Specialist Pat Walsh, serving in the 181st Infantry Regiment of the National Guard, awakes every morning in the bitter cold of Afghanistan and prepares for his daily mission of fighting for his country. He is not the first, nor will he be the last, as the 181st Infantry Regiment is one of the oldest units in the United States Military.
Each day the sun rises upon him presenting a new challenge he must face and over come. He joined the National Guard in September of 2007 and is based in Cambridge Massachusetts. “In the National Guard I can pursue a career as a civilian and serve my country, which was a big goal of mine”, Walsh told me as we emailed back and forth during his deployment. When asked if he had any regrets about joining and being so far away from family, his girlfriend, and friends he replied, “ no regrets, besides missing sporting events”, before laughing and adding in “no, in all seriousness I don’t regret joining. The hardest part is feeling like I’m growing apart from some people, but they say that is to be expected.”
Back in 1636 was when the National Guard was first formed and was known as the Massachusetts Bay Colonial Militia. As a new colony, everything had to be created from scratch, including a military force. All able bodied men, just like Pat, between the ages of 16 and 60, were asked to come together and form the militia. It was broken up into the North, South, and East Regiments. At the time the colonists needed a military for protection from the wild, from their home country, and from the local Indians. They could not afford a formal militia as the English could, so it was up to regular citizens to become Citizen-Soldiers. It is unclear which original regiment has now become the 181st Infantry Regiment of the National Guard. Just like within the National Guard, they gathered for military training when they could, and would fight for their country when called upon.
Pat’s call came as soon as the Twin Towers were attacked on September 11th, 2001. What we needed protection from now was a force much more lethal then the call of the wild and the Indians. He waited a few years before actually joining, making sure the decision was right for him, but always knew he wanted to fight for his country. He told me “the process of joining wasn’t hard, I got the closest date I could to go to basic training. I didn’t want to waste time at home. I had wasted enough time already.” Every other weekend he would go and train, either down at Camp Edwards in Cape Cod or Fort Devens in Western Massachusetts, to qualify in shooting a rifle, and to keep up with basic infantrymen tasks.
This type of training is very close to the type of training Citizen Soldiers would have been exposed to when they first came together. In their time of the militia, most of the rifles were their own personal weapons, since they could not afford to mass-produce equipment. They had to hunt for their own food, so they were well versed in the ways of shooting from a distance at a specific target, which was their main form of training. It wasn’t until the Revolutionary War, when the Continental Congress made the small town militia official on paper, and became known as the Continental Army, that they were able to receive proper weapons and training. The soldiers now had the background, experience, and funding to formally train within formation in the techniques of war.
The techniques of war that were enforced for Walsh when he started included a lot of push-ups, “iron mikes”, and running in order to prepare for the physical challenges of fighting for his country. He spent 6 weeks in basic training. As his first experience away from home for such an extended period of time, it was hard for him to get used to the lack of interpersonal relationships between those he was with. While sitting in his bunk during some down time over in Afghanistan, Pat shared a bit of his experience with me. “They don’t even know your name in basic; your called by a number and that turns into your name.” His second round of extensive training took place for just short of 2 and half months, right before deployment, at Camp Atterbury. “I knew most of the skills and weapon’s training already. In my opinion, it was a waste of time and government money.” They trained to look for roadside bombs (IED’s) and with heavy weapons such as: MK19, M240, M246 (S.A.W), and the 50 caliber. They also learned how to drive MRAPS, which are a mine resistant vehicle. “On top of it all”, Walsh, a life long Patriot’s fan joked, “I was forced to watch the Colts every Sunday.”
While he may feel it was a waste of time, his friends and family are sure glad he was forced to do it. Right before Thanksgiving, his unit was attacked by the Taliban with the use of IED’s. His buddies MRAP rolled right over the trap and many men were rushed to the hospital. Thankfully, whether due to training or luck, no one was killed. A few days ago, a suicide bomber attacked Walsh’s base, and killed a couple of coalition soldiers in the bizarre where the soldiers shop. He mentioned to me that they could see the Taliban watching them from the mountaintops. “It seems like, at the moment, they are just testing us. They are trying to see how we react to certain situations. You have no idea how hard it is to see the enemy watching you, having them in your sights, and there is nothing you can do about it.”
In the 1940’s during World War II, many soldiers were not so lucky. The 181st Infantry Regiment was a part of the first battle that the United States entered into in World War II. This was the first large-scale meeting of American and German soldiers. Known as the Battle of the Kasserine Pass, it was, in fact, a series of battles, fought around the Kasserine Pass, which was a two-mile wide gap set in the mountains of Africa. Within minutes, the U.S. lines were broken. Their light guns and tanks had no chance against the heavier German equipment, and they had little or no experience in this type of armored warfare. The American soldiers lost more the 3,000 men during that battle, with 3,000 more soldiers listed as missing. On top of it all they lost hundreds of tanks, artillery pieces, and large amounts of supplies.
Today, the supplies and men have been replenished, and many more brave men have joined the ranks. In mid October, the 181st infantry joined the front line once again, as they headed over to fight in Afghanistan. More then 650 soldiers were sent over seas, making it the 181st’s largest deployment since WWII. Their mission: to provide a key security element to more than 10 different Provincial Reconstruction Teams to help continue with the rebuilding and stabilization to the Afghanistan infrastructure. Pat wakes up at 6:30 am and is at his truck by 7. Surprisingly, he said the reason they get up so late, is because it’s so cold that everything is frozen. They have to let the sun rise and do its thing on all the equipment. Once they are ready they head into the city to guard the rebuilding process and make sure everyone is safe. These types of missions are very different from what the 181st was originally trained for. At the start of their enlistment their goal was to be trained in combat and to fight off the enemy. Just shortly before deployment that changed, and instead, their goal was to gain the trust of the locals to keep them safe while their country reorganized and got back on its feet.
I asked Specialist Walsh what it was like to be serving in the oldest infantry and he was very casual about it, like any good soldier. “They talk about it and there is a certain sense of pride”, he said, “but we all have the same job to do, it’s not like it adds any pressure to serving. “ The last questions I asked Pat was “What is it exactly that you feel you are fighting for? In the past it has been pretty clear-cut, the Revolutionary War was for the right to govern ourselves, the Civil War to stop slavery, etc. What is this war about do you believe? His response: “Sometimes I ask myself that, but obviously I feel like I am fighting for what everyone who has came before me fought for: country, family, friends, and the overall good of the world.”
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