Page TEN
THE PILOT—Southern Pines, North Carolina
THURSDAY, JUNE 4, 1959
THE AGGRESSORS AGAIN
Manetivcf Close-Up: Enthusiast^ Tell How It Was
“You ought to’ve seen us!”—
“that was somethng, I’m telling
you!”—“We just annihilated
’em!”
So spoke the enthusiasts, tell
ing of what had gone before that
sinister march into town of the
troops on Invasion Day. So, not
having seen ’em, we listened.
Having learned something
about that mysterious thing “the
Aggressor Force Center,” whose
base of operations is the famous
old cavalry post of Ft. Riley,
Kansas, wb got a glimpse, in last
week’s ^maneuvers, of what it is
all about.
The officers who came here to
act as field advisors for the Ag
gressor forces worked directly
under the executive officer of
the whole operation, but their
main job was to get the “enemy”
organized: to get them equipped
with Aggressor uniforms and
materiel, and finally to launch
them on their arduous mission.
The force itself was chosen
from the 82nd Airborne Divi
sion, based at Fort Bragg, (as
were the main body of maneuver
troops opposing them.) The two
battlegroups that made up the
Aggressor Force, 2|501 and 2|503,
were pitted against three battle-
groups. A battlegroup numbers
about 1,500 men.
This maneuver differed from,
some that have been held here
in the past in that it was a “free”
maneuver. That means that either
side might win. And that, again,
meant that both sides Were to
a large extent given free rein in
the field. This made things a lot
more exciting for everybody con
cerned. Especially, one might
guess, for the judges.
Of course, in stacking three
battlegroups against the Aggres
sor Force of only two, the judges
made pretty sure of the outcome,
but only “pretty” sure. For the
two groups chosen for the “ene
my” side were picked for this
role because they have proven
themselves in many a previous
field exercise.
It was the 21503 that invaded
this town and so became perhaps
especially interesting, not to say
appealing, to local citizens.
This battlegroup included five
infantry rifle companies: A, B,
C, D, E,; a headquarters com
pany, service company and a
mortar battery. Colonel Richard
J. Seitz is the commanding offi
cer of this outfit. Delta Company
was the one assigned for the in
vasion of Southern Pines. And
why? Because, according to en
thusiastic members of the outfit.
Delta has come in first in almost
all exercises held during its stay
on the post, to win the name of
a crack unit of the 82nd' Air
borne.
In command of Delta is Cap
tain William S. Stovall, and men
who have served and are serving
under him will tell you that the
reason why Delta Company is
“the best company in the 503rd”
and has won so. many of the war
exercises is because its comman
der is such a capable and exper
ienced officer.
Experienced Commander
Captain Stovall, who hails
from Kentucky, served in the
European theatre in World War
II with that famous outfit. Dar
by’s Rangers. When that task
was done, he was home only a
short time before he went out
with the troops to Korea. He was
wounded in that war. He is a
■■‘master parachutist”, which
means that he has made, more
than 65 jumps: probably in his
case, a lot more.
Deltas Company was all set to
go when the maneuvers started.
The outfit had just come in from
five days in the field and when
they found out they had been
chosen with the 50Ist for this
special Aggressor duty their spir
its rose. The green uniforms
with their red overseas caps
raised them still higher, and it’s
a fair guess that they were ready
for anything and rarin’ to go.
Evidence of their spirit was
shown in many a subsequent
move.
According, again, to those en
thusiasts, they got the jump from
the start. Before dawn last Mon
day their artillery observer offi
cer, Lt. Paul H. Ray, establish
ed himself an observation post
on top of the 150 foot water tow
er at McCain. (Climbing up it
was slightly hair-raising, he con
fessed, especially when, near the
top, the ladder slanted out to get
round the sides of the tank).
Once on top, he established radio
contact with Aggressor head
quarters at Ft. Bragg and sent in
the word that he could see
“North Saladian” planes coming
in to the Mackall area and
troops jumping to that airstrip.
All sorts of tense activity broke
loose as the Aggressors, duly
alerted by the agile lieutenant,
sent over planes to harrass the
Mackall build-up and trained
their long guns on the spot.
Darby's Ranger Staff
There followed complicated
maneuvering through woods and
across swamps, during the course
of which, among other exploits.
Delta’s war-wise commander set
his own compass course through
the brush to capture an eight-
gun 105-howitzer battery. “'We
annihilated it!” chorused the
enthusiast^, and Captain Stovall
lost his voice. (Becausp the ene
my jammed his radio and he had
to yell his commands to his scat-
.tered forc.3S. He was still talking
like a hoarse crow on Invasion
Day.)
So that’s a bit of the story of
one good outfit’s experiences in
the Sandhills. For the record, it
might be told that each outfit
has several judges assigned to it.
It is the duty of these harrassed
souls to try to evaluate each en
counter between the two bodies
of soldiers: to decide whether, as
claimed-—and as hotly denied
the bursting shells of one side
really did hit and wipe out the
guns of the other: whether, in
fact, those helicopters did get in
their reconnaisance flights and
therefore spotted the troop move
ments they were trying to nose
out; whether or not all the lurid
claims of annihilation, of prison
ers taken, of general slaughter
and devastation were genuine
and provable. In the final analy
sis, to decide who had won. Pity
the judges. (All imported from
other parts to avoid mayhem.)
But whoever does win, or did
win, (depending on when they
stop) it’s a fair guess that the
2|305, and especially Delta Com
pany, will strut as gay as ever.
Their fine record has been justi
fied, and was, way at the start,
theirs and the 2|501, when the
two battlegroups were chosen to
be pitted against three in this free
maneuver, when it is touch-and-
go who will be the victor.
—KLB
The Communications Division
of the North Carplina State High
way Patrol operates the highest
radio transmitter in Eastern
America—it’s a powerful FM unit
v.'hich operates unattended atop
Mt. Mitchell
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