January 2018 Newsletter
3rd Battalion 126th Infantry
The 3-126 Infantry Regiment is taking a much-needed rest the first quarter of Training Year 2018. The battalion completed rifle and machine gun qualifications with phenomenal results. Companies had near 100% qualification rates with many soldiers firing at the expert level. The remaining months have included maintenance, safety, and administrative briefings as well as a break during the holiday season. Commanders and their companies are re-energized and looking forward to starting a challenging training cycle. Plans were finalized for the rest of the year at a Battalion Unit Training Management workshop held at Camp Grayling in early January. The battalion will conduct a 21-day annual training period focused on platoon-level evaluations together with the 32nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team (IBCT) at Camp Grayling, following up with a tremendous live fire opportunity during “Northern Strike 18.” The opportunity to conduct a platoon live fire exercise, work with engineers to breach obstacles using demolitions, and collaborating with our NATO allies has the entire battalion motivated to train hard for these challenging yet exciting opportunities. The centerpiece for guests of our annual training this year will be “Red Arrow Day” held at Camp Grayling this summer on July 24 2018. The entire 32nd IBCT will come together to celebrate our lineage and review the year’s accomplishments.
100 Years Ago - The Great War
Beginning this past January 4, our 126th Regiment Association Facebook page has been following the yearlong exploits of the 126th and 32nd Division in World War I. The daily posts come from published sources such as Emil Gansser’s “History of the 126th Infantry in the World War” and official U.S. government reports) as well as an unpublished “Diary of Company M 126th Infantry, 32nd Division in World War” kept by Herbert
D. Crothers. All posts are unedited from the original sources and some posts will include photographs or copies of local news sources from back in 1918. You can read these posts over your morning coffee or just about anytime by going to: https://www.facebook.com/126thRegiment/ You can easily scroll back to catch up on the posts already there. Here’s the first unedited post: January 4, 1918: [Still at Camp McArthur, Waco, Texas] "Had a bad sand storm today. Drilled in morning and men looked like negroes [sic] when they came in. Food was full of sand. It is impossible to keep it out of our mess hall." (Crothers) "After the holidays the training continued without any let up and the weather was very cold. There were frequent flurries of snow, which usually disappeared by mid-day, but on one occasion the snow remained for three days and a thick ice formed, causing considerable difficulty in keeping the pipes in the bath houses from freezing, as the boys used the showers daily. Early in the month the word was passed out that the Division had received orders to move to a Port of Embarkation, and we did not learn until shortly before leaving that we were to go to the embarkation port at Hoboken, N.J." (Gansser)
Fall Social Mark October 6, 2018 on your calendar as the date for our next 126th Association Fall Social. We began this new tradition last October at Tommy Brann’s on Division and had a great turnout. More details will be sent to you this summer but reserve the date now! We’ll also update you on the day and time for our annual business meeting.