Tribute to Tennessee's 278th Regimental Combat Team Transcript: Congressional Record November 16, 2005

Mr. DAVIS of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize and honor the brave men and women who serve our country as part of the 278th Armored Cavalry Regiment as they return home to a State and Nation grateful for their service.

The 278th Armored Cavalry Regiment is one of two armored cavalry regiments still in existence. The 278th is known as the Tennessee Cavalry and is headquartered in Knoxville, Tennessee. The other ACR is part of the regular Army.

The 278th was formed and reorganized on June 21, 1977, from units and elements of the 278th Infantry Brigade. Additionally, units of the 2nd and 3rd Battalions of the 117th Infantry Regiment and several other units of various types from the Tennessee Army National Guard were added to round out this regiment. The regiment's motto, ``I Volunteer, Sir,'' is taken from a time in Tennessee's history that exemplifies the attitude of the men and women who serve in America's Armed Forces. In 1846, a call went out for 2,800 volunteers from the State of Tennessee to take part in the War with Mexico; 38,000 Tennesseeans answered the call, earning the Tennessee Militia the ever-lasting nickname of ``Volunteers.'' It is from this heritage that the 278th Armored Cavalry Regiment's motto, ``I Volunteer, Sir,'' originated.

This Regimental Shoulder Patch was derived using the green color traditionally associated with cavalry and armor. The three white stars are adapted from the Tennessee State flag. The blue divisions allude to the Tennessee, the Houlston, and the French Broad rivers, environs of the regiment.

In June of 2004, the regiment was alerted and mobilized in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom III, the third phase of the deployment of U.S. forces to Iraq. In November of 2004, they deployed from Camp Shelby, Mississippi. This regiment took on a slightly different look for this mobilization. It became referred to as the 278th Regimental Combat Team, from which this organization derives a portion of its history. Soldiers of the 278th were primarily assigned in the Diy' Ala province northeast of Baghdad near the Iranian border. The regiment replaced the 30th Heavy Separate Brigade of the North Carolina Army National Guard.

The sheer size and scope of their mission continues to impress me. Over 3,000 soldiers from the Tennessee National Guard are assigned to this division.

And their mobilization for the war in Iraq was the largest in Tennessee history since World War II. As it was in World War II, their aim was to restore basic freedoms to a people who had been stifled under the oppressive regime of a tyrant dictator, a dictator who would torture and kill his own people because they were different than him, or because they had the audacity to express themselves in one form or another.

While in Iraq, the 278th, like all of our men and women serving in the Middle East, played a major role in what we all hope to be watershed moments in a democratic Iraq's history. The 278th provided security for the Iraqi people as they participated in their first election which took place this past January. For this election, the troops distributed, picked up, and delivered ballots. They again provided their support, this time to the Iraqi army, during the vote on the new Iraqi constitution in October 2005. They also helped restore the basic infrastructure necessary to get the Iraqi economy on its feet and give the Iraqi people a little foundation upon which they can make the country their own.

They helped open schools, dig wells, improve roads and establish basic services, like of electricity, water and sewers. They also helped establish numerous hospitals. Thanks to the renovation and construction of work done by the 278th, more than 50 schools were ready for classes, nearly 70 water and sewer projects were completed, as were 25 electricity and power projects, 8 health clinics were established, and 32 road projects were finished.

Of course, the most harrowing part of their mission was the daily fighting with insurgents that they encountered in northeastern Iraq. While working to suppress insurgency, the 278th conducted 13,000 combat patrols, oversaw the destruction of 340 weapon caches of bomb-making materials and 275 stockpiles of unexploded ordinances.

Additionally, despite constantly being under attack, the men and women of the 278th were able to train members of the Iraqi police and the Iraqi army, over 10,000 policemen, soldiers and border enforcement personnel. This training is essential to our mission in Iraq. In order for the Iraqi people to truly feel empowered in their new country, they must complete the circle of modern democratic nations.

One half of the circle is being completed by the participation of the Iraqi citizens in both the electoral process and their developing free economy. The other half of the circle, and perhaps the most vital piece, is an established Iraqi security force run by and composed of Iraqi citizens that has the ability to protect its own people without relying on the American military. When the day comes that the Iraqi people and soldiers can provide protection for the average citizen to go about their daily lives with the knowledge they are safe, that will be the day when all Iraqis can point to their country, a country able to stand on it own, and they can tell the world we are free.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to say that all of my thoughts and prayers, along with those of constituents, continue to go to all of our military personnel serving in Iraq, including the 900 Tennessee Guardsmen, who are still ``in country.'' Thank you for their great work. We look forward to their return. God continue to be with the men and women of the 278th and the United States Armed Forces. Keep them safe and strong. Return them home to America.