[1 of 15]

BAD WEATHER MEMORIES: NORTH COUNTRY ICE STORM 98

Seeing all these snow and winter storm warning tweets reminded us of an event from the recent past of the XVIII Airborne Corps.
[2 of 15]

23 years ago (January, 1998), a massive ice storm shut down Fort Drum and the surrounding community for weeks, closing roads and cutting power to Watertown, NY.
[3 of 15]

Heavy ice accumulated quickly, pulling down trees and causing property damage.

Fort Drum turned to backup generators to continue operating.
[4 of 15]

The government instituted a curfew; no one was supposed to leave the house unless authorized (this guy did anyway).
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Those who did venture out were not going to get far; downed trees blocked most of the roads.
[6 of 15]

Our 10th Mountain Division halted training and focused on support to the local community, building shelters in on-post gyms and conference rooms.
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Staff duty and CQ NCOs became emergency coordinators, organizing for medical support and answering calls from residents while monitoring these ad hoc shelters.
[8 of 15]

Our 10th Mountain troops put down their rifles and picked up axes, moving out into Watertown and Potsdam to chop down trees.
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Once chopped down, fallen trees were loaded onto trucks.....
[10 of 15]

....and dropped off at central sites in Watertown, such as the Church of God, where residents cut them down further for clearance and removal.
[11 of 15]

Watertown had no power, no heat. People who could not leave their homes were in danger of freezing.

10th Mountain Division units like 1-87 Infantry sent teams out into the community to provide power generation and mobile kitchens.
[12 of 15]

Lawson Magruder III was the 10th Mountain Division commander back then. He gave daily press briefings, informing the local community of the operations.
[13 of 15]

We spoke this morning with Jody Marsh, a Watertown resident who remembers the 1998 ice storm. "We had a little warning, but it was about rain and sleet. That happens all the time here, so we didn't think it was that big a deal."

This is a pic from her house, Jan 1998
[END]

Ice Storm 98 was a short-duration crisis for North Country. It was also a moment in which the 10th Mountain Division rushed forward to support its local community.

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More from @18airbornecorps

1 Feb
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Let's start #BlackHistoryMonth with the story of William Carney.

While some 3,500 Americans have earned the Medal of Honor, only 90 are black. Of those 90, William was the first. Image
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Born a slave, William was part of Union charge on Fort Wagner during the Civil War in July, 1863, with the 54th Massachusetts Colored Infantry Regiment [depicted in the 1989 Denzel Washington film "Glory."]. Image
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During that siege, William saw the regimental color guard fall, hit by a Confederate bullet. William scrambled to catch the falling flag.

Wounded several times, William refused to let the regimental colors (the American flag) touch the ground or fall into enemy hands. Image
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31 Jan
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A TURNING POINT IN VIETNAM

53 years ago today (January 31, 1968) North Vietnamese forces launched a shocking series of attacks on more than 100 South Vietnamese cities and outposts that would change the way Americans think about the war in Vietnam.
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The attacks did not being all at once at this moment; some were already in motion due to an oversight: North Vietnamese forces used two different calendars, one lunar, one solar, and this was never resolved, desynchronizing the assault.
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In addition, a series of diversionary attacks were underway.

[These are South Vietnamese troops during Tet in this pic]
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29 Jan
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#TDIDCH: Wednesday, January 29, 1964 - 57 years ago this morning, the 18th Airborne HQ was alerted for possible action.

Confusion, human error, and tragedy combined to lead to an international incident that heightened tensions between the world's two great powers.
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The day prior, Tuesday, January 28, 1964, US Air Force pilots flying an unarmed T-38 Sabreliner aircraft on a training mission over West Germany from Wiesbaden became disoriented by a large storm. Compounded the problem, the jet's radios malfunctioned.
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Unable to communicate with ground control, the crew veered almost 100 miles off course and ended up over East Germany, airspace controlled by the Soviet Union.
Read 8 tweets
26 Jan
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76 years ago today, A Dog Face Soldier became a legend.

2nd Lt Audie Murphy, alone and unafraid, armed with only the courage of a lion and a machine gun fired from a burning tank destroyer, repels a massive German attack.

[pic= Audie recreating the battle for a film]
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By this time in the war, January 26, 1945, Audie had demonstrated his courage in the European Theater MANY times.

Seemingly immune to fear, he is a born leader. He'd already earned a battlefield commission, Distinguished Service Cross, and multiple Bronze Stars.
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In gunfight after gunfight after gunfight, he'd fought like a dog: repelling German attacks, capturing Italian Soldiers, leading troops out of ambushes, receiving combat wounds.
Read 13 tweets
23 Jan
Some of y'all are so focused on our history that you didn't know we have a Signal Battalion (the 51st ESB) in Washington State, supporting the Pacific while keeping America's Contingency Corps globally-connected and on the knife's edge of mission command & comms tech.

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Another thing you probably overlooked while obsessing on our history: we've got more than 40 boats and a ton of off-shore capability in our 7th Transportation Brigade (Expeditionary) in Virginia.
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In fact, for a land force, we have a lot going on in the water.

We also have divers...some of the best, most experienced people operating in deep sea anywhere in the world.

They build, blow up, and fix things underwater, clearing waterways for our contingency forces.
Read 8 tweets
18 Jan
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On this #MLKDay, we pay homage to the original Black Panthers, the 761st Tank Battalion who liberated more than 30 towns and villages during WWII.
[2 of 7]

Formed in April of 1942 at Camp Claiborne, Louisiana, the 761st was among a number of all-black units with white leaders formed within a segregated US military.

With 593 black enlisted men & 36 black officers but white company CDRs the 761st was designated for Europe
[3 of 7]

The 761st, a separate battalion of M4 Sherman medium tanks, trained hard in Louisiana, despite facing segregation and racism both on post and off.

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