Changing of the Guard
It's been rumored for several years now that the Department of
Defense was considering closing the Manor Road Armory and disbanding the
National Guard unit attached to it.
Another version that surfaced almost two years ago had units of the
101st Cavalry of the New York Army National Guard based in the West
Brighton facility being disbanded and replaced at the armory by the
National Guard's 145th Maintenance Company, then based in the Bronx.
Several hundred members of the unit were deployed in Iraq at the
time.
Some, upon hearing the scuttlebutt, sent home angry e-mails about the
possible disbanding of their unit. They protested that their unit was
being shut down even as they were serving their nation in harm's way,
far from home and unable to protest the decision.
The rumors heated up in the second half of last year as the Pentagon
was in the throes of another of its periodic base-realignment spasms.
That shakeup resulted in Fort Monmouth in Eatontown, N.J., the U.S.
Naval Submarine Base in Groton, Conn., and the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard
in Kittery, Maine, in the Northeast, as well as many other bases
throughout the country, being ordered closed.
It appeared Manor Road might be on the hit list amid this climate of
out with the old, in with the new.
On the reasonable assumption that the National Guard was preparing to
move out, the issue of what to do with the land on which it stands
became a topic of debate briefly in last fall's North Shore Council
race.
(Republican candidate Jody Hall, who ultimately lost to Councilman
Michael McMahon, urged that the city landmark the 19-acre property. Mr.
McMahon countered that there were no firm plans to close the armory, and
that the city can't landmark state-owned land in any case.)
Then, in March, state Sen. John Marchi submitted a measure in the
state Senate to have March 3 declared as a day of recognition of the
101st Cavalry, 1st Battalion, which is part of the Army's 42nd Infantry
Division, based in Troy, N.Y.
Sen. Marchi's measure passed unanimously in the Senate, but never
came to a vote in the Assembly.
It was largely a ceremonial gesture on the senator's part, intended,
in part, to make disbanding the 101st and closing the armory a heavier
lift, politically speaking. (How could officials shut down the Guard
unit in the district of the very lawmaker who had just authored
legislation to honor it?)
Throughout it all, while conceding that the Defense Department had
different priorities in a new era of the U.S. military, one heavily
dependent -- some might say too dependent -- on the National Guard,
officials have been denying the rumors.
In April of last year, Kent Kisselbrack, a spokesman for the New York
State Division of Military and Naval Affairs, acknowledged, "The
military is always looking for better ways to meet projected needs," but
added, "But any rumors making the rounds about specific changes have to
be treated as rumors. It's premature to speculate right now."
Since all that, at least some of those rumors in the air for so long
have touched down.
On Sunday, some 300 people, many of them former members of the 1st
Battalion, 101st Cavalry, gathered at the armory for a somber ceremony
to retire the unit's colors. This, after 146 years of service in many of
the most celebrated military engagements in the nation's history.
(Guardsmen from the Manor Road Armory also did yeoman work, both in
security and recovery, in the wake of 9/11 and have pitched in amid
other emergencies, such as snow removal after blizzards.)
The unit is being deactivated altogether, it has been announced.
However, the Manor Road Armory will become the new tactical command post
for the 42nd Infantry Division, as well as the new home of the 145th
Maintenance Company. It goes from being a base for National Guard troops
trained for combat, including with heavy armor, to the home of tactical
and support troops.
The number of personnel stationed at Manor Road will essentially
remain the same.
"The command and control cell will have state-of-the-art equipment,
and the reason it is coming to Staten Island was to have a forward
command and control element in the New York City metropolitan area
should anything occur downstate," Mr. Kisselbrack explained this week.
Some members of 101st/1st attending Sunday's ceremony were bitter
about the move.
Retired Col. Mario Costagliola, of New Springville, said that being
in Iraq when the decision was made, "added insult to injury. It made it
harder to accept -- so much hard work, and we did extremely well in
Iraq. And then to come home and tell us our services were no longer
needed. It was tough to take."
Joe Del Duco, formerly of Westerleigh, a retired operations officer
of the 101st Cavalry, said bluntly at Sunday's ceremony, "Staten Island
is a little bit more unsafe today than it was yesterday."
Councilman McMahon agreed, saying that the loss of the combat-trained
troops is "a serious blow for the security of Staten Island."
So does Councilman Andrew Lanza, who said that adding the tactical
component at Manor Road is great, but that he would protest to the
governor about the loss of the 101st combat units.
Mr. Kisselbrack countered with the assurance that in terms of
security, contributions to the community or what Staten Islanders see of
the Guard, there will effectively be no change from the past.
The 69th National Guard Infantry Division is still headquartered in
Manhattan, if troops in the streets of the city ever becomes necessary.
And, Mr. Kisselbrack said that in emergencies, "any unit can see
combat," regardless of its formal designation. What's more, he said,
"the National Guard is there" to help the community after big storms or
other emergencies.
We lament the loss of the historic 101st, and particularly of the 1st
Battalion stationed at Manor Road.
We understand the changing needs of the military and that units
specializing in 20th-century-style, army-vs.-army combat, such as the
101st, with its M1-A1 main battle tanks, are considered obsolete in the
modern environment.
But while free-flowing, ever-shifting actions against terrorists and
insurgents are the sole focus of the Pentagon now, who's to say that we
won't face other enemies who fight more conventional, centrally
controlled battles in the future. There may come a time when the unique
capabilities of the 101st will be missed.
Beyond that, the 101st has been an enduring part of our community for
a long time. No Staten Islander wants to see it become defunct, even if
it is being replaced.
That said, however, the establishment of the Guard's state-of-the-art
command-and-control center for downstate is a big plus for this borough,
especially in light of the dire rumors we've heard in the past. It also
guarantees that the armory will remain open and in state National Guard
hands for the foreseeable future.
And, while we sympathize with members of the 101st, we think the
claim that the loss of this Guard combat unit means Staten Island is
less secure is overstated. It's not as if Guardsmen from Manor Road were
ever going to have to rush down to South Beach to repel an invasion
force. There is plenty of military firepower in our area to meet any
challenge.
So while we bid farewell to the 101st and its many current and former
members in our borough, we welcome the new Guard units and their 21st
century mission.
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