Courtesy Photo | This is a news clipping from the Nov. 25, 1944, edition of The Real McCoy newspaper at...... read more read more
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Fort McCoy, Wis., was established in 1909. Here is a look back at some installation history from November 2024 and back.
80 Years Ago — November 1944
FROM THE NOV. 4, 1944, EDITION OF THE REAL MCCOY NEWSPAPER: Louis Karrib, Ex-4-F turned war hear, receives Silver Star in McCoy ceremony — A storybook finish to somewhat Frank Merriwell military career was climaxed Monday afternoon with the presentation of the Silver Star medal to Louis J. Karrib of La Crosse by Col. George M. MacMullin, Camp McCoy commander.
From 4-F to war hero, that’s Karrib’s intriguing story.
Karrib earned the medal for bravery in action during fighting at Anzio Beachhead with the 5th Army. He was a member of the 84th Chemical Battalion, an oft-cited unit.
Early in 1942, Karrib was turned down for service because of a physical defect, but so anxious he was to serve that submitted to an operation and was accepted when he enlisted in September 1942.
Following training at Camp Rucker, Ala., he went overseas in April 1943 and saw action in the north African campaign, the Sicilian expedition, and finally at Anzio. It was at Anzio that he was seriously wounded.
Shrapnel and bayonet wounds knocked Karrib out of action at Anzio and for a time he hovered between life and death. He was evacuated to a general hospital in the states and discharged June 28.
The medal presentation was made at a formal retreat formation of the Headquarters and Service section of 1620 Service Unit at 5 p.m. Monday. Karrib was accompanied by his wife, Harriet, his father, Charles, 70, and his sister, Kay, a former McCoy employee.
FROM THE NOV. 11, 1944, EDITION OF THE REAL MCCOY NEWSPAPER: Bombardier vet visits brother; calls McCoy ‘one of best’ — A bombardier veteran of 29 missions over Europe, 1st Lt. Fred Muente, brother of Sgt. Charles Muente, 1620 Headquarters and Service Company, chief enlisted man at the camp post office, visited the post Tuesday.
Still another Muente brother is in the Army, an air force ground crew member. With the 8th Air Force, Lt. Muente was bombardier with both B-14s and B-17s. He wears the Air Medal with three oak leaf clusters and two battle stars, one for before the European invasion, the other for after D-Day.
His most thrilling recollections were two bombing missions on D-Day. “We were at 14,000 feet,” he said. “But through holes in the clouds we could see what looked like millions of ships everywhere — the invasion fleet.”
Of Camp McCoy, he said: “Camp McCoy is one of the best looking camps I’ve seen.”
FROM THE NOV. 18, 1944, EDITION OF THE REAL MCCOY NEWSPAPER: ‘They’re in the fight with us; praise for civilian workers — Work considered as important — if not more so — than that in many of the nation’s war plants is being turned out by nearly 800 civilian employees of the Camp McCoy Ordnance Service Command shop at La Crosse, Wis.
Col. George M. MacMullin, post commander, asserted this week in issuing new appeal for workers to take full- or part-time jobs in the shop. Col. MacMullin pointed out the La Crosse shop has ranked “tops” in the Sixth Service Command and the nation and recently went into full operation on repair of armored vehicles, mostly half-tracks, to returned to service with combat units overseas.
He stated: “Our civilian workers are in the fight with us. They are equally important as the men and women wearing the uniforms. Recently Lt. Gen. Somervell, commanding general of the Army Service Forces, stated he saw the products of the labor and skill at McCoy and its shops on a tour of France and Italy. He added we have every right to be proud of these accomplishments.”
40 Years Ago — November 1984
FROM THE NOV. 1, 1984, EDITION OF THE TRIAD NEWSPAPER: Engineers finish air assault strip (By Crystal Laureano) — Fort McCoy’s new air assault strip was officially opened and dedicated Friday at an afternoon ceremony on the site.
The strip was named Young Field, in memory of Pfc. Raphael G. Young, 19, of the 618th Engineer Company, 360th Engineer Battalion, 82nd Airborne Division. Young died Sept. 14 at Fort A.P. Hill, Va., while training on heavy equipment in preparation for the unit’s construction mission at Fort McCoy. He was a native of Beaumont, Texas.
Almost 150 members of the unit assembled at the air strip. Lt. Col. Lawrence Izzo, 360th Battalion commander, and Fort McCoy Commander Col. Bill Sorenson praised the Soldiers of the 618th. Sorenson commended the unit for outstanding workmanship, accomplished in spite of many days of cold and rainy weather.
Then Sorenson and Capt. William N. Prokopyck, 618th company commander, cut the ribbon, officially opening Young Field.
A C-130 landing had been planned, but because of rain the previous day, officials decided not to risk damaging the new strip. The plane flew over the air strip three times at low altitude, and members of the 618th and other onlookers cheered.
All airstrip construction was completed by last Wednesday, said Prokopyk, even though heavy rain delayed work and caused much of the surface to become soft.
“We had 50 percent of the shale and gravel on the runway,” he said. “The rain turned it into mush, so it all had to be recompacted.”
Since weather improved the last weekend the company was working. They began a 24-hour schedule of construction to make up for any lost time.
FROM THE NOV. 15, 1984, EDITION OF THE TRIAD NEWSPAPER: Army, Air Force train here — Air Force F-16s and F-11ls staging missile attacks on Army infantry and armor units highlighted a three-week training exercise which ended today at Fort McCoy.
The exercise was held to test the maverick missile. Capt. James G. Rose, commander of Company D, 5th Battalion, 16th Infantry, Fort Riley, Kan., said his company, with the support of Company A, 1/34th Armor Battalion, also from Fort Riley, acted as targets for Air Force
Research and Development personnel from Eglin Air Force Base, Fla.
The exercise began Oct. 25. While the Fort Riley soldiers were conducting convoys, road marches and battle formations, the Air Force ran simulated maverick missile launches.
During the seven days of joint training, Air Force personnel tested and evaluated the maverick missile. Their mission, said Rose, was to test missile target acquisition under circumstances different than what they were familiar with in Florida.
Since the joint exercise was brief, Rose said his troops used their time to conduct range gunnery and maneuver training.
“We’re using this exercise to get up our level of training to help us operate more efficiently," he said. Company Dis part of the Army’s new Cohesive Operational Readiness Training (COHORT) Program started in 1982. COHORT companies are formed from a cadre of leaders and a group of Soldiers who have just completed basic training and advanced individual training.
“The company stays together for a three-year period, as opposed to a normal unit that has a turnover rate of about 12 to 15 percent a year,” Rose explained.
Even though the unit has only been together since Oct. 17, Rose feels that, “We have a leg up on other units is esprit de corps and morale because we'll be together so long.”
Commenting on his company's training at Fort McCoy, Rose said, “The training
was super for us. We’ve got some good Soldiers and good leaders. Here we had
more time for training because we don’t have the administrative requirements we
would normally have at our home station.”
30 Years Ago — November 1994
FROM THE NOV. 18, 1994, EDITION OF THE TRIAD NEWSPAPER: Post wins Federal Energy Management Award (By Rob Schuette) — Energy-conservation programs at Fort
McCoy have earned the post a second prestigious Federal Energy Management Award.
John Ryder, chief of the Utilities Division of the post’s Directorate of Engineering, and Installation Commander Col. Harold K. Miller Jr., accepted a plaque at the Federal Energy and/or Water Management Awards Ceremony in October in Washington, D.C. The event was held to highlight October as Energy Awareness Month. Fort McCoy previously was honored for its Energy Conservation Program in 1987.
Only 110 of the awards were given to U.S. federal agencies throughout the world.
“It was quite an honor to receive the award from Hazel O'Leary, the secretary of the Department of Energy,” Ryder said. “Of the 13 awards given to military agencies, the Army received 11
of them, including the one we received.”
The federal government is the nation’s largest energy consumer, using nearly 2.1 percent of all energy consumed in the country, according to the Environmental and Energy Study Institute.
In fiscal year 1992, for example, the federal government spent nearly $8.6 billion on energy, including $3.65 billion for energy services for its 500,000 buildings and facilities.
One of the major selling points of Fort McCoy’s fiscal year 1993 efforts was the “Core Concept Plan,” which assigned only energy-efficient buildings with gas-heating plants to units undergoing
winter training. This eliminated the need to activate/deactivate facilities with other heating sources, which are scattered throughout the post, Ryder said.
Other fiscal year 1993 highlights were the Rideshare Program and Driver Energy Conservation Awareness training, selection as a soy/diesel fuel test site, hosting a Department of the Army Energy Awareness Seminar and conducting workshops to train more than 250 building energy monitors.
Through the combination of sound energy management programs and unique approaches to energy conservation, Fort McCoy achieved a 24 percent reduction in facility energy per
gross square foot compared to the base year of fiscal year 1985. In addition, the installation reported a 34 percent reduction in mobility energy in the same time frame, according to the post's
submission.
20 Years Ago — November 2004
FROM THE NOV. 12, 2004, EDITION OF THE TRIAD NEWSPAPER: Ten-Miler team finishes 3rd in Reserve category — The four-member Fort McCoy Army Ten-Miler team finished third in the Army Reserve category as a team at the Army Ten-Miler competition Oct. 24 at the Pentagon.
The team was paced by Spc. Jason Kirch who finished 189th overall and Capt. William Nelson who finished 266th overall. Kirch of the 724th Engineer Battalion of the Wisconsin Army National Guard had the fastest time of the Fort McCoy contingent, just missing breaking the 60-minute barrier with a time of 1 hour, 18 seconds (1:00:18). Nelson of the 2nd Brigade, 85th Division (Training Support) finished close behind in a time of 1:02:31.
The team was rounded out with two members of the 84th Army Reserve Readiness Training Command (Provisional). Maj. Michael Trombley posted a time of 1:07:55 to place 1,346th, while Staff Sgt. Avery Clementin finished in a time of 1:11:15 to place 1,478th.
Kirch and Clementin ran within one minute, 20 seconds of their qualifying times at Fort McCoy.
Nelson bettered his Fort McCoy time by almost 30 seconds, and Trombley registered a time more than five minutes faster than his qualifying time.
Nelson, the Fort McCoy team captain, said the McCoy team competed well. “It was a great day for racing — cool, drizzle and not much wind,” he said. “I think we all did as well as we
expected we would.”
More than 16,000 runners competed at the event, with more than 13,000 runners finishing.
Fort McCoy’s time of 4:21:59 placed it 56th out of the 561 teams. The overall team winner was the Fort Carson, Colo., Men’s A Team with a time of 3:27:42. Fort McCoy finished third in the Army Reserve category.
The Blue Devil Men 2004 (21st overall) won the division in a time of 4:02:19, with the Gitmo1 #1031 (44th overall) finishing second with a time of 4:17:12. The overall male winner was Dan
Browne, with a time of 47:29, which was a meet record. Casey Smith was the overall female winner with a time of 57:26.
10 Years Ago — November 2014
FROM THE NOV. 14, 2014, EDITION OF THE REAL MCCOY NEWSPAPER: Collaborative effort improves fish habitat on Fort McCoy (By Scott T. Sturkol) — Combined efforts of federal, state and local agencies have improved stream conditions and fish habitat on Fort McCoy.
In 2013, work was completed on several barrier removal and stream improvement projects
along Ash Run and Tarr Creek in the Fort McCoy cantonment area, said Fort McCoy Fisheries Biologist John Noble of the Directorate of Public Works Natural Resources Branch (NRB). This year, work has been done along Squaw Creek near Pine View Campground and along Stillwell Creek on South Post.
All the stream habitat work is done through cooperation between the NRB, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), and Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (WDNR).
“We also partnered with the Habelman Brothers Cranberry Marsh and relied on several
other federal and local agencies in the project planning and development phases,” Noble said.
Stream biological monitoring, otherwise known as “biomonitoring,” has been used to help determine where work needs to be done, Noble said. Biomonitoring, defined as the use of a
biological community to provide information on the quality or health of an ecosystem, can
be used to assess the water quality in streams, lakes, ponds, reservoirs, estuaries and oceans.
Macroinvertebrates, fish and algae are all widely used in biomonitoring.
“We’ve been conducting biomonitoring assessments using the fish community as an indicator
of water quality since the mid-1990s on many of our streams,” Noble said. “For example, in the biomonitoring process along Stillwell Creek where stream habitat work has been done, we found there were very few fish and typically no trout.”
Biomonitoring analysis at Stillwell found only minimal fish numbers that included warm-water species, and tolerant species, such as the Central Mudminnow, Noble said. Fish habitat was limited otherwise because of inconsistent water flows as well as from sedimentation primarily due to stream bank erosion.
The Stillwell Creek section and Squaw Creek below the Squaw Lake dam previously was placed on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) 303rd Impaired Waters list in 2002. This listing helped build a cooperative of agencies at different levels.
“The EPA helped us develop plans to make improvements to the dam at Squaw Lake and Stillwell Creek,” Noble said. “In this process we developed a good working relationship and an
opportunity to make water resource improvements with the Habelmans. Without their proactive eff orts to improve water quality and improved water discharged to Stillwell Creek, our confidence to proceed with this stream restoration may not have been realized.”
Noble added smaller-scaled stream improvements using brush bundles were completed in Stillwell Creek in the past — primarily with Colorado State University staff, members of the Fox Valley Chapter of Trout Unlimited, and students from Black River Falls High School.
“The earlier projects from 2006, 2008, and 2011 improved instream cover and stream depth to the point where we found intolerant (to warm water), coldwater species sufficient for us to move forward with this larger-scaled stream habitat project with the FWS and WDNR,” Noble said. “Consequently, with assistance in water management from Habelmans and the culmination of stream habitat work, we are expecting the distribution of coldwater species like brook and brown trout to be extended.”
5 Years Ago — November 2019
FROM THE NOV. 8, 2019, EDITION OF THE REAL MCCOY NEWSPAPER: Fort McCoy DPTMS hosts Homeland Security Exercise, Evaluation Program training course (By Scott T. Sturkol) — The Directorate of Plans, Training, Mobilization and Security (DPTMS), along with partners from Wisconsin Emergency Management, hosted the first Homeland Security Exercise and Evaluation Program (HSEEP) training course Oct. 15-17 at Fort McCoy in building 905.
During the three-day course, 20 students learned about HSEEP fundamentals, exercise program management, exercise design and development, exercise conduct, and exercise evaluation. The class culminated with a student-designed table-top exercise that allowed the students to demonstrate what they learned.
The purpose of this course was to provide training to people who are involved in the planning of the installation’s annual full-scale exercise, Vigilant Triad, on the core principles of HSEEP, its standardized methodology, and the resources available that are designed to assist in developing and maintaining an exercise program, said Emergency Management Specialist Timothy Werstein with DPTMS.
The HSEEP provides a set of guiding principles for exercise programs, as well as a common approach to exercise program management, design and development, conduct, evaluation, and improvement planning, Werstein said. Through the HSEEP Program, priorities aligned with core capability requirements are identified by stakeholder organizations and continually re-evaluated as part of an iterative preparedness planning process. These priorities guide the overall direction of a progressive exercise program, in which individual exercises are designed and developed that increase in complexity over time.
According to HSEEP objectives, exercise evaluation assesses the ability to meet objectives and capabilities by documenting strengths, areas for improvement, and core capability performance, and by monitoring corrective actions and outcomes through rolling summary reports and after-action report/improvement plans. These processes allow organizations to implement and monitor corrective actions that build and sustain capabilities, and maintain readiness.
Following completion of the course, all students were required to pass a final exam before being awarded their certificates of completion from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Plans and Operations Assistant Melissa Dubois with DPTMS, a student in the course, said the training gave her a very comprehensive understanding of the HSEEP cycle.
“As a member of the DPTMS Plans and Operations Section, I assist with planning and facilitating the Vigilant Triad exercise,” Dubois said. “This course taught us valuable content, and I enjoyed participating in the table-top exercises that we, the students, designed and facilitated. Each group was given the opportunity to participate in each other’s exercise as both the role of participant and evaluator. Garrison workforce members who attended, I believe, will excel in the next Vigilant Triad exercise.”
For Jaime Herrera, a program manager with Army Community Service of the Directorate of Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation (DFMWR), the training gave him an opportunity to see what he referred to as the “tactical side” of emergency management.
“Being responsible for the installation’s Emergency Family Assistance Center and shelter, I think it is essential to see how organizations, such as the Directorate of Emergency Services, react to and develop solutions to varying problems,” Herrera said.
“Also, it was good to learn how that flow of information from responders through the Emergency Operations Center, then ultimately the commander and back down the chain of command is processed. With this newly acquired knowledge, I can better predict DFMWR’s need to set in motion our resources and capabilities. In emergency situations, time is always against you, so any knowledge I can gain to help my team bridge the gap between incident and response is gold to me.”
DPTMS Plans Operations and Security Division Chief David Cochran also attended the training.
“This course gave Fort McCoy the unique opportunity to provide training to all our Emergency Operations Center action officers and others interested in gaining experience in the development, execution, and evaluation of an exercise,” Cochran said. “Even if you have exercise experience, there is value in attending this training. This course specifically provides attendees firsthand experience in the current methodology of executing exercises from tabletop to full scale.”
Fort McCoy’s motto is to be the “Total Force Training Center.”
Located in the heart of the upper Midwest, Fort McCoy is the only U.S. Army installation in Wisconsin.
The installation has provided support and facilities for the field and classroom training of more than 100,000 military personnel from all services nearly every year since 1984.
Learn more about Fort McCoy online at https://home.army.mil/mccoy, on Facebook by searching “ftmccoy,” on Flickr at https://www.flickr.com/photos/fortmccoywi, and on X (formerly Twitter) by searching “usagmccoy.”
Also try downloading the My Army Post app to your smartphone and set “Fort McCoy” or another installation as your preferred base. Fort McCoy is also part of Army’s Installation Management Command where “We Are The Army’s Home.”
| Date Taken: | 11.19.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 11.19.2024 18:16 |
| Story ID: | 485706 |
| Location: | FORT MCCOY, WISCONSIN, US |
| Web Views: | 13 |
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