A Brief Detour



I attended the change of command ceremony today for Colonel Pat Dedham who relinquished command of the 11^th Signal Brigade to Colonel James Parks.  The 11^th is headquartered at Fort Huachuca, AZ, but is moving shortly to Fort Hood, TX.  A short video of the ceremony can be found HERE.  It was quite warm, but the skies over Brown Parade Field were a beautiful blue and eventually a bit of a breeze picked up.

Ft Huachuca is an historic Cavalry post, founded in 1877 by Captain Whitside of the 6^th Cavalry Regiment.  Its main purpose was to protect the valley from marauding Apaches and bandits from Mexico.  In the earliest years elements of the 4^th and 5^th Cavalry were stationed at Ft Huachuca.  It was 4^th Cav that participated in the campaign that finally captured the famed Apache warrior Geronimo.  Starting from the 1890s and through the First World War the historic Black units 9^th and 10^th Cavalry, known as the Buffalo Soldiers, were stationed at Ft Huachuca.  10^th Cav participated in Pershing’s punitive expedition into Mexico and helped capture Pancho Villa.  Later, the 25^th Infantry Regiment, another all Black unit was stationed at Ft Huachuca where they remained until absorbed into the 93^rd Infantry Division.  The 93^rd ID was an all-Black unit formed for World War Two and, after training at Ft Huachuca, saw extensive combat operations in the Pacific.  The other all-Black division, the 92^nd ID, also trained at Ft Huachuca until deployment for European combat operations.  In 1949 President Truman directed the military become fully integrated and the 92^nd and 93^rd passed into history.  Today Ft Huachuca is the home of the Military Intelligence School and several technology oriented commands.  The post has a wonderful museum that explains the history of the post and local area, the units who served here, and the missions in which they participated.

We now return you to your regular blog.