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Vol. I No. 4 Task Force 1-501st PIR, FOB Salerno, Afghanistan

Soldiers of Task Force 1-501st PIRdescended on the mountain passes ofthe Afghanistan/Pakistan border like a

snow storm like an avalanche. For twoweeks the soldiers manned checkpoints,searched villages and examined cavesfor caches of weapons.

Operation Avalanche was designedto impede the enemies of Afghanistanfrom using the months prior to thesnow fall to move weapons and sup-plies across the border and stage themfor their spring offensive.

We are helping to ensure that the

Afghanistan government stays in con-trol, said Capt. William Kilgore, taskforce intelligence officer. "We are do-ing this by keeping the enemies of Af-ghanistan from creating a logisticalcenter within the country to stage ter-rorist activities."

To accomplish this the task forcesent two companies to separatepasses, one overtly, the other covertly.

Company C ar-rived in broad day-light via CH-47Chinooks and set

up a check point.The plan thosetransporting armswould take a dif-ferent route theone that CompanyA went to in themiddle of the night.

From a distancethe hills and moun-tains that Company

A had to ruck up and down looked likegentle hills, but the soldiers making thetrek quickly found out differently.

At the time, the rucking suckedThere is just something about climb-ing a 60 degree hill with a 75 poundruck that is not fun, said Air Force

Staff Sgt. Ashley Thweatt, a joint ter-minal attack controller attached to the501st. Looking back now though it was great. It gave me, an Air ForceJTAC the opportunity to meld with myArmy comrades.

Word about the checkpoints quicklytraveled and the companies spent theirdays searching people traveling be-tween villages or who journeyed to

The first lift of Company A soldiers board CH-47 Chinooks at dawn. Theseparatroopers were let off on the high ground to provide security for the second liftwhich performed a village assessment for weapons of war and intel on the Taliban

Capt. Brent Morrow uses an interpreter to tell villagers theyhave 20 minutes to bring out all weapons before his soldiersstart their search during a village assessment.

Task Force patrols border, villagesStory and photos by

Staff Sgt. Jeff Troth

See AVALANCHE page 4

December 12, 2003

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December 12, 20032

This is an unofficial Army newsletter, authorized under the provisions

of AR 360-1, and published by the 1/501st PIR Public Affairs Office. Edito-

rial views and opinions expressed herein are not necessarily those of the

Department of the Army or the 1/501st PIR. All submissions to The

Geronimo are subject to editing.

The Geronimo can also be found at: www.usarak.army.mil/1501 .

Questions or comments should be directed to: 1/501st Public Affairs

Office. DNVT 318-580-3067.

Bat ta lion Command er Lt. Col. Harry C. Glenn III

Editor Staff Sgt. Jeff Troth

Salerno HappeningsComedy Show

A USO comedy show stops at Salerno Dec. 21. Comic

relief will be provided by Mike Schwartz and Dwayne

Perkins in the expansion area. A barbeque will provide

refreshments. Pull up a piece of earth or BYOC (bringyour own chair). Time to be determined.

Numbers GrowTroop strength at the FOB will increase in January

with the addition of 200 coalition soldiers.

Movie Night

FOB facesWhat is your lasting memory of

Operation Avalanche?

Knowing that all the drills we havedone in training have paid off during

this real world operation.

Spec. Fulgencio Marquez

E Battery

Getting out and doing missions instead

of sitting around at the FOB.

Spec. Patrie Pancho

Forward Support Company

Falling asleep at 1500 and then artillery

rounds going off an hour later.

Pfc. Shane Slack

HQ Company

Lt. Anazagasty saying that "there is just

one more hill, one more klick to go."

Staff Sgt. Rick Bashore

Company A

The World

The chaplain is hosting a movie night Fridays start-

ing at 1400. Keep an eye open for the flyer on what mov-

ies will be shown Dec. 19.

Hussein CapturedOn the basis of a tip from

a local resident, soldiers

from 4th Infantry Division

conducted a raid in the

town of Adwar, which is

about 15 kilometers south

of Tikrit, Saddam

Hussein's hometown.

The former Iraqi dictator,

who was found in a cel-lar, looked thinner, had

unkept hair and had a

long black -and-grey

beard.

Loya JirgaSome 500 Afghanistan delegates began the loya jirga to

hammer out a new constitution. Among the issues they

are expected to decide on is the role of Afghan women,

Islam's place in politics and the sharing of power in a

nation accustomed to fighting over it.

White wins HeismanA year after knee surgery, Oklahoma's Jason White

awarded the Heisman Trophy. White threw 40 touchdown

passes and led the third-ranked Sooners to 12 straight

wins.

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The Geronimo

December 12, 20033Injuries expected to drop with new parachute

By Pfc. Eliamar Castanon

Fort Benning PAO

FORT BENNING, Ga. Air-borne Soldiers should expect to see anew parachute system in the next few

years that will replace the T-10 modelthat has been in use since the 1950s.

The Advanced Tactical ParachuteSystem is expected to decrease thelanding impact velocity for jumpers,provide a more reliable reserve sys-tem than the Modified Improved Re-serve Parachute System of the T-10and improve the harness.

We were looking for a parachute thatwill lower the rate of descent and lessenthe impact with the hopes and expecta-tions that this would result in a reductionin injuries, said Joe Jones, combat de-velopment specialist with the Director-ate of Combat Developments.

Rate of descent is the speed at whichjumpers fall to the ground.

The T-10 has been modified a num-ber of times but has reached the limitsof its growth. A new approach had tobe taken, Jones said, resulting in anentirely different design.

The ATPS canopy is not circular in shape, as the T-10is. It is a highly modified

cross-shaped canopy with an inflateddiameter 14 percent greater than thatof the T-10, with 28 percent moresurface area.

The reserve unit is a cone-shaped,center-pull deployment system. It in-cludes apex scoop pockets at the topof the canopy and skirt assist lines atthe systems hem to promote fastopening during low-speed malfunc-tions.

The main container bag is made ofCordura, an abrasion- and water-re-sistant fabric.

Both the ATPS main and reservecanopies are made of low-porosityripstop nylon with Teflon-coated sus-pension lines.

The entire system weighs 51.2pounds, compared to the T-10s 44

pounds.The 14-percent weight in-

crease earns jumpers a 25-percent reduction in rate ofdescent. The T-10s rate of

descent is 22 to 24 feet persecond, causing a strong land-ing impact.

The ATPS rate of descentis 16 feet per second, reduc-ing the landing impact by 53percent.

The T-10 parachute systemwas designed when the totalweight of a jumper and equip-ment averaged 300 pounds.

During OperationJust Cause, morethan 4 percent of

Soldiers from the 2nd Battal-ion, 75th Ranger Regiment, sufferedjump-related injuries - 28 Rangers andtheir equipment weighed between 350and 435 pounds.

The T-10 was originally intendedfor jumpers who didnt weigh whatSoldiers weigh today and wasnt in-tended to carry the loads that Soldiers

carry today, Jones said.Other advantages of ATPS are the

reserve system and the harness, saidJones. The ATPS reserve offers im-proved reliability, he said.

The ATPS has a reliability of .95,compared to the .75 to .80 of the T-10, he said.

The reserve is also equipped withenhanced deployment techniques,which equal low opening shocks. Itmay be deployed using either hand,

offers a soft loop closure and has arate of descent of approximately 26feet per second with low oscillation.

The biggest advantage in the im-provements of the harness is the at-taching point of the reserve parachutesystem, said Jones.

When a T-10 reserve is activated,the opening forces are located in thewaist area; essentially, this bows thejumper, he said. ATPS reserve risers

connect to the harness in the shoulderarea. Now when the reserve canopyopens, the opening forces are passeddown through the long axes of thebody, minimizing the bow effect.

The harness is also fully adjustableand is compatible with the current andfuture battlefield equipment.

The T-10 and ATPS are mass tacti-cal parachute canopies, meaning theyare not steerable. Because these arenot steerable, distribution is managedby exit sequences and timing, aircraftaltitude and speed, wind and canopydrift characteristics, Jones said.

Because ATPS is not a

steerable parachute, test developers are still trying to in-

crease the obstacle avoidance variablewhile in the sky or on the ground, said

Maj. Jason Craft, assistant programmanager of personal airdrop systemsat the Natick Research Laboratoriesin Natick, Mass.

The bottom line is that ATPS reducesjump injuries to airborne Soldiers sotheyre in better condition to go intocombat operations, Craft said.

The ATPS is being tested at YumaProving Grounds in Yuma, Ariz., and wilbe fielded between 2005 and 2006.

The Advanced Tactical Parachute System.

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December 12, 20034

Pakistan for busi-ness or medicalreasons. Bothcompanies had afemale soldier

from the ForwardSupport Com-pany with them tosearch the femaletravelers.

For the mostpart the people wesearched were co-operative, saidSgt. Chad Kair,Co. C. They

were taken backthat we were there

until the word got out aboutthe checkpoint.

Before the Comanchesset foot at the checkpoint theHeadquarters Companyscouts had already had eyeson that location for a coupledays.

We were there to con-

firm or deny enemy routesinto and out of Pakistan,said Spec. Joshua Ebhart,sniper with HQ Co. scouts.We were successful on get-ting eyes on the objectivesand ensuring the area wassafe for the rest of the task

force to come in.For each company they

not only had their own sol-diers pulling security on thehigh ground around their

checkpoints, but also a pla-toon from Delta Detach-ment with their armoredHMMWVs on each end ofthe checkpoint.

Also attached to the com-panies were interpreters andAfghanistan Militia Forcesoldiers to assist with thesearches and to let the lo-cals know what was hap-

pening.They are very helpful in

letting us know what is rightand what is wrong, Kilgoresaid. They know the localcustoms and if someone isnot using the correct dialectfor that region.

Although not at thecheckpoints with the com-panies other elements of the

task force were staged at aposition area for artillery togive assistance.

Within the objective areaa tactical operation centerhad command and controlover the operation, BatteryE, 319th Field Artillery and

Gun 5, Battery E, 319th Field Artillery sends a round downrange during registration of their 105mm howitzer.

A Detachment D armored HMMWV pulls security on a hilltopas Company A soldiers search for a suspected weapons cache.

Spec. Andrew Wolfe, Headquarters Company, adds bite to the ribeyesteaks that were served when the companies finished their night missions

away from the PAA. For the remainder of the operation day missionswere done from the PAA. The meal also included crab legs, mashedpotatoes and gravy, macaroni and cheese, and soda.

Cont. from page 1Avalanche:

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December 12, 20035

Battery B, 3rd Battalion, 6

Field Artillery, 10th Infan-try Division (Mountain) pro-vided indirect fire supportand illumination rounds andthe FSC had mechanics onhand to fix the vehicles thattook a pounding on therough Afghan roads.

Every mission that hascome down we have been

able to execute on target

and on time, said Spec.Patrick Foard, Bat. E.When the rest of the taskforce were out on missionour guns were able to covertheir positions..

Once the checkpointsproved their worth, Co. Asmission switched fromcheckpoints to village as-

sessments.

Dur ingthis newmission thes o l d i e r stalked withthe Afghans

Sgt. Dan Beasley, Forward Support Company works on a HMMWV duringOperation Avalanche at the PAA.

Pfc. Ryan Edmonson, Company C, searchesan Afghanistan at a checkpoint.

and found out about them andany Taliban activity in the area.The soldiers also collectedand destroyed any weaponsof war they found in thehouses. Each adult male wasallowed to keep one rifle and

two magazines for personaldefense.

In the villages we foundgrenades and parts forrockets and mines. Onefamily was even using thetop of a mine as a plate,said Spec. Chad Cuccaro,a sapper with HQ Com-pany. When we found anIED (ordnance) we put it in

a ravine and blew it inplace.

Much to the relief of thesoldiers, their mode of trans-portation also changed. In-stead of rucking over themountains they rode in FSCvehicles to the villages, thisadded to the work load ofthe mechanics.

Mechanics will always

have a job in wartime, saidSpec. Anthony Peak, a me-chanic with the FSC, be-cause they (soldiers) love todrive and push their vehiclesto the limit.

A CH-47 Chinook releases a sling load resupply at the PAA.

The soldiers on theground were not alone. Theoperation was supportednot only by the Army Chi-nooks, but also Marine Su-per Cobas and UH-1 HueyGunships, and Air Force A-

10 Warthogs and B-1bombers. These aircraft notonly provided eyes and gunsin the sky, but also a quickresupply method for thetroops in their fire bases andthe PAA.

The Co. G, 104th Avia-tion Regiment (Penn./ConnNational Guard) Chinookssling loaded nine vehicles

two water buffalos and16,000 gallons of fuel. Theyalso transported around60,000 pounds of cargo tothe field.

The operation has beena success, said Maj. ValKeaveny, task force opera-tions officer. We have spenttwo weeks flooding the bor-der region with paratroop-

ers and gathering our ownintel. We have learned a lotabout the enemy and shownthem that we can be any-where, anytime with the ca-pability to destroy them.

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December 12, 20036

CHRISTMASHow many of the following Christmas terms can

you locate in the puzzle?

LSNLT

EEHEGOORCS

PCTEG

NPGNGRINCH

RESGL

EOTELTSIMO

NONEN

EWYEARSFPO

OOREI

NDEERMRTOR

GLOHP

LODUROJSRN

UNLPE

ATTJSETLCA

EPNII

OEOTSUNUTM

ETNEV

DOSTSOANON

LRSES

YOSEASGAAT

GESCI

EEODCEERRS

GEWAS

HNTGRPGERF

WPEEC

KSTOCKINGS

IERNW

LYYUNWENAE

SHOPP

INGSNALMSY

ChestnutsEggnogElvesJesusJoyFrostyGoodwillGrinchMangerMistletoeNew Years

OrnamentsPeacePresentsReindeerRudolphSantaScroogeShoppingStockingsToysTree

Listening to command netSaying copy that a hundred times a day.

As I take the message Delaware 6 SP time

now

I wonder when I will get to go out and play.

I know that I am important

As I capture the battle on my log

I cant help but wondering

Why the Battle NCO treats me like a dog.

When they say, Tell so and so this.

While I listen like a hawk

I wonder if their thumb is brokenAnd cant push the button to talk.

Im not bitter at all

About listening to what is going on

The fact that I sit here day in and day out

Without the hope Ill get to tag along.

So, remember me, as you SP from the PAA,

And you operate outside the wire

So we can move your push pin

And get the clearance of fire.

I will log your goings onSo you can recap at the commanders brief

This is Geronimo 31, reading you Lima

Charlie

And waiting anxiously on my relief.

ODE TO

THE RTOBy Staff Sgt. Jay Schulz

If you have

a question for

MSG Nord-

strom, drop it

off at the

ALOC.

Ask MSG Nordstrom

Dear MSG Nordstrom,

I couldnt help but notice the increasing

depth of the slit trench while coming and

going from the PAA. Ill admit that by the

end there, I was actually afraid of getting

too close and falling in. Why would any

1SG create such an unsafe area?

Signed, Bombs Away

Dear Mad Bomber,

Quit squatting over the pickets and start

clearing your drop zone a little better or

Ill have 1SG Rebel dig it even deeper. Use

your flashlight, Meathead!

MSG N

Dear MSG Nordstrom,

Why do you insist on getting everyone up

before first light? Id like to get a little

more shut eye, but I cant ignore your

yelling at folks so early in the morning.

Can you please consider a 0200Z wake-

up? Thanks.

Sincerely, Sleeping In

S1 and S4, First Call!

If my days were as busy as yours, Id

be able to sleep in, too. As far as the pre-

dawn wake-ups, they are often just bad

flash backs to the days when the French

and Indians would attack at first light. I

just cant seem to shake the memories.

Take cover; get in your hole; here they

come again!

MSG N

Dear MSG Nordstrom,

I began to think that all Afghanistan had

was rocks but then I noticed the hundreds

of Jewels cigar butts beneath the trailers

and vehicles at the BOC/CTCP. Are those

naturally grown here or imported?

Sincerely, CSM Police Call

Dear CSM,

Just because I bought $2500 worth of cigars

at Manas doesnt make me suspect. I did,

however, notice the same thing and had the

RTOs water the butts in hopes that they

might grow and replenish my dwindling

stock.

MSG N

Dear MSG Nordstrom,

I noticed that there seems to be some battle

handoff challenges with the Geronimo 11

element, especially when moving to the

night shift. Is our night Battle Captain

technically challenged? Is there any

professional development scheduled for the

RTOs and CHEMO? Hello? Is there

anyone out there listening?

Signed, Monitor Your A&L

Dear MYAL,

I will ensure you that they will have noproblems battle tracking in the future once

theyve low crawled from the FTCP to the

CTCP to the TAC and then around to each

Team CP.

MSG N