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About This Website
This
website is dedicated to all those who served in the 9th Infantry
Regimental Combat Team (Light) from October 1985 to August 1995,
either at Fort Ord, CA or Fort Lewis, WA. This includes
all of those Light Fighters from our slice units (the 13th
Engineers, 2/8 Field Artillery, etc).
Choosing to focus
on that short span of only 10 years of the more that 200 years since the
regiment was first organized, is intended in no way to minimize the
achievements of all those Manchus who came before or since.
Manchus have
fought in every war our country has fought. We fought in the War
of 1812 where the 9th participated in engagements at York, Fort George,
Sacketts Harbor, Chrystler's Field, Fort Erie and the Chippewa River.
In the Mexican War we saw action in the Valley of Mexico and at the
bloody battle of Chapultepec. In the Civil War we earned battle
honors for Murfreesboro, Chickamauga, Chattanooga, Mississippi,
Tennessee, Kentucky, Georgia and Atlanta. In the Indian Wars we
won battle streamers for Wyoming and the Little Big Horn campaigns.
In the Spanish-American War we crossed the San Juan River at the "Bloody
Angle" and participated in the seizure of San Juan Hill. In the
Philippine Insurrection Manchus fought in the jungles of Luzon Island.
During the Boxer Rebellion in China, our regiment lay siege to the
walled city of Tientsin, earned its motto "Keep up the Fire!" and became
known as "Manchus". During World War I we were awarded battle
streamers for Aisne, Meuse-Argonne, Lorraine, Ile de France, St. Mihiel
and Aisne-Mame campaigns, and in 1918, were awarded the French
Fourragere for gallantry during the Meuse-Argonne offensive.
During World War II we landed at Ohama Beach and fought key engagements
during the Battle of the Bulge. In the Korean War Manchus
participated in the breakout from the Pusan perimeter and fought at Pork
Chop Hill. During the Vietnam War our colors were carried by 4-9
who added 12 campaign streamers and received two Presidential Citations.
In Vietnam three Manchus received Medals of Honor posthumously.
While the
exploits of the Manchus and the rest of the 7th Infantry Division
(Light) from 1985 to 1995 were not as historic as those of our
predecessors, and may seem pale compared to the high level of activity
our forces see today, it is important to keep things in perspective.
These were the
Reagan years and the years of Bush Senior. These were years when
the US was beginning to reassert itself as a world power following our
withdrawal after the Left and the media lost us the Vietnam War, the
impeachment of Richard Nixon, three years of Gerald Ford mired in
indecisiveness, and the disastrous years of the Carter presidency.
President
Reagan had a very different view of America's place in the world than
Carter. His was a policy of "peace through strength". During
his two terms in office President Regan increased defense spending 35%.
In dramatic meetings with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, he negotiated
a treaty that would eliminate intermediate-range nuclear missiles.
Reagan declared war against international terrorism decades before
President Bush Jr.
He sent
American bombers against Libya after evidence came out that Libya was
involved in an attack on American soldiers in a West Berlin nightclub.
On October
25th, 1983 Regan ordered US forces to invade Grenada in OPERATION URGENT
FURY to deter a Soviet-Cuban military buildup there.
By ordering
naval escorts in the Persian Gulf, he maintained the free flow of oil
during the Iran-Iraq war. In keeping with the Reagan Doctrine, he gave
support to anti-Communist insurgencies in Central America, Asia, and
Africa.
Between 1981
and 1989 President Reagan used US forces overtly on no less than 15
occasions; El Salvador, Libya, Sinai, Lebanon, Egypt, Honduras, Chad,
Grenada, the Persian Gulf, Italy, Bolivia and four times against Libya.
By contrast,
President Carter's only significant use of US forces was the botched
attempt to rescue American hostages held in Iran in April of 1980.
It's a good thing that the Iranians let our hostages go just as Ronald
Reagan took office or it they would have been his first target!
President Bush
Sr. took office and immediately executed OPERATION JUST CAUSE, the
invasion of Panama. During his presidency George Bush Sr. used US
forces overtly on 15 occasions in just 4 years; Panama, Colombia,
Bolivia, Peru, the Philippines, Liberia, Saudi Arabia, Iraq (three
times), Zaire, Sierra Leone, Kuwait and Somalia.
While President
Bush's successor - President Bill Clinton - with 8 years in office from
1993 to 2001, did manage 19 military actions during his 8 years in
office (Bosnia/Yugoslavia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Haiti, Rwanda, Liberia,
Central African Republic, Albania, Congo/Gabon, Sierra Leone (twice),
Cambodia, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya/Tanzania, Afghanistan, Sudan, Liberia,
East Timor and Yemen), this was certainly offset by his pull-outs from
Somalia and Libya in the face of the growing, clear and present danger
posed by international terrorism.
These years
were also punctuated by the first of many terrorist attacks leading up
to 9-11; the bombing of the US Embassy in Beirut, April 18, 1983; the
bombing of Marine Barracks, Beirut, October 23, 1983; the kidnapping of
Embassy Official, March 16, 1984; the restaurant Bombing in Spain, April
12, 1984; the Berlin Discoteque Bombing, April 5, 1986; the kidnapping
of William Higgins, February 17, 1988; the attack on the Naples USO,
April 14, 1988; the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103, December 21, 1988; the
World Trade Center Bombing, February 26, 1993; and the attempted
assassination of President Bush by Iraqi Agents, April 14, 1993.
So it was
during these years that the Manchu Light Fighters came to be. At a
time when we were getting our legs back under us; when the US was
cautiously watching the fall of the USSR and the rise of international
terrorism; with socialism, fascism and narco-terrorism taking root in
South America.
Between 1985
and 1995 the regiment was part of a great experiment. It was a
time of uncertainty. No one knew which way things would go; light,
heavy or something in-between. The collapse of the 9th Infantry
Division and its innovative but ill-received "motorized" concept was a
recent bad taste in the mouths of many at the Pentagon. One thing
was certain - some
kind of reorganization to a more responsive and more deployable Army was
required. The importance of special operations forces was clearly
understood. What was less understood was what sort of force should
follow on and back up these elite troops. The 7th Infantry
Division was the first division to be designated "Light" by the US Army,
and along with them the Manchus. The linage, honors and
traditions of the 9th Infantry Regiment provided a solid structure on
which to build this new type of unit.
During its
"Light" years the regiment participated in deployments to the Sinai as
part of the Multinational Force and Observers, to Honduras during
OPERATION GOLDEN PHEASENT, to Panama during OPERATION JUST CAUSE and
OPERATION PROMOTE LIBERTY, to Los Angeles in 1992 to support local law
enforcement when riots there set the city ablaze, and to Cuba during
OPERATION SEA SIGNAL as part of Joint Task Force Safe Haven.
We had no
vehicles to speak of, in order to reduce the number of C-130s it took to
deploy the regiment. That meant that we walked everywhere,
carrying EVERYTHING! "Too light to fight... too heavy to run"
was our unofficial motto. To keep us fit for this we marched
countless 25-mile roadmarches... even 100-mile roadmarches, up and over
places like "Site Alpha" on Hunter Liggett!
We concentrated
on developing the best rifle squads in the US Army. To that end
all of our operations began with infiltrations by squads, sometimes
lasting days. The Rifle Squad Leader was our real strength.
We were part of
the Rapid Deployment Force, and rotated our turn on the ramp with the
likes of the 82nd Airborne Division. Our fellow Manchus regularly
rotated in and out of the Rangers, Special Forces and even Delta.
We had a percentage of Ranger qualified NCOs and officers second only to
the Ranger Regiment itself.
Those who were
Manchus during those years were volunteers. The draft had been
over for more than 10 years. We all volunteered to join the Army -
and not for the money! In those days a Staff Sergeant with a wife
and two children was eligible for food stamps!
It was a time
when it had become good to be a soldier once again. People bought
us drinks downtown and smiled and waved when we walked down the streets.
Our country was on the way up again. It was good to be in the
Army. And there were few places better to be than Fort Ord, in the
9th Infantry Regiment, in the 7th Infantry Division.
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