Iowa Guard troops serve commendably in post-9/11 combat

The Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States instantly changed the lives of all Americans, but none more so perhaps than the nation's military personnel and especially those of the National Guard.

“It's no longer your father's National Guard. We suddenly went from a strategic reserve to an operational force,” said Maj. Gen. Tim Orr, adjutant general of the Iowa National Guard.

“Weekend warriors have become a professional fighting force,” he said.

The implications of that paradigm shift have ranged from better training and equipment to an enhanced reputation and image for Guard personnel, say Orr and other Guard members.

Above all else, however, it has meant more combat and more separation from loved ones for Guard troops. In the decade preceding 9/11, most Iowa Guard troops had never been deployed and had never been in harm's way, Orr said.

In the decade since, more than 14,000 Iowa Guard soldiers and airmen have served in combat zones, many of them more than once. Of the more than 80 Iowans killed in combat during the concurrent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, nearly a third have had Iowa Guard connections.

Col. Ben Corell, who commanded the Iowa Guard's 2,800-member 2nd Brigade Combat Team during the recently completed Afghanistan deployment, has served four combat tours since 9/11, Orr said.

Command Sgt. Maj. Tim Saylor, a 31-year member of the Iowa National Guard, said the Guard has changed dramatically during the past decade.

“The National Guard did not have that much war-fighting experience before 9/11. Now the young Guard soldiers contribute just as much as their regular military counterparts,” said Saylor, 58, of Iowa City.

While Orr and Saylor have observed the transformation from the top down, Staff Sgt. Travis Ehlinger, 27, of Solon, has seen it from the bottom up.

“We are basically another prong in the active-duty force,” said Ehlinger, who returned home in July from his second combat deployment with the Guard.

“Prior to 9/11, people could stay in the Guard 20 years and never deploy,” said Ehlinger, a medic with Charlie Company, the 334th Brigade Support Battalion. He has served in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“Combat missions are now at the forefront of our job description. We are key assets in the U.S. military,” Ehlinger said.

Along with the change in job descriptions have come budget increases to fund more intense, combat-specific training and upgraded equipment, Orr said.

Renewed sense of patriotism

Orr, who joined the Iowa National Guard in 1978, said he was a lieutenant colonel working in his office at Camp Dodge, the Guard's headquarters in Johnston, when co-workers told him an airliner had crashed into one of the Twin Towers in Manhattan.

With the nation in crisis, Orr said he and other Guard leaders worked two days without sleep to secure critical infrastructure.

“Before long, we knew we were going to be at this for a while,” and from the standpoint of the Iowa Guard, “it has not slowed down since,” Orr said.

Orr and Saylor said they believe the 9/11 attacks inspired in young Americans a sense of renewed patriotism and a service ethic that have strengthened the Guard's human capital.

“They bring with them not only their civilian skill sets but a determination to make a difference,” Orr said.

The Iowa Guard's recruitment and retention have exceeded quotas in each of the past five years, even though recruits and retainees understand they will likely be going or returning to war, Orr said.

Lt. Col. Steve Kremer, who commanded the Iowa Guard's Ironman Battalion during the recent Afghanistan deployment, said he has the highest regard for the dedication and commitment of soldiers who have joined the Guard since the 9/11 attack.

While most Guard members have more than one reason for joining - some may need income, others may be looking for college assistance, for example - “they all know they will very likely go to war if they enlist,” Kremer said.

Capt. James Rang, 30, of Dubuque, was a 20-year-old junior at the University of Northern Iowa when the hijacked jetliners crashed into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and the Pennsylvania countryside.

“It pushed me over the top,” said Rang, who joined the Guard on Nov. 27, 2001, and completed the ROTC program at UNI.

“My thinking was I wanted to be a part of the history that was unfolding and to serve my country like many of my relatives had done,” Rang said.

Like many Americans, Justin Colbert, then a senior at Kennedy High School in Cedar Rapids, watched the attacks and the aftermath on television.

While doing so, he said, “I knew for sure I really wanted to volunteer to fight for my country.”

Colbert, now a staff sergeant with the Headquarters and Headquarters Company of the 334th Brigade Support Battalion, joined the Iowa National Guard shortly after the attack. By 2003, Colbert was carrying a rifle and providing security for convoys in Iraq. He returned in July from his second deployment in Afghanistan.

Colbert, who now resides in North Liberty, said he has seen the Guard's image transformed from flood fighters to an integral part of the nation's defense.

“Even within our own military, the Guard was not well accepted until the past decade,” he said. “We started to earn some respect in Iraq, and now the flood fighter image is gone.”

Building reputation, respect

Rang, who has served in Iraq and Afghanistan, said the Guard's post-9/11 transition to an operational military force has been accompanied by an enhanced reputation among the public and active duty military personnel.

“We had huge public support when we first went to Iraq in 2003, and it has continued at that same high level. It is pretty incredible how many people go out of their way to thank us for serving,” he said.

Rang said some active-duty troops “still have a chip on their shoulder, but it goes away once they start working with us and see how well we do our jobs.”

Soldiers with the 1st Battalion, 133rd Infantry (the Ironman Battalion) burnished the Guard's image when they won a stunning and decisive victory against overwhelming Taliban forces in the May 25 battle at Do Ab.

First Lt. Ryan Lett, 32, of Cedar Rapids, who returned last month from a route-clearance mission in Afghanistan with the Iowa Guard's 832nd Engineers, a part of the Brigade Special Troops Battalion, said the Army had no route-clearance expertise until insurgents in Iraq began inflicting heavy casualties with improvised explosive devices.

Iowa Guard soldiers became experts during their 2006-07 Iraq deployment and applied that expertise during the recent Afghanistan deployment, he said.

Orr said the regular Army and Air Force troops “realize they would never get home if it were not for the reserve component.”

Command Sgt. Maj. Saylor, who served in Iraq in 2006-07 and in Afghanistan during the recent deployment, said the attitude of active-duty soldiers has gone from “we don't need you” to “we can't do it without you.”