Thread: 10th Mountain Division?

Nizzy, I am headed to 10th mountain in a few months. No, it is not an airborne unit. There is always the opportunity for airborne school, whether you get a slot after basic or AIT, or your unit sends you. So, you can be airborne qualified but not necessarily in an airborne unit. You would wear the badge but not the tab that goes along with the unit patch (sorry if you knew this already, just wanted to be clear).

They are located at Ft. Drum, with the exception of 4th brigade which is at Ft. Polk, although I hear they are attempting to move them to Drum as soon as there is more housing available. There are no elements at Lewis as far as I know, but the first mountain troops first started training there during WW2 which later transformed into 10th mountain somewhere along the line.

Drum is an okay place to live from what I am hearing aside from the crazy winter conditions they have. It seems like a pretty cool area especially if you are into hiking, skiing, and outdoors type of things. There are some guys that have been stationed there before so I'm sure they'll chime in once they see this. Hope this helps,

-carp

I have to assume the "whiskey" at Ft. Sam is 68W. There's over a half dozen other "whiskey" MOSs but I don't think their AIT is there.

Like the good Eltee has told you you'll have to put Ft.Drum & the 10th Mountain on your wish list. If you want Airborne then you should also put the 82nd & the 173rd there too. I don't think that'll work because if you already know when & where you're going for BCT & AIT & don't have Airborne School or Option 4 in your contract you might as well forget it. If that was in your contract you could also include divisions like the 25th ID as well because they have Airborne units as well as non-Airborne.

I doubt if you could have Airborne School added to your contract at this late date. Airborne School is pretty much filled up for most of the year & Option 4 contracts are few & far between but you can ask your Recruiter.

As far as assignment - it's solely according th the needs of the Army. They'll try to keep you happy by giving you what you asked for but that's not always possible. You might get your 3rd choice if not 1st or 2nd & then they can always say that you got what you asked for.

Good luck.

You can be happy or miserable at any Army post - which one is completely up to you. Likewise, you can use your time in to get your degree and set yourself up for success in the civilian world, or you can get a Master's in barstool - again, up to you.

There are not an airborne unit but Mountain of course. There Mountain training is actually in Vermont where the National Guard houses it.

http://www.globalsecurity.org/milita...my/3-172in.htm

They do have an air assault school on their base and many have gone to the school over there.

I am close to 10th Mountain soldiers in my base as well as former 10th Mountain soldiers in my current unit (they wear their combat patch).

Have fun running in the cold (below 0 weather) cause I am trying to go hot after Germany lol

Also, I met a soldier recently from the Vermont Guard that gave me interesting info. Also, this was interesting in the Army Times recently....

http://www.armytimes.com/news/2010/0...intab_031910w/

Combat team won’t get mountain tab




By Rob Curtis - Staff writer
Posted : Monday Mar 22, 2010 6:46:42 EDT

KORENGAL, Afghansitan — The Army vice chief of staff has denied a request to allow the to 4th Infantry Division's 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team to add a mountain tab to the unit's uniform sleeve.
In a March 9 memo to the unit commander, Gen. Peter Chiarelli praised the unit’s “tremendous and incredibly courageous service ... under some of the most arduous conditions and difficult, mountainous terrain.” But Chiarelli then said there is no equitable way to approve the mountain tab since it is not an individual skill tab or a unit award.
The soldiers were disappointed.
“If you went strictly by merit,” said Lt. Derek Knapp, a platoon leader in the Korengal Valley, “if there was any unit or brigade that has earned it, it would be us. But it’s a division identifier, not a skill tab. I could understand why units that came before us would be upset at not getting it. Yet I can't think of any duty more fitting a mountain tab than performing all your missions in the mountains of Afghanistan.”
The request came from Maj. Gen. Curtis Scaparrotti, commander of RC-East in Afghanistan and the 82nd Airborne Division, according to an Army spokesman. Since it came from a division commander it was sent to Chiarelli for review.
The spokesman said the request was denied because the mountain tab is not a qualification tab like Ranger, Special Forces or Sapper tabs that are qualification badges soldiers earn, like airborne wings, by graduating from a specific school.
The mountain tab was first authorized in 1944 when the 10th Infantry Division became the 10th Mountain Division.
Were they approved, 4th IBCT would have joined only the 10th Mountain Division and the National Guard's 3rd Battalion, the 86th Infantry Brigade Combat Team (Mountain) and 172nd Infantry Regiment, who run the Mountain Warfare School at Jericho, Vt., as bearers of the mountain tab in the Army.