The 143rd Signal Battalion is the TOE Division Signal Battalion for the 3rd Armored Division, based in Frankfurt, Germany. The 143rd Signal Battalion, along with Charlie Company of the 17th Signal Battalion, started its Mobile Subscriber Equipment New Equipment Training (NETT) on 26 May 1990, and concluded with a highly successful CAPEX on 10 September 1990. During the CAPEX, the battalion jumped every node center at least once, and every SEN and RAU team at least twice. The network covered an area 110 km east to west, and 64 km north to south. In addition, the battalion practiced a node center jump in conjunction with a SYSCON jump, an exercise which was to pay high dividends later. LTC Bill Burse rated his battalion combat ready. Based on the results of the CAPEX, the 3rd Armored Division commanding general signed the DD Form 250 accepting MSE as the division's new communications system.
Three weeks after the CAPEX, the battalion began an FTX with the objective of practicing an MSE support concept for a division movement to contact covering 100 km at a rate of 20 miles per hour. The plan had a base of 2 node centers, with 2 node centers held in reserve which would move behind the lead brigade and establish node centers well forward in a doctrinal grid configuration. With the mountainous terrain of central Germany, it was possible to establish internodal links as long as 79 km. Despite this fact, the installation times for the forward node centers were not fast enough to keep the forward Mobile Subscriber Radio Telephone (MSRT) users within 15 km of the forward Radio Access Units (RAU).
Concurrently with the battalion FTX, one company supported a division rotation at the Combat Maneuver Training Center in Höhenfels. The net result of these two exercises was that the battalion was training with MSE continuously for a four-week period after MSE NETT. This developed a solid base of institutional knowledge among the operators and users. Little did anyone realize that the battalion would soon get to test their newly learned skills in Operation Desert Storm.
On 9 November 1990, the line drawn in the Persian Gulf sand took on a whole new meaning for the men and women of the 143rd Signal Battalion. President Bush ordered the powerful defenders of the Fulda Gap, the 3rd Armored Division, to deploy to Southwest Asia and destroy the vaunted Iraqi Republican Guards. This is the courageous story of 638 Signal soldiers supporting the Army's most lethal combat division.
Article Text Copyright © Spring 1991 Army Communicator