Photo By Adam Holguin | Soldiers from the 2-263rd ADA receive a welcome home brief at the Silas L. Copeland...... read more read more
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FORT BLISS, Texas - The 2nd Battalion, 263rd Air Defense Artillery, a National Guard unit from Anderson, South Carolina, completed a ground-based air defense mission in the national capital region in support of Operation Noble Eagle and arrived at the Silas L. Copeland Departure/Arrival Control Group Jan. 29.
The primary task for the 2-263rd ADA on this mission was the air defense of our nation’s leadership.
“Defending the pillars of democracy,” said Lt. Col. Marion Collins, battalion commander, 2-263rd ADA. “We feel it is the most important air defense mission in the Army today. It is the premier opportunity to shine, the weapons systems are the best, and every piece of equipment is the best.”
The unit arrived in Washington D.C. on Apr. 9, 2014, officially took over the mission on Apr. 29, 2014 and transferred authority to their replacement on Jan. 29, 2015. Ultimately their time in the national capital region was a success for the South Carolina unit.
“Our mission was an outstanding success; it is a zero fail mission,” said Command Sgt. Maj. Russell Vickery, battalion Command Sgt. Maj., 2-263rd ADA. “You don’t have a choice; there is no room for error. (The Soldiers) know that when they are called to perform their duty they have to perform 100 percent of the time, exactly the same, every time.”
The significance of an air defense mission in the nation’s capital was something the unit took very seriously.
“A lot of people don’t realize just how stressful it is on the soldiers out there,” said Vickery, “not until the other battalion took over for us at (midnight) this morning is when our guys were actually able to stand down. Until that time, we’ve been there 24/7.”
“I know there are a lot of guys in harm’s way in Afghanistan and we solute them, but we also want to brag on ourselves and just say that we are professional soldiers,” added Collins. “We’ve got the greatest air defense soldiers in the world and they just did great things.”
Collins said he was particularly proud of the relationships that were fostered while in the nations’ capital; doing their part to improve rapport between some high profile moving parts.
“The relationships that we built over the year were really going to be important for the success of the mission in the future,” said Collins. “It is such a huge team – not just the battalion, not just command and control, not just Air Force – but it is FAA, the FBI, the Secret Service, Fort Belvoir, and Andrews Air Force Base. We just felt like we made a lot of work in developing better relations.”
While the majority of the air defense was in the NCR, some in the unit were tasked with duties specific to the travel plans of the President, specifically securing the air space of his flight paths.
“Whenever the President moved around the country and needed a filling in of a lapse of air coverage, we would fill in that gap, fulfilling the radar coverage that was needed,” said Staff Sgt. Brent Schipper, operator, Minimum Deployment Package, 2-263rd ADA. “We would go ahead of him, set up our radars, get all our information and send it up the Air Force, then as soon as he left we’d break down and come back to D.C.”
Due to the nature of executing these missions, the MDP was able to travel to numerous regions in the United States.
“We went to North Carolina, Arkansas, Indiana, Illinois, North Dakota, and California,” said Schipper. “So I got to travel a little bit, see the country. I finally got to see the West Coast; I hadn’t been over to see that, so that was nice. The Pacific is cold, even in July.”
The short notice of these missions required the team to be ready at a moment’s notice.
“One day you’d be doing some training and they would say, ‘Tomorrow you are flying out, you are going here.’” said Schipper. “So it goes from being really lax and laid back to everybody going and pulling everything together. All our missions went smooth and we all came together.”
One of the perks of working in the nation’s capital is the access to some of America’s best known monuments and museums. The unit supported the exploring sites of the U.S. capitol with professional development days to some of the landmarks.
“Enjoying the National Capital, oh absolutely, we encouraged it,” said Collins. “We had a lot of (Morale, Welfare, and Recreation) events to keep all of us together. We tried to have a lot of events to bring everyone together and encourage everyone to get out and see the sites and learn.”
“A lot of us took up bike riding, when you had time off you could bike just about anywhere you wanted to go, the entire mall and everything,” said Vickery. “I probably liked the Jefferson Memorial most of all.”
Overall, the morale was high, the unit can return home knowing they excelled when called upon.
“The primary mission of Operation Noble Eagle is the defense of the homeland,” said Vickery. “They should be very proud of themselves, I am very proud of the battalion and leadership and staff; everybody did an outstanding job. I couldn’t ask for any more of our Soldiers.”
The unit was honored by the opportunity to be a part of this mission.
“It is a little bittersweet, we are giving up something that we kind of took ownership of,” said Collins. “For a bunch of guys from upstate South Carolina, it’s a pretty big deal for us.”
| Date Taken: | 02.11.2015 |
| Date Posted: | 02.13.2015 14:41 |
| Story ID: | 154489 |
| Location: | FORT BLISS, TEXAS, US |
| Web Views: | 316 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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