History of the Macon Volunteers 1825-2025: From the 48th Division to 48th Brigade and Roundout

By Major William Carraway

Historian, Georgia National Guard

 

End of the 48^th Division

In 1967 Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara proposed the elimination of seven National Guard divisions.[1] The 48^th AD was among the divisions selected for inactivation.

 

Composition of the 3rd Brigade, 30th Division.

The inactivation of the Georgia National Guard’s 48^th Armor Division was complete by January 1, 1968. The former units of the 48^th Division constituted the 3^rd Brigade of the North Carolina-based 30^th Division with the Macon Volunteers assigned as the brigade headquarters and headquarters company.[2] The allotment of the 3^rd Brigade was 3,501, far less than the 48^th AD. To balance the losses, the Georgia National Guard received the 265^th Engineer Group and the Emergency Operations Center.[3] Colonel Andrew McKenna assumed command of the new EOH with a promotion to brigadier general.

 

Major General B. F. Merritt’s retirement on December 1, 1967, preceded by one month the sunset of the 48^th AD, which he had commanded since 1962. Merritt enlisted in Macon in 1924 and mobilized as commander of the Macon Volunteers in 1940. Leaving the Volunteers in 1942, he went on to serve in Africa and Europe and served on the staff for Generals Bradley and Eisenhower and Field Marshall Bernard Montgomery. Upon retirement, Merritt was promoted to lieutenant general.[4]

 

Macon Volunteers Return to the 30^th Division

With the reorganization and departure of Col. Mckenna, command of the Macon Volunteers passed to Col. Holden West, a Marine Corps veteran of World War II. He succeeded Brig. Gen. Roy Hogan as assistant division commander, 30^th Division in 1971, whereupon command of the Volunteers passed to Col. James Preston.[5] Preston served in the Army Air Corps in world War II and joined the Georgia National Guard in 1946, rising to command the 176^th Military Police Battalion, and served as the 48^th Armor Division G4.[6]

 

OSD Test II

Soldiers of the 3rd Brigade, 30th Division during the April 1972 field test.
Georgia National Guard Archives.

Beginning in 1972, the Macon Volunteers oversaw the 3^rd Brigade’s role in an 18-month
Army test and evaluation program designed to evaluate a new model of reserve component mobilization readiness. The program prompted several weeks of extra duty by the Macon Volunteers before the first field test took place at Fort Stewart April 7-9, 1972. Major General Joel Paris, Georgia’s Adjutant General, described the program’s purpose as “increase(ing) the value and readiness of the Army National Guard by testing ways to reduce Reserve Component Post-mobilization training and deployment time.”[7]

 

The April field test, and subsequent training, required the Soldiers to weekend drill on Fridays, prompting them to request time off from work in the era before the establishment of employee protections under the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act. Governor Jimmy Carter publicly lobbied state and private employers to support the Guardsmen by releasing them from employment obligations to accommodate the expanded drill schedules.

 

Despite concerns expressed prior to the start of the exercise, Col. Preston reported attendance was at normal levels and few Soldiers experienced difficulty with employers. Taking to the field in M48 Patton Tanks, M113 Armored Personnel Carriers and Jeeps, the Soldiers trained well past midnight. The Macon Volunteers were tasked with exercising headquarters operations in a field environment receiving and analyzing information, generating decisions, and directing and assessing effects of fire and maneuver elements.

 

The second phase of the mobilization and combat readiness testing program took place at Fort Stewart the following summer. The maneuver battalions of the 3^rd Brigade underwent intensified training at a series of training exercises at Fort Stewart which culminated in a division level training exercise in August.[8]

 

Birth of the 48^th Infantry Brigade

In 1973, the Army proposed to restructure six brigades from infantry to armor or mechanized. The Army determined to replace the 30^th Division with three brigades with one remaining in North Carolina while Georgia and Louisiana would each receive a brigade. The Georgia National Guard’s 3^rd Brigade, 30^th Division, formed the 48^th Infantry Brigade.[9] At the request of Governor Carter, the 48^th Brigade was headquartered in Macon, Ga. in honor of the 48^th Division, with the Macon Volunteers redesignated as Headquarters and Headquarters Company. The reorganization was effective December1, 1973 with Brig. Gen. Holden West in command of the newly formed brigade.[10]

 

RALEIGH, N.C., December 1, 1973 - The 3rd Brigade of the 30th Division was redesignated as the 48th Infantry Brigade.
Georgia National Guard Archives.

Carter nominated West to command the Georgia Army National Guard in March 1975 and command of the Macon Volunteers passed to Brig. Gen. Raymond Grant. Two months later, the 48th Brigade was selected to serve as the roundout brigade for the Fort Stewart-based 24th Infantry Division.

 

Roundout

The data collected by the Army during the mobilization evaluation assessing the 3^rd Brigade underwent in 1972 and 1973 was designed to answer questions about Army organization in the years of drawdown that followed the Vietnam War. While the Army had historically depended on the National Guard to bolster its ranks during wartime, it was faced with the prospect of future conflicts requiring rapid mobilization. Essentially, the Army was faced with two options: dramatically increase the size of the active component or reduce the time required for National Guard units to reach combat readiness. In the post-Vietnam War environment, the first option was not feasible. The objective of the 3^rd Brigade, OSD Test II “to determine if Reserve Component Divisions will be fully capable of performing TOE missions if postmobiization training time is reduced from 10 to six weeks.”[11]

 

Initial test results suggested that mobilization time could be reduced by several measures. First among them was to reorganize National Guard units so that divisions did not cross state lines, providing separate brigades for most states. This course of action helped shape the formation of the 48^th Brigade. The second was to associate brigades with active divisions whereby divisions gained the necessary force structure while simultaneously providing a training ground to increase battalion-level combat efficiency.

 

On May 1, 1975, the 48^th Brigade was designated as a roundout brigade for the 24^th Infantry Division at Fort Stewart. With the promise of additional training and proficiency came 329 new personnel allotments to the 48^th Brigade, which would provide one third of the 24^th Division’s strength. [12]

 

The brigade received 52 M901 Improved TOW Vehicles in the summer of 1982. Georgia National Guard Archives.

Roundout reaped benefits for the 48^th Brigade in the early years of the program. In 1982, the brigade received 52 M901 Improved TOW Vehicles, becoming the first National Guard unit to field the systems.[13] Battalions of the 48^th rotated through 24^th ID rotations at the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, Calif.[14] In the summer of 1985, The 48^th received the M-1 Abrams Main Battle Tank, the most sophisticated armored weapon system in the Army’s arsenal.[15] Units of the 48^th began receiving the M2 Bradley Fighting Vehicle in the closing months of the year. By the late 1980s, it appeared that the roundout concept was achieving the goal of instilling a sense of ownership for divisions while strengthening the ties between the active and reserve components.[16]

 

FORT STEWART, Ga. July 17, 1983 - An M60A3 main battle tank and an M113A1 armored personnel carrier from the 1st Platoon, 48th Brigade,
108th Armor Regiment, Georgia National Guard, move out to attack opposing forces during a company team defense exercise. The training is in preparation
for annual training to be held at Fort Irwin, California, later in the year. National Archives 

Desert Shield

On August 2, 1990, Iraqi forces crossed the Kuwait border with Iraq President Saddam Hussein proclaiming Kuwait the 19^th Province of Iraq. With the fourth largest Army in the world, Iraq’s actions were deemed a serious threat to the region and of vital United States interests, necessitating military intervention.

 

The 24^th ID was alerted and mobilized advanced elements into the theater of operations August 17, 1990.[17] With fifteen years’ roundout experience, training for such deployment, the 48^th Brigade Soldiers fully expected to accompany the 24^th ID on their mobilizations. But weeks passed without activation orders. Instead, an active Army brigade was selected to augment the 24^th ID while another active Army unit replaced the Mississippi National Guard’s 155^th Armored Brigade, the roundout brigade of the 1^st Cavalry Division. Whereas the 48^th Brigade had trained with its division for 15 years, the 197^th Infantry Brigade had not and was equipped with older model M60A3 tanks.[18] Further, in fiscal years 1989 and 1990, the 197^th had trained collectively for 86 days whereas the 48^th Brigade had amassed 106 collective training days.[19]

 

The 48th Brigade marching down Cherry Street in Macon December 2, 1990.
Georgia National Guard Archives. 

The 48^th Brigade did not receive a warning order to mobilize until
November 21, at which point the unit was instructed to be prepared to mobilize on or about November 30.[20] Permanent Orders 20-1, issued November 26, 1990, by Second Army, ordered the brigade to active duty for a period of 180 days. Additional instructions indicated that the brigade should arrive at mobilization station on December 2.[21] The order affected 4,217 brigade Soldiers and units in nearly 40 separate communities.[22]

 

As they had nearly 100 years previous during the Spanish American War, Soldiers of the Macon Volunteers proceeded down Cherry Street in Macon December 2, 1990, as citizens holding signs gathered to see the unit off on its way to Fort Stewart.[23] Arriving at its mobilization station, the 48^th Brigade began premobilization training beginning with medical and dental procedures and proceeding to physical conditioning and weapons training.

 

Fort Irwin

Returning from Christmas leave, the Soldiers began departing in waves for the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, Calif. They were greeted by a winter freeze which would soon give way to blowing wind and dust clouds. As was the case at Camp Cotton in 1916, dust infiltrated into the Soldiers’ tents, choked their lungs, and sparked a rash of respiratory ailments.

 

The first issue of the 48th Brigade review.

Awaiting the Georgia Guardsmen on the vast sandy stretches of the training center was the 2^nd Battalion, 60^th Infantry Regiment from Fort Lewis, Washington who would portray the opposition forces throughout the grueling exercises. The OPFOR had the advantage of terrain and observation as the brigade’s battalions maneuvered against them.

 

Fort Irwin, Calif. in January 1991. Georgia National Guard Archives.

Desert Storm

While the brigade was thus engaged against the OPFOR, Operation Desert Storm commenced with a massive aerial bombardment of Iraqi targets by U.S. and Coalition forces. But OPFOR was not the only obstacle standing between the 48^th and deployment.

 

Although rated as combat ready by the 24^th Division August 2, 1990, when the 48^th Brigade began the mobilization process, the combat readiness rules were changed. The brigade would be required to meet a higher readiness rating than one meeting the certification for combat readiness. New training tasks were added to the training schedule for the 48^th that were not required of active-duty units when they left home stations months previous. New software requirements for maintenance records further hampered training efforts as support units lost key personnel to computer training classes who would otherwise keep the brigade’s vehicles combat ready. It took more than a week for the brigade to receive equipment for its seven battalions upon arriving at NTC and still more time to bring the equipment up to operational standards.[24]

 

General Norman Schwarzkopf offers another explanation for the brigade’s long NTC rotation.

 

What actually is occurring is a type of “test-bed training.” In fact, the 48^th Brigade is testing certain desert warfare techniques, with the results then passed to the Persian Gulf for other units to use, if successful, and avoid if the 48^th Brigade cannot make them work.[25]

 

On February 14, 1991, Col. Don Davis assumed command of the 48th Brigade, replacing Brig. Gen. William Holland, who returned to Georgia to assume command of the Troop Command. The ground war portion of the Gulf war began. Five days later, the 48^th Brigade was certified as combat ready by the Second Army, 51 days after arriving at Fort Irwin. The ground war ended the same day.

 

1991 Mobilization In Context

In 1972, the predecessors of the 48^th Brigade helped the U.S. Army test the theory that National Guard units could be made mission ready if postmobiization training time was reduced to six weeks rather than ten weeks. With all the obstacles emplaced in its path, the 48^th was mission ready within nine days of that benchmark.

The Macon Volunteers returned home in March 1991 after languishing for weeks at a mobilization site while active units were called forward in their place. Their experience is reminiscent of that of the Macon Volunteers in the Spanish American War who similarly left their families and homes in 1898, bound for overseas service, only to end up stranded at a mobilization site. The experiences deeply impacted the Soldiers of both generations. 

---

 [1] John B. Wilson, Maneuver and Firepower: The Evolution of Divisions and Separate Brigades, (Washington DC: U.S. Army Center of Military History, 1988), 338. 

[2] National Guard Bureau, Reorganizational Authority 71-67, Washington DC: December 14, 1967.

 

[3] “Reorganized and Re-trained Army Guardsmen Gird for Summer Training After Winter of Intensive Drills,” Georgia Guardsman, Jan-April 1968, 3-4.

 

[4] “B. F. Merritt Retires as Lt. General,” Georgia Guardsman, Sep-Dec 1967, 2.

[5] “Memorable Career of Gen. Roy Hogan Ends after 43 Yrs Svc; COL ‘Ebo’ West is New Asst. CG of 30^th Division,” Georgia Guardsman, Jul-Dec 1971, 15.

 

[6] “Col. Preston Retires,” Georgia Guardsman, March April 1976, 10.

 

[7] “3^rd Bde Readiness to be Tested Next 18 Months,” Georgia Guardsman, Jan-Mar 72, 3.

[8] State of Georgia Department of Defense, Annual Report, FY 1973 (Atlanta: Georgia National Guard, 1974), NP.

 

[9] John B. Wilson, Maneuver and Firepower: The Evolution of Divisions and Separate Brigades, (Washington DC: U.S. Army Center of Military History, 1988), 361.

 

[10] National Guard Bureau, Reorganizational Authority 153-73, Washington DC, November 23, 1973.

[11] Col. George E. Thayer, “Can National Guard Divisions Attain and Maintain a Readiness Posture to permit Early Deployment,” Carlisle Barracks, Penn: US Army War College, October 22, 1973, 23.

 

[12] “Third Brigade is Now 48^th,” The Georgia Guardsman, November December 1973, 6.

 

[13] “Georgia receives TOW Vehicle, M60A3 Tanks,” Georgia Guardsman, Oct Nov 1982, 3.

 

[14] “Georgia Unit Completes Latest NTC Rotation, Georgia Guardsman, May-June 1985, 2 and 12.

 

[15] James Wooten, “M-1 Abrams comes to Georgia,” Georgia Guardsman, July-September 10.

[16] Les Melnyk, Mobilizing for the Storm, (Washington DC: National Guard Bureau, 2001), 6.

 

[17] Theresa L. Kraus and Frank N. Schubert, The Whirlwind War: The United States Army in Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm, (Washington, DC: Diane Publishing Company, 1995), 55.

 

[18] Les Melnyk, Mobilizing for the Storm, (Washington DC: National Guard Bureau, 2001), 7.

 

[19] “Norman Schwarzkopf Jr., “The 48^th Brigade A Chronology from Invasion to Demobilization,” National Guard, May 1991, 12-15.

 

[20] Randall Savage, “Pentagon: unit will be mobilized,” Macon Telegraph, October 22, 1990, 1.

 

[21] Department of the Army, Permanent Order 20-1, Fort Gillem, GA, November 26, 1990.

 

[22] The Associated Press, “State’s largest unit called up.” November 24, 1990.

 

[23] Randall Savage, “48^th leaves Macon,” December 3, 1990, 1.

             [24] “Norman Schwarzkopf Jr., “The 48^th Brigade A Chronology from Invasion to Demobilization,” National Guard, May 1991, 14.

             [25] “Norman Schwarzkopf Jr., “The 48^th Brigade A Chronology from Invasion to Demobilization,” National Guard, May 1991, 15.