News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
The Task Force Vanguard/3rd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division hit the fire lines Tuesday, August 27, to battle the blaze sparked by a lighting strike Friday, August 23. The unit, stationed at Fort Carson, Colorado, came to Sisters from California where they fought the Forks Fire near Redding.
It was a new kind of battle for the troops.
According to Staff Sergeant Terry Webster, the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho, sent trainers to Fort Carson to prepare the troops for battle in the wilderness. The task force spent five hours in the classroom studying fire behavior and safety, learning to identify escape routes and deploy fire shelters. Two days of "cold line" training and mop-up work on the Forks fire got them ready to take on the Park Meadow blaze.
After acting as a backup force in California, the soldiers were eager to test themselves as frontline troops.
"Up here we're the main effort," Sgt. Webster told The Nugget August 29. "That lent a little excitement that, hey, we're number one here."
The 500-person firefighting force, backed by 100 support personnel, is a conglomerate of the various battalions that make up the 3rd Brigade. Sgt. Webster noted that the force included tankers, artillerymen, signal men and engineers.
But they were all ground-pounding infantry on this battlefield.
Oregon National Guard trucks drove the troops to staging areas, but they had to hike in to the fire. To save time on the trail, most of the troops stayed in the woods in spike camps closer to the blaze.
"It's a haul to get in there, so most of our crews are spiking out," Sgt. Webster reported. "It's five miles one way in and out. That's where it probably helps to be soldiers; we're used to marching and going over hills. Our physical conditioning has really helped us out."
Firefighting is part of the 4th Infantry Division's flexible mission orientation in the post-Cold War Army. The division is a "power projection force" capable of responding to hot spots all over the world at short notice. In this summer of devastating wildfires, they are a key component in the Army's plans to respond to hot spots in the West.
According to Sgt. Webster, the troops relish the challenge of the new mission.
"Anything that's different is great," he said. Webster noted that having hot chow and showers available close to the battlefield was an unusual and pleasant bonus.
Webster and his fellow troops also had time to admire the terrain over which they marched and fought.
"Its a long hike," Webster said, "but I'll tell you it's beautiful up here."
With the Park Meadow blaze contained, the Vanguard Task Force was to move out for the Summit Complex fire near Pendelton over the weekend -- another battlefield in a different kind of war.
Jim Cornelius is editor in chief of The Nugget and author of “Warriors of the Wildlands: True Tales of the Frontier Partisans.” A history buff, he explores frontier history across three centuries and several continents on his podcast, The Frontier Partisans. For more information visit www.frontierpartisans.com.
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