98th Infantry Division (United States)

The 98th Infantry Division ("Iroquois"[1]) was a unit of the United States Army in the closing months of World War I and during World War II. The unit is now one of the U.S. Army Reserve's training divisions, officially known as the 98th Training Division (Initial Entry Training). The 98th Training Division's current primary mission is to conduct Initial Entry Training (IET) for new soldiers. It is one of three training divisions subordinate to the 108th Training Command (IET).

98th Infantry Division
98th Infantry Division shoulder sleeve insignia
Active	1918 1921-1946 1947–present
Country	United States
Branch	United States Army
Type	Infantry
Size	Division
Garrison/HQ	Fort Benning, Georgia
Nickname(s)	"Iroquois" (special designation)[1]
Engagements	World War II
Commanders
Current commander	Brigadier General Tony L. Wright
Insignia
Distinctive unit insignia

Following its initial organization in 1918, the 98th Training Division (IET) has experienced multiple cycles of activation, training, deployment and deactivation as well as substantial reorganizations and changes of mission. Since 1959, however, the 98th Training Division (IET) has been a unit of the U.S. Army Reserve with the primary mission of training Soldiers. Formerly headquartered in Rochester, New York with longstanding historical ties to New York and New England, the 98th Training Division (IET) was moved to Fort Benning, Georgia in 2012,[2] and exercises command and control of units located throughout the eastern U.S. as well as Puerto Rico.

World War I

The 98th Division was activated at Camp McClellan, Alabama in October 1918, too late to see service in World War I. Only the headquarters was activated, demobilizing on 30 November 1918.[3]

Interwar period

The division was reconstituted in the Organized Reserve on 24 June 1921 and assigned to the upstate portion of the state of New York. The headquarters was organized on 18 August 1921.

World War II

The 98th was ordered into active military service on 15 September 1942 at Camp Breckinridge, Kentucky, filling its ranks primarily with soldiers from New York and New England. A "triangular" division organized around a three-regiment core, the 98th spent the next eighteen months training at Camp Breckinridge, Kentucky, Camp Forrest, Tennessee and Camp Rucker, Alabama in anticipation of combat in the Pacific theater.

Order of battle

• Headquarters, 98th Infantry Division
• 389th Infantry Regiment
• 390th Infantry Regiment
• 391st Infantry Regiment
• Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, 98th Infantry Division Artillery
  • 367th Field Artillery Battalion
  • 368th Field Artillery Battalion
  • 399th Field Artillery Battalion
  • 923rd Field Artillery Battalion
• 323rd Engineer Combat Battalion
• 323rd Medical Battalion
• 98th Cavalry Reconnaissance Troop (Mechanized)
• Headquarters, Special Troops, 98th Infantry Division
  • Headquarters Company, 98th Infantry Division
  • 798th Ordnance Light Maintenance Company
  • 98th Quartermaster Company
  • 98th Signal Company
  • Military Police Platoon
  • Band
• 98th Counterintelligence Corps Detachment

Arriving in Oahu, Hawaii on 19 April 1944, the roughly 19,590 soldiers of the 98th relieved the 33rd Infantry Division of responsibility for the defense of the Hawaiian Islands and continued training for deployment to Asia. Slated as a participant in Operation Olympic, scheduled for 1 November 1945 as one of two planned invasions of Japan, the 98th was relieved of garrison duties by the 372nd Infantry Regiment on 15 May 1945 to train for that operation.[4] However, the war drew to a close before the 98th was deployed to an active combat zone. Instead, the 98th Infantry Division arrived in Japan on 27 September 1945 and served in Osaka, Japan as part of the occupying force until 16 February 1946 when the unit was inactivated.

Awards earned by 98th Infantry Division soldiers during this period include: Legion of Merit-1; Soldier's Medal-8; Bronze Star−146.

Commanding Generals during the World War II era were:

• Major General Paul L. Ransom (September 1942 – November 1943)
• Major General George W. Griner, Jr. (November 1943 - 26 June 1944)
• Major General Ralph C. Smith (15 July 1944 – 30 August 1944)
• Major General Arthur M. Harper (November 1944 - 16 February 1946)

Post World War II

On 18 April 1947, the Iroquois Division was reactivated in Rochester, New York on reserve status and began training for combat in the new Cold War environment. It had been previously planned to be an airborne division. A note on the troop list nevertheless indicated that the unit was to be reorganized and redesignated as an airborne unit upon mobilization and was to train as such.[5]

The reorganization of 1 May 1959 redesignated the 98th Infantry Division as the 98th Division (Training) and set the unit on a course lasting to the present - training Soldiers. The regimental heritage was retained with the 389th, 390th and 391st Infantry Regiments organized as Basic Combat Training (BCT) regiments and the 392nd Infantry Regiment organized as an Advanced Individual Training (AIT) regiment.

Additional changes occurred in 1968 with the movement toward a brigade-based structure: the 389th Infantry Regiment became the 1st Brigade (BCT), the 390th Infantry Regiment became the 2d Brigade (BCT) and the 392nd Infantry Regiment became the 3rd Brigade (AIT-Engineer), the only Engineer Pioneer training unit in the Army Reserve at the time. The 3rd Brigade/392nd Infantry Regiment was based in Hillcrest, New York and performed Engineer AIT training of Soldiers at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri during their annual two-week training periods throughout the Vietnam War. The changes of 1968 also ushered in the designation and training of Army Reserve Drill Sergeants, a significant and enduring innovation. Additional reorganization in 1994 redesignated the unit as the 98th Division (Institutional Training), a change in which the 98th retained its previous IET mission but also acquired the missions and force structure formerly associated with to the U.S. Army Reserve Forces schools. The 98th would maintain this basic organization and mission for the next 14 years.

Post 9/11

On 3 September 2004, the 98th Division received mobilization orders for Operation Iraqi Freedom. This mobilization was to be the first overseas deployment for the unit since World War II. The mission, known as the Foreign Army Training Assistance Command (FA-TRAC), consisted primarily of training the new Iraqi Army and Iraqi security forces. An expeditionary force of more than 700 Iroquois warriors were trained and equipped at four sites: Camp Atterbury, Fort Bliss, Fort Hood and Fort Benning.

The demands of Operation Iraqi Freedom required an accelerated training schedule which crammed as many warfighting skills as possible into a forty-one-day period. This was the 98th's first substantial exposure to the asymmetric battlefield, requiring training in counterinsurgency techniques and preparing to face an opponent who did not fight along traditional fronts. The 98th made full use of the 33,000 acres at Camp Atterbury and marched everywhere. It was at Camp Atterbury that the advisory support teams (later renamed military training teams), the heart of the FA-TRAC mission, transformed to cohesive units in long days.

In fall 2004, the 98th Division arrived in Baghdad and filled the ranks of the Multinational Security Transition Command-Iraq (MNSTC-I), the unit charged with assisting the Iraqi government in developing, training and equipping the new Iraqi security forces. The unit used its pool of drill sergeant and instructor expertise to train Iraqi soldiers and officers to prescribed standards under the constant threat of insurgent attack and under austere conditions.

Instruction and support teams spread out across all points in Iraq from Al Kasik in the north to as far south as Umm Qasr. They established contact with Iraqi security units with the help of interpreters and helped build the six divisions of the new Iraqi Army. They also established officer and noncommissioned officer education schools at the Kirkush Military Training Base. They trained Iraqi police, the Highway Patrol, the special Police Commandos and the Iraqi Border Police.[6]

The division also fielded soldiers to such other locations as Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, the Horn of Africa, Kuwait, Jordan and Afghanistan.

Five 98th Training Division soldiers were killed in action during the division's deployment to Iraq in 2004–05. [7]

Subordinate units

As of 8 July 2017 the following units are subordinate to the 98th Training Division (Initial Entry Training):

• 1st Brigade (MT), Fort Benning, Georgia
  • 2nd Battalion, 398th Regiment (Cavalry One Station Unit Training), Madisonville, Kentucky
  • 2nd Battalion, 415th Regiment (Cavalry One Station Unit Training), French Camp, California
  • 3rd Battalion, 330th Regiment (Infantry One Station Unit Training), Waterford, Michigan
  • 3rd Battalion, 485th Regiment (Infantry one Station Unit Training), Fort Benning, Georgia
• 2nd Brigade (Basic Combat Training), Fort Jackson, South Carolina
  • 3rd Battalion, 518th Regiment (Basic Combat Training), Hickory, North Carolina
  • 3rd Battalion, 323rd Regiment (Basic Combat Training), Athens, Georgia
  • 1st Battalion, 321st Regiment (Basic Combat Training), Fort Jackson, South Carolina
  • 2nd Battalion, 485th Regiment (Basic Combat Training), Orlando, Florida
  • 1st Battalion, 389th Regiment (Basic Combat Training), Fort Buchanan, Puerto Rico
  • 4th Battalion, 323rd Regiment (Basic Combat Training), Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama
• 3rd Brigade (Basic Combat Training), Amherst, New York
  • 1st Battalion, 304th Regiment (Basic Combat Training), Londonderry, New Hampshire
  • 2nd Battalion, 389th Regiment (Basic Combat Training), Ithaca, New York
  • 2nd Battalion, 417th Regiment (Basic Combat Training), Danbury, Connecticut

General

Nickname: Iroquois.

Shoulder patch: The 98th Division Patch consists of a shield in the shape of the Great seal of the State of New York, with the head of an Iroquois Indian Chief. The five feathers represent the five original Iroquois nations: the Seneca, Onondaga, Oneida, Cayuga and Mohawk. The blue and orange-gold colors are those of the Dutch House of Nassau, the earliest settlers of New York State. On 8 September 2012, the Armed Forces Reserve Center at Fort Benning, Georgia, where the unit is located, was memorialized in honor of Chaplain (Lieutenant Colonel) Elmer W. Heindl who had served in the 98th.[8][9]

Commanding generals

• Brigadier General Charles E. Kilbourne (9 December 1928 - 11 October 1929)
• Brigadier General William P. Jackson (18 November 1929 - 15 October 1931)
• Colonel Charles H. Morrow (15 October 1931 - 8 February 1932)
• Brigadier General Charles D. Roberts (8 February 1932 - 31 March 1936)
• Brigadier General Perry L. Miles (2 May 1936 - 8 January 1937
• Brigadier General Walter C. Short (4 March 1937 - 15 June 1938
• Colonel Thomas L. Crystal (15 June 1938 - 25 August 1938)
• Brigadier General Irving J. Phillipson (25 August 1938 - 1 March 1940)
• Major General Paul L. Ransom (September 1942 - November 1943
• Major General George W. Griner, Jr. (November 1943 - June 1944)
• Major General Ralph C. Smith (July 1944 - August 1944)
• Major General Arthur M. Harper (November 1944 - February 1946)
• Brigadier General Kenneth Townsend (1946-1949)
• Brigadier General Hugh Barclay (1950-1953)
• Major General John W. Morgan (1953-1957)
• Major General James C. Mott (1957-1960)
• Major General Cooper B. Rhodes (1960-1964
• Major General Laddie L. Stahl (1964–75)[10][11]
• Major General Harry S. Parmelee (1975–79)[12]
• Major General Charles D. Barrett (1979–82)[13]
• Major General Norbert J. Rappl (1982-1987)[14]
• Brigadier General Dean L. Linscott (1987-1987)
• Major General Barclay O. Wellman (1988–1992)[15]
• Major General Thomas W. Sabo (1992–1996)
• Major General Peter A. Gannon (1996-2000)[16]
• Major General Charles E. Wilson (2000–02)[17][18]
• Major General Bruce Robinson (2002–07)[19][20][21][22]
• Brigadier General Robert Catalanotti (2007–08)[23][24]
• Brigadier General Robert P. Stall (2008–10)[25]
• Brigadier General Dwayne R. Edwards (2010–12)[26]
• Brigadier General Michaelene A. Kloster (2012–2015)[27][28][29][30]
• Brigadier General Tammy S. Smith (2015-2016)[31][32][33]
• Brigadier General Miles A. Davis (2016–2019)[34]
• Brigadier General Tony L. Wright (2019–present)

References

 This article incorporates public domain material from the United States Army Center of Military History document: "The Army Almanac: A Book of Facts Concerning the Army of the United States U.S. Government Printing Office, 1950".

1. "Special Unit Designations". United States Army Center of Military History. 21 April 2010. Archived from the original on 9 July 2010. Retrieved 12 July 2010.
2. 98th Training Division moving from Rochester, N.Y. to Fort Benning Archived 5 September 2012 at the Wayback Machine, newspaper article by Ben Wright, correspondent for the Ledger-Enquirer (Columbus, GA), 4 Sep 2012. Retrieved 23 April 2013.
3. Rinaldi, Richard A. (2004). The U. S. Army in World War I: Orders of Battle. General Data LLC. p. 55. ISBN 0-9720296-4-8.
4. Stanton, Shelby L. (1991). World War II Order of Battle. Galahad Books. p. 254. ISBN 0-88365-775-9.
5. John B. Wilson, Maneuver and Firepower Archived 5 December 2009 at the Wayback Machine, Chapter 8
6. Iroquois Warriors in Iraq, by Steven E. Clay, published by Combat Studies Institute Press, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. 2007. Retrieved 26 April 2013.
7. 98th Training Division Soldiers Honor Fallen Comrades, article written by Col. Paul Wegman Chief of Staff 98th Training Division (IET) for publication in The Griffin, 20 Sep 2010. Retrieved 26 April 2013.
8. "Memorialization of Armed Forces Reserve Center and uncasing of 98th Training Division colors at Fort Benning".
9. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 21 April 2015.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
10. Stahl, Resford, May Be Named Undersecretary of the Army. Article by Lorraine Ray, Schenectady Gazette, 21 February 1961. Retrieved 23 April 2013.
11. General Stahl Visits, article published in the Oswego Valley News (Fulton, NY), 27 March 1974. Retrieved 23 April 2013.
12. Extract from Judas Goats and the Price of Broken Leadership by Victor Gomez, page 111. Published by RoseDog Books, Pittsburgh, PA, 2011.
13. Major General Charles D. Barrett Archived 3 July 2013 at Archive.today, honorary remarks by Rep. John R. Kuhl, Volume 154, Number 79, Pages H3782, Legislative House, 14 May 14, 2008. Retrieved 23 April 2013.
14. Norbert Rappl Archived 23 June 2013 at the Wayback Machine, R.O.T.C. Seneca Battalion Oral History Project, St. Bonaventure University (NY). Retrieved 23 April 2013.
15. Extract from Judas Goats and the Price of Broken Leadership by Victor Gomez, page 140. Published by RoseDog Books, Pittsburgh, PA, 2011.
16. Promotion Announcement Archived 16 April 2014 at the Wayback Machine, relating to Peter A. Gannon, as published in a Memorandum for Correspondents (No. 267-M) by the U.S. Department of Defense in DefenseLINK, 26 December 1996. Retrieved 24 April 2013.
17. Wilson selected as new USARC deputy commanding general, Army News article written by Headquarters, U.S. Army Reserve Command for publication in the Triad Online, 26 April 2002. Retrieved 24 Apr 2013.
18. Maj. Gen. Charles E. Wilson profile, in article entitled, "African-American Leaders. Different Destinations: Same Service," in periodical US Black Engineer & Information Technology, Jan-Feb 2007, page 51. Retrieved 24 April 2013.
19. DAY WORK TO DUTY, the autobiography of Major General Bruce E. Robinson, AUS Ret. Retrieved 25 April 2013.
20. Retired General Back in South Hill, Practicing Law and Sharing What He Has Learned, book review by Day Work to Duty by Bruce E. Robinson authored by Dawn Chase in the periodical Virginia Lawyer, October 2009, Vol. 58, page 56. Retrieved 25 Apr 2013.
21. Extract of Encounter With History: The 98th Division Institutional Training and the Global War on Terrorism, 2001-2005, edited by Timothy J Hansen, Jocene D. Preston; published in 2006 by Evolution Impressions; pages 6, 120, 170. Retrieved 25 April 2013.
22. Iroquois Warriors in Iraq, by Steven E. Clay, published by Combat Studies Institute Press, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. 2007. Apprnedix B: 98th Division Key Personnel, 2004–2005, Page 253. Retrieved 26 April 2013.
23. Major General Robert Catalanotti, USA ’80, Alumni, Assumption College (article from the spring 2006 issue of Assumption Magazine), updated 27 June 2011. Retrieved 21 May 2013.
24. Excerpt of 108th Training Command Stands Ready as Force Multiplier, article written by Command Sgt. Maj. William J. Payne, published in The Griffon, 20 Sep 2010. Retrieved 21 May 2013.
25. Excerpt from General Officer Announcements: Nomination for promotion of Army Reserve Brig. Gen. Robert P. Stall, U.S. Department of Defense News Release, Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Public Affairs), 4 August 2010. Retrieved 21 May 2013.
26. Brig. Gen. Dwayne Edwards, Commanding General 98th Training Division (IET) Archived 26 June 2013 at Archive.today, article in the Website of the U.S. Army Reserve Archived 13 February 2013 at the Wayback Machine, 2010, Retrieved 21 May 2013.
27. Mikey Kloster is the newest addition to the 98th Training Division, published by BenningTV as recorded on YouTube, 17 December 2012. Retrieved 23 April 2013.
28. Headquarters, 98th Training Division (IET) Changes Command, article written by Master Sgt. Deborah P. Williams, 108th Training Command (IET) Public Affairs; published in The Griffon, quarterly periodical of the 108th Training command, 20 Feb 2013; Vol 38.1, Spring 2013 issue
29. Army Reserve commander gets star in ceremony Saturday Archived 1 March 2013 at the Wayback Machine, article by Ben Wright, published by the Ledger-Enquirer (Columbus, GA), 27 February 2013. Retrieved 23 April 2013.
30. Fort Benning Photo Gallery. Retrieved 21 May 2013.
31. "First openly gay general to take command of Army Reserve unit at Fort Benning". ledger-enquirer. Retrieved 20 February 2016.
32. Jones, Irisha. "Brigadier Gen. Tammy Smith takes command of 98th Training Division at Fort Benning". www.wtvm.com. Retrieved 20 February 2016.
33. Kirkland, Danielle Wallingsford. "New 98th Training Division commander looks to 'set conditions for success' | Article | The United States Army". www.army.mil. Retrieved 20 February 2016.
34. "Davis takes command of 98th Training Division at Fort Benning". Retrieved 25 September 2016.

An Encounter With History: The 98th Division and the Global War on Terrorism: 2001–2005: Publisher: Defense Department, Army, Army Reserve Command, 98th Division (Institutional Training)