[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 78 (Monday, June 7, 2004)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6488-S6489]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
HONORING THE 278TH ARMORED CAVALRY REGIMENT
Mr. ALEXANDER. I rise today to comment on some of those military men
and women that President Reagan felt so strongly about. On Saturday, I
went to Knoxville, TN, for the casing of the colors of the 278th
Armored Cavalry Regiment. Four thousand troops, the largest unit in the
Tennessee National Guard, are being sent to Mississippi for training,
then to California and then, just before Christmas, to Iraq. This was a
large number of men and women from across Tennessee, mostly east
Tennessee. While their command headquarters are in Knoxville, their
squadron headquarters are in Athens, Cookeville, and Kingsport. The
whole community had organized a tremendous day of celebration and
parade to honor these men and women.
Randy Tyree, the former mayor of Knoxville, was the master of
ceremonies. Joe Alexander was the parade chairman. The East Tennessee
Veterans Memorial Association was the event sponsor. It was a bright,
sunny day. It came during a week we had filled with honoring the men
and women in our military. Earlier in the week was Memorial Day and
before that the opening of the World War II memorial. The week ended
with the celebration of the 60th anniversary of D-day, honoring those
military heroes of the past.
But Saturday was not about the past. The men and women we honored in
Knoxville, TN, on Saturday live among us. We know them. We see them in
those communities every day. They are members of the Knox County
Sheriff's Office. They include McMinn County school superintendent John
Fogerty. They are Casey Boring, Tony Loveday, Kevin Fuller, Roger
Lawson, and Randy Cruz all from Blount County, my home county's
sheriff's office. They are our fathers, brothers, sons, sisters, and
daughters. They are not all 24 or 26 or 30 years old either. They are
in their thirties and their forties. Some are in their fifties.
Jim Leinart is an Anderson County deputy who fought in Vietnam and is
a grandfather. He is a part of the 278th and is heading to Iraq, a
month after he was supposed to have retired from the military. He is a
tank mechanic, and he and nearly 4,000 other members of the 278th leave
June 14 for Mississippi for training.
This is what he had to say about it:
Right after I got that alert, I figured out I wasn't going
to be able to retire. I kind of dread it in a way and kind of
look forward to it in a way. It'll be different; an adventure
in another country.
The families there, and the men and women in the 278th, all knew the
truth. They are not going to Iraq and Afghanistan for support
activities. They will be the first National Guard unit from Tennessee
in a long time to be on the front lines, to be combat troops. But there
was not a word of complaint that day, and the men looked forward to
that.
This unit has a fantastic history. The 278th traces its roots to the
American Revolution in what may have been the first early American war
of preemption. A British colonel named Patrick Ferguson on the eastern
side of the Great Smokey Mountains sent word across the mountains to
Tennessee that the mountaineers should lay down their arms or the
British would come across the mountains and arrest them and hang their
leaders.
This angered the mountaineers so they gathered, in October of 1789
near Watauga, TN, near Sycamore Shoals. They marched across the
mountains to
[[Page S6489]]
find this general who sent this warning, killed him, won that battle,
destroyed the left wing of Cornwallis' army and, according to President
Theodore Roosevelt, changed the course of the Revolutionary War. These
militiamen were the early members of the 278th.
At the ceremony on Saturday, MAJ Charles R. Southerland, who is
Adjutant of the 278th ACR, gave a beautiful speech, setting out the
history of the 278th and its significance.
I ask unanimous consent to have the text of Major Southerland's
address, as well as a story from the Knoxville News Sentinel of
Saturday, June 5, about Anderson County Deputy Jim Leinart to be
printed in the Record.
There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in
the Record, as follows:
Address Given on 5 June 2004 by Major Charles R. Southerland, Adjutant
of the 278th ACR, for the Parade in Knoxville, TN
Today the 278th Armored Cavalry Regiment writes another
page in our rich history of military service for Tennessee.
In 1780, Colonel John Sevier called for 100 good men and 200
men answered the challenge. Tennessee has been known as the
Volunteer State ever since. The 278th ACR is the only
enhanced Armored Cavalry Regiment within the National Guard,
and one of only two Armored Cavalry Regiments in the United
States Army.
The history of the 278th Armored Cavalry Regiment began
before the American Revolution when local militia units
formed throughout communities in East Tennessee. These units
were organized to protect the early settlers in Tennessee
from the Creek and Cherokee Indians who often raided
settlements in East Tennessee. Once these militia units were
formed, the Indian raids subsided and life on the Tennessee
frontier settled down.
During the American Revolution, these militia units joined
along the Nolichucky River in East Tennessee under the
command of Colonel John Sevier to form a mounted Militia
Company of east Tennesseans. They formed with other ``Over
the Mountain Men'' and defeated a superior British force
under the command of General Patrick Ferguson in the Battle
of Kings Mountain, North Carolina. The battle, fought on
October 7, 1789, destroyed the left wing of Cornwallis' army
and effectively ended the Loyalist in the Carolinas. The
victory halted the British advance into North Carolina,
forced Lord Cornwallis to retreat from Charlotte into South
Carolina, and gave General Nathaniel Greene the opportunity
to reorganize the American Army.
In 1796, Tennessee became the sixteenth state to join the
union. Colonel John Sevier became the State's first governor.
He organized the State's Militia into three brigades with the
Third Brigade of the Militia in East Tennessee.
During the War of 1812 with Great Britain, Militia units
from East Tennessee marched with General Andrew Jackson and
fought engagements at Pensacola, Florida and defeated a
superior English force on 8 January 1815 in New Orleans.
In 1846, a call went out for 2,800 Volunteers from the
State of Tennessee to take part in the War with Mexico,
38,000 Tennesseans answered the call, sealing the Tennessee
Militia the ever-lasting nickname of ``Volunteer.'' From that
heritage, the 278th Armored Cavalry Regiment's motto ``I
Volunteer Sir'' was derived.
The Third Brigade of the Tennessee Militia was absorbed
into the National Guard of the United States on March 25,
1887 as the Third Tennessee Infantry Regiment with
Headquarters in Knoxville, TN.
On 29 April 1977, the 278th Infantry Brigade was
reorganized and re-designated the 278th Armored Calvary
Regiment. Colonel Russell A. Newman was appointed as the 1st
Colonel of the Regiment.
Today we will embark on yet another journey to answer our
nations call to protect the freedom and quality of life for
our families, communities and the citizens of our great
nation. The Casing of the Regimental Colors today symbolizes
the end of our current mission in the State of Tennessee. The
colors represent the soldiers, past and present, which
comprise the Regiment and are the physical symbols of its
spirit, tradition and lineage. The act of casing the colors
is symbolic of the Regiment's upcoming journey and expresses
our rich heritage and the heroism of our forefathers. The
Regimental Colors will be uncased again when the Regiment
arrives at our new location as we begin our next mission.
This tradition carries on our wiliness to preserve the rights
and privileges of our great nation and our resolve against
terrorism. Today is one step in our journey to a foreign land
with our Regimental Colors encased during this transition and
will be soon unfurled to fly freely in our new location with
the gesture of freedom and the future for that area. The
pride and love we have for our families and the state of
Tennessee will go with us as we take this journey and we will
return with a richer and more affluent value for these people
and places in our hearts. We look forward to the part of the
journey that will return us back here to Knoxville and the
uncasing of our Regimental Colors with the knowledge that we
made a difference.
The Regimental Command Sergeant Major, who is in charge of
the Colors, will case the Colors on command from the
Regiment's 8th Commander, Colonel Dennis J. Adams.
____
[From the News Sentinel, June 5, 2004]
Anderson Deputy's Plans for Retirement Put on Back Burner
(By Bob Fowler)
Clinton.--An Anderson County deputy who fought in Vietnam
and is a grandfather is heading to Iraq--a month after he was
supposed to have retired from the military.
Shift Supervisor Jim Leinart is one of five Anderson County
Sheriff's Department officers--three of them in leadership
positions--who will begin an 18-month deployment June 14.
Their departures create a huge void in the already short-
staffed sheriff's department that will likely delay responses
to non-emergency calls, Chief Deputy Lewis Ridenour said.
``Some calls may have to be prioritized,'' he said. ``It
may also take away from proactive law enforcement.''
As for Leinart's upcoming duty in Iraq, ``I'm sure that's
the last thing he was expecting, to be re-commissioned to a
war 30 years after serving his country in Vietnam,'' Ridenour
said.
Leinart is a 54-year-old resident of the tiny, remote
Briceville community, tucked into the mountains of Anderson
County near Lake City.
He has four children and eight grandchildren and is a
member of Troop B of the National Guard's 278th National
Armored Cavalry Regiment.
A tank mechanic, he and nearly 4,000 other members of the
278th will leave June 14 for Camp Shelby in Mississippi for
training. They'll be on the way to Iraq in the fall.
For Leinart, his upcoming tour of duty is tinged with
irony: He was supposed to have retired May 16 from the
National Guard.
But that retirement was put on hold in March when he was
placed on ``stop-loss,'' the military's term for stopping a
soldier from leaving the military during an operation.
``Right after I got that alert, I figured out I wasn't
going to be able to retire,'' said Leinart, a burly man with
a quick wit, ready laugh and a neatly trimmed moustache
fading to gray.
``I kind of dread it in a way and kind of look forward to
it in a way,'' Leinart said. ``It'll be different; an
adventure in another country.''
He said he and his wife, Joyce, a dispatcher with the
county's 911 emergency communications center, are preparing
for his departure.
``I'm getting all the stuff done around the house that
needs to be done,'' he said.
His wife, their children and grandchildren ``are accepting
it, but they don't like it,'' Leinart said of his marching
orders.
Leinart joined the army when he was 17 and was shipped out
to Vietnam shortly after his 18th birthday. He said he was
stationed next to Saigon in 1967-68 and was involved in the
Tet Offensive, when the Vietcong staged simultaneous attacks
on major South Vietnam cities in January 1968.
It was a time, he said, ``when there was a lot of
confusion'' and when he was ``shot at a few times.''
After Vietnam, Leinart joined the Army Reserves in 1981 and
transferred to the National Guard's 278th in 1988.
Ridenour said Leinart has been a shift supervisor in the
sheriff's department for more than a year. ``It was apparent
he was someone we wanted in a leadership role,'' Ridenour
said. ``He's just the type of person who has that ability.''
Other shift supervisors who are headed to Iraq include Sgt.
Chucky Beach and Sgt. David Davis. Deputies, Steve Alcorn and
Daniel McFee are also on their way to Iraq.
Ridenour said even with the assignment changes made to fill
in while the five men are in Iraq, the sheriff's department
``will still be short three people on a full-time basis.''
A school drug awareness program may be put on hold next
year so the officer assigned to that job can go on patrol,
Ridenour said.
Two drug enforcement officers have been placed on patrol,
and a training officer will become a road deputy three days a
week, he said.
``It's going to be a very big problem for us, but these
guys are making a bigger sacrifice than we are,'' Ridenour
said of the five National Guardsmen.
Mr. ALEXANDER. The men and women of the 278th are going across the
ocean to fight for us so we can live safely at home. They are doing
that the same way militiamen in Tennessee did more than 200 years ago,
men who went across the mountains to fight for the settlers so they
could live safely in the pioneer villages. What I said to them on
Saturday in Knoxville I would like to say to them and to their families
again today:
We are proud of you. We support you. We will pray for your safety,
and we are grateful that you are going across the ocean to fight so we
can be safe at home.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Thomas). The Senator from Mississippi.
____________________