2004 Hamilton Award winner.

C/3-178 FA, 151st FA Brigade, SCARNG 

C Battery, 3d Battalion, 178th Field Artillery (C/3-178 FA), 151st FA Brigade, South Carolina Army National Guard (SCARNG), has won the 2004 Alexander Hamilton Best ARNG Battery Award. The battery is commanded by Captain Christopher A. Hyman with First Sergeant Danny C. Richardson as his NCO leader.

C/3-178 FA is a corps support multiple-launch rocket system (MLRS) battery stationed in Hartsville. In November 2003, C Battery was alerted for deployment to support Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) II. By 3 January 2004, the Soldiers finished preparing for the tour and left for their deployment station at Fort Stewart, Georgia.

At Fort Stewart, C Battery began training for its nonstandard security and communications mission. It trained on several weapons, including the M240B, a system new to the battalion. It also trained on establishing traffic control points (TCPs), entering and clearing buildings, calling for medical evacuation (MEDEVAC), managing unexploded ordnance (UXO), controlling crowds, reacting to indirect and direct fire, clearing minefields, conducting convoy operations and operating the advanced FA tactical data system (AFATDS).

During a brief stay in Kuwait, C Battery Soldiers trained on convoy operations, staged their equipment and prepared for their security and communications mission along the supply route with the largest volume of resupply in theater, Main Supply Route (MSR) Tampa, in the 197th FA Brigade area of operations (AO). The battery operated four emergency radio relay points (RPs) in southern Iraq along the MSR from the Kuwaiti border to Suk Ash Shuyukh, approximately 110 miles into Iraq.

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Additional taskings included manning a quick-reaction force (QRF) along the MSR, providing intel support to the Kuwaiti border movement control team and providing extensive communications and cooperation with Danish and British units that patrolled the border. C Battery Soldiers worked diligently to expand, fortify and add watchtowers and sleeping areas to each RP. Their efforts produced a safer, cleaner and more defendable work area for Soldiers and their replacements.

The QRF team did an outstanding job throughout the deployment. When the battery arrived in country, there was a high level of civilian crime. The QRF engaged in many small arms incidents and interrupted five hijackings along the MSR. Its efforts reduced the crime rate in the AO by 95 percent.

C Battery was a key element in helping save the US government an estimated 120 million dollars in Coalition Force assets by securing transports broken down along the MSR.

The Soldiers of C Battery served 12 months securing the MSR for Coalition Forces as well as Iraqi nationals. They had strong support from their Family Readiness Group (FRG) and the community at home. Through the FRG's donations, Soldiers distributed school supplies, food, clothing and shoes to many of the local families in the AO. This helped establish the battery's rapport with the locals, which resulted in reports to the RPs regarding criminal activities in the area.

The British Army then conducted a large-scale cordon and search that helped decrease criminal activities. The Iraqi people took a more aggressive stance in policing their own area, as prompted by their interactions with C/3-178 FA.

During C/3-178 FA's OIF II deployment, six Soldiers were nominated for Bronze Stars, 22 for Army Commendation Medals and eight for Army Achievement Medals. Also during the deployment, 14 Soldiers received achievement coins from III Corp Artillery, the 197th FA Brigade, 160th Military Police (MP) Battalion and 3-178 FA. One Soldier received the Honorable Order of Saint Barbara.

The security of southern Iraq is vital to all operations within theater. If it were not for the Soldiers of C Battery keeping a vigilant watch over the MSR using conventional force as well as diplomacy, the high way would not have been a viable route for transporting supplies. C Battery made an impact in Iraq by securing, protecting and defending a mission-essential route for the Coalition Force as well as the Iraqi people.

As their crest reads, so the Soldiers of C/3-178 FA are and will remain True and Tried.

The Hamilton Award was established in 2002 and is named after Alexander Hamilton, a Revolutionary War artilleryman and American statesman, to recognize a high-performing Army National Guard (ARNG) battery annually. The battery is selected based on specific criteria and a narrative of its performance. (For more information about the award and application/deadline for 2005, see the link "Knox, Hamilton and Gruber Awards" on the Fort Sill website at http://sill.www.army.mil/awards/default.htm.)