B/2-131 FA wins 2003 Hamilton Best ARNG Battery Award.

Battery B, 2d Battalion, 131st Field Artillery (B/2-131 FA), Wichita Falls, Texas, part of the 49th Armored Division, Texas Army National Guard (ARNG), won this year's Alexander Hamilton Best ARNG Battery Award. The senior leaders of this outstanding battery are Captain Todd G. Mitchell and First Sergeant Reuben Rodriquez.

The Hamilton Award, which was established in 2002, is named after Alexander Hamilton, a Revolutionary War artilleryman and American statesman, to recognize a high-performing ARNG battery. The battery was selected based on specific criteria and a narrative of its performance. (For more information about the award and application/deadline for 2004, see the website "Knox, Hamilton and Gruber Awards" on the Fort Sill homepage at http://sillwww.army.mil/awards/default.htm.) B/2-131 FA, a multiple-launch rocket system (MLRS) battery, became the first ARNG-active component (AC) dual-mission National Guard battery on 2 September 1999, fully integrating it within an AC FA battalion as part of the Army's Force XXI Initiative. It was just the beginning of several "firsts" for the battery--including being the first and only ARNG FA battery to deploy to Iraq for Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF).

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In April 2002, B Battery became the first ARNG MLRS battery to field and be certified on the M270A1 launcher. The battery also was part of the first battalion in the Army to conduct a live-fire exercise with the new equipment during a field problem.

During the last months of 2002, the battery conducted several field training exercises (FTXs) and night live-fire exercises in preparation for a potential activation and deployment in support of OIF. In addition, B Battery conducted a second annual training (AT) exercise from 2 through 17 December 2002 to refine survivability task skills and focus on soldier readiness and operational maintenance. This AT also included a live-fire exercise.

On 24 January 2003, the battery was activated in support of OIF. Battery B was the only ARNG FA battery deployed to the Central Command (CENTCOM) theater of operations. Upon activation, B/2-131 FA was redesignated as D/2-20 FA as part of the divisional general support (GS) command and attack battalion for the 4th Infantry Division (Mechanized).

Within seven days of arriving at the mobilization site, the battery had completed its load plans and rail-loaded all its modified table of organization and equipment (MTOE) to be taken to the port of debarkation. The battery continued to focus on common task training (CTT), sustainment training, theater-specific training and soldier readiness while waiting for its air manifest date.

On 4 April 2003, D/2-20 FA landed at Kuwait City International Airport. The battery moved to Camp Udairi where it prepared for combat operations. The battery crossed the border into Iraq on 26 April 2003 and proceeded to Taji Airfield located about five kilometers north of Baghdad. Battery D then was assigned a GS mission with Task Force (TF) Thunder, the 2d Brigade Combat Team (BCT), 4th Division.

Battery D has played an active role in several major combat operations in the 2d BCT, including Operations MEK Compliance, Balad Occupation, Peninsula Strike, Ivy Serpent and Desert Sidewinder.

As part of TF Thunder, the battery's continuing mission is to provide force protection for Forward Operating Base (FOB) Thunder. Battery D also operates a light quick-reaction force (QRF) to help locate and record large weapons caches, runs traffic control points and provides extra dismounts for target-of-opportunity raids.

Additionally, D/2-20 FA has established and maintains two TF detention centers. It has processed more than 450 detainees since arriving in country. The battery also mans the Civil/Military Operations Center, a liaison group between Coalition Forces and the local Iraqi government to help repair and rebuild the Iraqi infrastructure.

As part of TF Thunder, D/2-20 FA currently is stationed in Tikrit. It remains ready and able to execute its missions as part of America's War on Terrorism.