road and rail lines to the east can not sustain more combat forces; in fact, XI US Corps is temporarily tapped to provide trucks and drivers to move supplies for Third German Army to the east.

The MPs of US V Corps' 18th MP Brigade process approximately 250 POWs captured from the 734th Independent Tank Regiment when that unit was overrun outside Konin.

Over the GIUK Gap, the second sortie by a Soviet Tu-22M2DP long-range interceptor receives a rude welcome, discovering that there are American E-2 Hawkeye early warning aircraft (from the carriers Saratoga, Enterprise and Eisenhower) operating over the Norwegian Sea. The converted Soviet bomber's electronic warfare sensors detect the American aircraft before it can be located and the sortie is aborted.

In the North Sea, Convoy 145 is formed heading west. The convoy has an unusually large escort force, composed of nearly the entire group of frigates, destroyers and cutters that crossed the Atlantic with Convoy 140 and a portion of the escort from Convoy 142. It passes through the English Channel at night.

The Red Banner Northern Fleet dispatches a pair of Foxtrot-class submarines from Polyarnny to lay mines in the North Sea.

In the Balkans, Pact troops continue their preparatory artillery barrages on Romanian and Jugoslav positions as a wide variety of civilian trucks from the Western USSR, Hungary and Bulgaria are pressed into service to bring supplies to the front from the railheads and ports.

The carrier USS Independence anchors at Masirah, Oman for a restand recovery period after many weeks of intense operations.

The trio of convoys carrying the 4th Marine Division enters the Indian Ocean, having traversed the southern coast of Australia after a long transit of the Pacific.

Allied air forces in the Korean theater continue their defense suppression and aerial interdiction of the battlefield. 8th Army commanders report declining North Korean artillery barrages and a higher rate of desertion from the North Korean Army.

The mutiny in the Soviet Far East grows, when the rebellious troops of the 70th (my 122nd Guards) Motor-Rifle Division are joined by the 294th Motor-Rifle Division, which was also languishing in the area around Khabarovsk. The rebels seize control of the city's dwindling food stocks and block the rail and road routes into the city. They are, however, unable to persuade the troops of the city's MVD garrison (the headquarters of the Far Eastern MVD District and the 92nd Convoy Division) to join the uprising, and the KGB Border Guards of the 70th Border Guard Brigade on the nearby Chinese border begins moving in.

[shrike6]

I BS'd that as part of an attempt to get each of at least the primarily active-duty corps an aviation brigade. (GDW's assignment of 6 ACCB and 18th Avn Bde gave XVIII Airborne Corps two and left none for III Corps).

I noticed the III Corps conundrum as well. I took a slightly different approach Instead of making up units I looked at the history of the Aviation Branch and saw three of the Aviation Groups (11, 12 and 17) from the Vietnam era were already being used as Aviation Brigades. Another was being used by Spec Ops(160). Leaving three (16, 164 and 165) plus the group (15) in Europe at that time.
The 21ACCB is interesting in that it had no history but does have a cool patch. It was designated as such because of Force XXI.
It had two distinct missions
- Fielding of Apaches and Kiowa Warriors to both Active and Reserves. I assumed they would field Comanches as well.
- Provide support to the Department of State and Department of Defense for Foreign Military Sales and Security Assistance. The United States worked to supply Apache technology and aircraft to several allies.
A third was added during the GWOT and was to assist Aviation units prepping for deployment.

Given those items I felt it wouldnt be activated as a line unit until later in the war and would allow for more diversity during the Mexican invasion like the British/German Brigade in Canada. What is a Mexican invasion without the Dutch

I agree as the war goes on Aviation units will be less plentiful. Early Corps would have full Bde then it would trickle to down to Corps just having an Aviation Group or maybe a Battalion if even that. My assumption is that you wont see alot new Apache/Blackhawk units after a certain point early in the war as whatever production would be used as war replacements but you might see units containing MD500s/AH-6s or other helicopters but even those fade away too. At some point new aviation units are formed from existing civilian helicopter like news choppers, air ambulances, tourist helicopters, etc. Whatever they can get a hold of.

One other note. The 166 Aviation Group/Bde was a USAR Aviation Group stationed at Illesheim and subordinate to the 11th Aviation Brigade during the late 80s early 90s. Not sure whether it was the Attack or Assault Group for the Brigade.

I'm probably just cranky recovering from surgery. I'll go back to waiting for the next episode instead of nitpicking.

[chico20854]

May 27, 1997

General Barnaberi, CENTCOM commander, reluctantly directs his staff to draw up plans for a general offensive once the Soviets have been evicted from Bandar Abbas, while pleading once again with the Joint Staff in Washington for a greater allocation of supplies and transport.

Polish troops of the 6th Air Assault Division work to strengthen defenses of Czestochowa. Trenches and fighting positions are dug, barbed wire strung, minefields laid, AT guns emplaced and supplies stockpiled in catacombs under the Jasna Gora monastery.

Unofficially,

The report from the American ambassador in New Delhi is transmitted to NATO governments. There is some specualtion as to why the Americans were approached rather than the British, who had taken the lead in two earlier rounds of talks. A meeting is scheduled for the next day to discuss what the NATO position should be on terms for war termination.

The 36th Armored Brigade, Texas National Guard, completes Rotation 97-9 at the National Training Center at Ft. Irwin, California and is declared combat ready. Its graduation is seen as a redemption of the Texas National Guard after the embarrassing failure of the 49th Armored Division earlier in the year. The 36th is followed by the 2nd Brigade, 49th Armored Division, which is slated for a 90-day rotation rather than the standard 21-day rotation that has been in effect since November.

The 2nd Brigade, 11th Airborne Division is declared combat ready after completing Rotation 97-8 at JRTC-2 at Fort Chaffee, Arkansas.

Colonel Tumanski's Spetsnaz team in the UK resumes operations after a pause to re-evaluate tactics following the loss of two members during an attack on the RAF base at Coltishall two weeks prior. The team strikes a locomotive on the mainline between Birmingham and Liverpool with a RPG-7, causing a considerable amount of damage but not the derailment that Tumanski had hoped for.

The 88th Motor-Rifle Division is pulled from the front lines in Inner Mongolia after repeated insubordination and poor performance. The commander of the 36th Army Corps fears that the mainly ethnic Kirghiz Muslim soldiers of the division will desert or, worse, heed Chinese propaganda about Soviet oppression of their minorities, revolt, lay dow their arms or surrender.

The Soviet 20th Tank Division is withdrawn back to the USSR for reconstruction following its losses from battling III Corps, having lost 159 tanks in the assault, and the Polish 4th Army retreats back into the woods, its units drifting back to the Wisła to defend the bridges and ferries. The US 2nd Armored Divison remains in place temporarily, its place in the offensive taken by the freshly arrived 44th (my 20th) Armored Division.

The 118th Field Artillery Brigade (Georgia National Guard) is declared operational and is assigned to the newly arrived XXIII Corps.

In the Balkans, the Southwestern TVD launches its long-delayed spring offensive. Soviet and Hungarian troops of the Danube Front advance in northwestern Romania, driving Jugoslav and Romanian defenders back towards the outskirts of Timişoara. In the East, 1st Ukrainian Front uses the SU-130s of the 336th Guards Assault Gun Regiment to blast a hole in the Romanian defenses. The lead regiments of the 14th Guards Army drive on the city of Focşani, the first phase of a drive towards the Danube and a linkup with Bulgarian troops subordinate to the Southern Front. Southern Front's main effort is directed at driving the Turks back from their positions in the Balkan Mountains; 58th Army begins attacks out of the foothills while the 26th Army attempts to break the siege of Burgas.

Troops of the 24th, 9th and 101st Divisions in Iran secure their local areas and tie their defense lines in with the defensive lines established by the IPA's I and II Corps. In northern Iran the Green Berets of the 5th and 7th Special Forces Groups work with Iranian stay-behind parties and various ethnic militias (mostly Kurdish) to disrupt Soviet supply lines.

Allied airpower over Korea continues its campaign to disrupt North Korean air defenses and transportation. B-52s strike the rail yard at Sariwon, a key junction of several lines that connect the western part of the front to Pyongyang.

In the first day of sharp fighting in Khabarovsk, KGB troops advance across the bridge over the Amur River into the city from the west, while MVD troops of the 92nd Convoy Division's 65th Training Regiment move north from their garrison south of the city, brushing aside pickets from the rebel 294th Motor-Rifle Division. The mutinous unit commanders are having a hard time coordinating among themselves (the two generals argue several times during the day as to who is in charge, dooming the effort to two parallel but largely unsupporting fights) and enforcing their orders to subordinate commanders, discovering that once some ties of authority are broken it is difficult to enforce others.

[chico20854]

I'm probably just cranky recovering from surgery. I'll go back to waiting for the next episode instead of nitpicking.

No, I appreciate the feedback! I'll see what I can do to adjust to some ID's that make more sense! I hope your recovery goes well!

[chico20854]

May 28, 1997

Nothing in the canon for today!

A meeting of NATO heads of state begins with a briefing by SACEUR, General John Phelps, on the conditions from the Kola to Thrace. Overall, NATO is making steady progress across Poland, is preparing a renewed drive on Murmansk in the north and is, with some additional support, able to hold NATO territory in the Balkans. His J-2 (Intelligence officer) and the deputy director of the CIA give a joint briefing on the status of the Soviet war effort. Losses in Poland are heavy and other fronts are being starved of reinforcements and supplies as STAVKA scrambles to hold Polish territory. The fully mobilized Soviet economy is unable to replace the losses, and there is little indication that remaining Red Army units in the USSR can be made combat ready without further grave economic damage. Reports of internal disorder in the USSR are multiplying. Overall, NATO heads of state, pleased with the success of Advent Crown to date and confident of the outcome of the upcoming Reindeer II offensive on the Kola, see little reason to sue for peace. Accordingly, NATO demands for war termination are an immediate and permanent ceasefire, followed by withdrawal of Pact troops from Poland west of the Wisla, Romania, Bulgaria, China, the Kola Peninsula west of the Litsa and Iran, and free elections in Poland and Iran to determine the shape of future governments there.

XVI Corps headquarters is formed at Fort Hunter Liggett, California from the 63rd and 96th ARCOMs. Assigned to Sixth Army, the corps assumes responsibility for training support, oversight of the Oakland Port of Embarkation and support for civil authorities in security and disaster relief planning.

The Adjutant General of the State of Hawaii, Major General Kenneth O'Hara, reports to PACCOM that the combination of the 29th Infantry Brigade, 221st MP Brigade and Hawaii State Guard Brigade have established a tight security cordon around Hickam Air Force Base and other vital facilities in the 50th State.

The Guards Squadron, SAS is redeployed from Southeastern England to western England in response to the numerous Spetsnaz attacks there.

Belgian police arrest the manager of a small construction company in Liege for violating export controls and smuggling. The man apparently was arranging for the company's tanker truck to make a weekly crossing of a remote section of the German border, where it would meet a German truck and transfer over 3,000 liters of diesel, severely rationed in Germany as well as Belgium. The scheme netted over 300,000 Belgian francs for the manager each week.

Marshall Slepnev (Western TVD commander) commits one of his theatre reserve units, the 35th Guards Air Assault Brigade, inserting it deep into the NATO rear area. In the aftermath of a multi-regiment Frontal Aviation raid (with regiments sweeping across the Baltic, into Bavaria and over Silesia) the NATO interceptor force has largely returned to its home bases for refueling and rearming and NATO SAM batteries were reloading. At that point a force of over 100 transports roars over central Poland, disgorging the 35th Guards into the Oder Valley south of Swiebodzin, where ELINT units had identified a major NATO headquarters. On arrival, they overrun the headquarters (identified after the battle as the rear headquarters of First German Army) and then link up with remnants of cut-off Soviet and Polish formations and began raiding NATO supply routes, including the two roads and railroad line running east to Poznan and the road through Jielona Gora, one of the three MSRs supporting Third German Army. The elite troops in their BMD armored personnel carriers overwhelm the rear area security troops and American military police units, who are equipped with light armored cars and unarmored vehicles and short on anti-tank weapons.

In Northern Poland III US Corps resumes its advance, led by the freshly arrived 44th (my 20th) Armored Division. The advance is at a slower pace, the US Army having endured a bloody nose as a result of its headlong advance across the Polish countryside.

Reserve Front is now fully committed in north-central Poland, taking the sector between Baltic Front and the 1st Western Front.

Southwestern TVD's attacks in the Balkans continue, the Soviet forces using massed artillery fire to try to break Romanian resistance along the 800 km-long front line. Long Range Aviation's bombers return to the skies overhead, targeting the rail line between Brasov and Bucharest to islolate the region north of the Carpathians from the Danube plain. In Bulgaria, Soviet and Bulgarian forces take heavy losses as they try to grind down their Turkish opponents.

The British 27th Infantry Brigade maintains pressure on the Soviet 103rd Guards Air Assault Division. Even though the Soviet force outnumbers the British one by nearly three to one, the British formation is tied into Allied supply lines in Iran and receives regular "push packages" of fuel, food, water and ammunition from higher headquarters, while the Soviet force must scrounge for most of its supplies, relying on intermittent supply drops for ammunition and medical resupply.

The Sierra II-class attack submarine K-534 departs its hiding spot beneath a disused oil platform in the Persian Gulf for the last time, ordered to resume patrols in the Arabian Sea.

In the urban fighting in Khabarovsk, rebel troops succeed in preventing the loyal troops advancing from the west (the KGB 70th Border Guard Brigade) and the south (the MVD 65th Training Regiment) from linking up in the city center, although scattered loyalist detachments manage to break into the downtown MVD headquarters complex, defeating any plan to overrun it. The mutineers rejoice in their victory, but are aware that their ammunition supplies are dwindling. The lead regiment (the 190th) of the 173rd (my 192nd) Motor-Rifle Division detrains on the south edge of the city, rushed north along the Trans-Siberian Railroad to assist in putting down the mutiny.

[Ewan]

May 28, 1997

The Adjutant General of the State of Hawaii, Major General Kenneth O'Hara, reports to PACCOM that the combination of the 29th Infantry Brigade, 221st MP Brigade and Hawaii State Guard Brigade have established a tight security cordon around Hickam Air Force Base and other vital facilities in the 49th State.

Is Hawaii not the 50th state

[Homer]

Speaking of Hawaii, the t2k timeline is going to alter some things in the military situation on island.

1. Wheeler AAF may still be Wheeler AFB. It was transferred in the early 90s, ceasing to operate its complement of OV-10s. It's only a 5000ft+runway, but could operate C-130s or C-17s in addition to air defense F-15s. There's a hardened facility there for the Hawaii air defense operations center.

2. Dillingham AAF on the north shore of Oahu is still under lease from the army. It's a light aviation and skydiving field also used by the 25th ID for training. Easy to see it's 9000ft+ runway used for P-3s or to disperse ground alert TACAMO/ABCC assets out of Barbers Point or Hickam.

3. NAS Barbers Point is still a going concern. Hosts P-3s and the PACFLT TACAMO. Since things didn't go they way of the peace dividend in t2k, there's also a SOSUS site and WSA with NDBs.

4. NAVMAG Lualei and West Loch is still a going concern. That includes Waikele gulch with another WSA.

5. When you're writing for 25th ID, the DIVARTY 155mm battery had 8 (later 6 in AoE) M198s with the nuclear mission in addition to being the division's GS shooters.

So, more infrastructure and more potential targets...

[chico20854]

Is Hawaii not the 50th state

It is! I thought I checked that specifically, thanks for the correction! I'll go edit it!

[chico20854]

Speaking of Hawaii, the t2k timeline is going to alter some things in the military situation on island.

1. Wheeler AAF may still be Wheeler AFB. It was transferred in the early 90s, ceasing to operate its complement of OV-10s. Its only a 5000ft+runway, but could operate C-130s or C-17s in addition to air defense F-15s. Theres a hardened facility there for the Hawaii air defense operations center.

2. Dillingham AAF on the north shore of Oahu is still under lease from the army. Its a light aviation and skydiving field also used by the 25th ID for training. Easy to see its 9000ft+ runway used for P-3s or to disperse ground alert TACAMO/ABCC assets out of Barbers Point or Hickam.

3. NAS Barbers Point is still a going concern. Hosts P-3s and the PACFLT TACAMO. Since things didnt go they way of the peace dividend in t2k, theres also a SOSUS site and WSA with NDBs.

4. NAVMAG Lualei and West Loch is still a going concern. That includes Waikele gulch with another WSA.

5. When youre writing for 25th ID, the DIVARTY 155mm battery had 8 (later 6 in AoE) M198s with the nuclear mission in addition to being the divisions GS shooters.

So, more infrastructure and more potential targets

Thanks! I had most of those sites in my database, and will add the others.

On the Division Artillery, I have 8 guns per battery throughout the Army, except for rocket units with 9.

[chico20854]

May 29, 1997

Nothing official for the day.

The first meeting between American and Soviet delegations in New Delhi is consumed with both sides essentially posturing, reciting their perceptions of the outrages and atrocities they have suffered at the other's hands.

The Freedom-class cargo ship Belgrade Freedom is delivered in Portland, Oregon.

The Soviet Echo II-class cruise missile submarine K-235 launches a single non-nuclear SS-N-12 cruise missile at Bangor International Airport, Maine. The K-235 has been at sea since September and the crew, exhausted from both the constant pursuit of USN and USCG patrol vessels as well as the sub's captain constantly ordering "live fire" drills to keep his men sharp. The Soviet Weapons Officer, driven to the brink of exhaustion, accidentally fires the cruise missile after hearing the captain giving the simulated order to fire. Thankfully, the crew has been practicing on non-nuclear launches, but still the launch happens. Once the mistake is discovered by the Soviet High Command Premier Sauronski calls President Turner on the Hotline (this is the last known conversation between the two men) to reassure him this is an accident, not an escalation. As "A sign of Good Faith" he allows the US to target a similarly sized Soviet airbase. This causes unexpected chaos in President Tanner's NSA/JCS circle as many Hawkish members want to use this "accident" as an excuse to ratchet up things and some of the more rational members who want to use this as a measuring stick for how far the Soviets are willing to go. The missile's 500 kg warhead detonates over the "Christmas Tree" tanker alert area at the end of the runway, where a trio of KC-135 tankers from the 132nd Air Refuelling Squadron are on alert, destroying all three in a large fireball.

Knowing that relief is impossible and that a counterattack will be coming, the 35th Guards Air Assault Brigade's commander, Colonel Vasili Bovin, has the brigades engineer company fortify the town of Sulechow as a location for the brigades last stand. The engineers lay extensive minefields, prepare fighting positions in building basements and prepare obstacles around town.

In Czestochowa the 6th Air Assault Division's troopers continue to dig in, sparing some men to train the ORMO and ZOMO troops that are preparing to fight alongside them.

The Tu-22M2DP interceptor returns to the air over the Norwegian Sea, this time prepared for the presence of American E-2C Hawkeye early warning aircraft. The Soviet plane launches four AS-17 anti-radiation missiles at the two nearest radar planes, which, traveling at Mach 3.5, rapidly down the lumbering turboprops.

The USS George Washington battle group departs Mayport Florida with a rebuilt air group following the massive losses in the Norwegian Sea in December. Following the battle, squadron's of the carrier's CVW-13 were stripped of personnel and aircraft to replace losses in other Atlantic Fleet air wings. Over the winter replacement pilots and aircraft arrived, but as it became evident that production of F-14s, F/A-18s and A-6s was not going to increase fast enough the decision was made to reform the fighter and attack squadrons with older aircraft returned to service. The re-equipment with F-4s and A-7s required another change of personnel, bringing in recalled retirees, veterans and reservists who were familiar with the aircraft, which had left active naval service in the early 90s. The reformed squadrons then needed 6 weeks of intense workup to be considered adequately trained for combat.

The Warsaw Pact offensive in the Balkans continues, with Romanian and Jugoslav troops pushed into the city of Timisoara. The Soviet commander is reluctant to commit his troops to an urban meat-grinder battle, so he commits troops from the Hungarian Pcs Border Guard District and the newly arrived and poorly trained and equipped 146th Motor-Rifle Division to encircle the city while the 6th Guards Tank Army continues the offensive into Transylvania.

After a month at sea, the ships carrying the heavy equipment and vehicles of the 48th Infantry Brigade (Mechanized) (Georgia National Guard) arrive in the Persian Gulf. They make port in Ad Damman to link up with the brigade's troops.

The Sierra II-class SSN K-534 sinks the tanker Galaxy Rincon after sailing underneath the massive ship through the Straits of Hormuz to avoid Allied naval forces.

A massive air deployment begins as the fixed-wing portion of the 4th Marine Air Wing departs bases in the southern US for the Middle East. Air Force KC-10 tankers are marshaled from around the world to stretch the endurance of the command's F/A-18s, A-4s and A-6s across the Atlantic and Pacific. (Squadrons use both routes to the CENTCOM AOR).

As the rest of the 173rd (my 192nd) Motor-Rifle Division arrives in Khabarovsk, the reinforced loyalist forces make another, more deliberate advance into the city. A motor-rifle battalion task force is landed by Mi-17 helicopters at the city's Central Aerodrome (a military airfield on the east side of the city), catching the rebels off guard.

[Homer]

On the Division Artillery, I have 8 guns per battery throughout the Army, except for rocket units with 9.

The 198 battery is F/7 FA. In the 90s they're in F Quad along with the rest of DIVARTY. 8 gun batteries were the way to go- two platoons capable of FFE in each battery so you could deliver fires continuously while displacing within the PA.