11th Signal Brigade
Encyclopedia
The 11th Signal Brigade ("Desert Thunderbirds") of the United States Army
is an element of Army Forces Command
. It is based at Fort Huachuca
, Arizona
. The unit mascot is the Thunderbird
, a hawk-like bird perched upon a globe shooting thunderbolts out of its eyes. Soldiers in this unit call themselves "The Thunderbirds."
, Washington, as part of STRATCOM, the U.S. Army Strategic Communications Command. The group became a regular participant in exercises in Alaska.
On 25 April 1966 the group was reorganized and redesignated Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 11th Signal Group. The following December, the group was reassigned to Fort Huachuca, Arizona its current home.
As the 11th Signal Group the unit contained:
HQ, HHQ, and four companies, 505th 521st, 526th, and 557th Signal Companies.
Units of the group participated in Operation Power Pack
in 1965.
The group was designated 1 October 1979 as Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 11th Signal Brigade.
After Iraq's invasion of Kuwait
in August 1990, the 11th Signal Brigade (minus two companies that remained to execute other contingency missions) deployed to Saudi Arabia
in support of Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm.
The 11th Signal Brigade deployed some of its Signal personnel to East Timor in 1999 supporting the U.S. contingent with INTERFET
.
, the U.S. Army's 10th Mountain Division
in Bagram, Afghanistan and Task Force Rakkasan (3rd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division
), in Kandahar, Afghanistan. They also had soldiers deployed to Djibouti, Africa in support of Combined Joint Task Force, Horn of Africa (CJTF-HOA). The "Thunderbird Brigade," successfully performed its mission of providing Command, Control, Communications, Computers, and Internet (C4I) services to the warfighter but soon deployed back home to Fort Huachuca, Arizona shortly after establishing tactical communications networks for coalition forces.
to support CFLCC in early 2003. It successfully enabled the warfighting commanders which included GEN Tommy Franks
of USCENTCOM, LTG David McKiernan
of CFLCC and LTG William Wallace
of V Corps (later commanded by LTG Ricardo S. Sanchez) to have real-time battlefield communications capability in the Iraqi theater of operations. The 11th Signal Brigade was featured in the History Channel
's show "Tactical to Practical
" for its efforts in implementing the use of COTS or "Commercial-off-the-shelf" information technology equipment in a real-world military operation.
The 51st Signal Battalion is no longer part of the 11th Signal Brigade. It is a subordinate unit of the 35th Signal Brigade
.
Due to its total communications capabilities, the brigade can support the full spectrum of operations ranging from combat to peacekeeping to humanitarian. Since 1990, the brigade has participated in numerous contingency operations. The entire brigade took part in Operation Desert Shield/Storm. At the height of that operation, the brigade controlled more than five signal battalions and operated the largest tactical communications network since World War II. For its service during these operations, the brigade was awarded the Department of the Army Meritorious Unit Commendation. The brigade also took part in Operations Restore Hope and Continue Hope in Somalia from December 1992 to March 1994; Operation Intrinsic Action/Southern Watch
in Kuwait from August to October 1992; and Operation Uphold Democracy
in Haiti from September 1994 to March 1996. Brigade soldiers have also supported operations in Korea, Guantanamo Naval Base, Cuba, and Saudi Arabia. Most recently, the brigade supported Operation Desert Thunder
in 1998 with a brigade task force.
The principal communications capabilities of the unit include tactical satellite, tropospheric scatter, super high frequency, and ultra high frequency line-of-sight transmission systems, and voice, message, and data switches. The brigade's communications networks are compatible with the mobile subscriber equipment communications networks found at corps and division level.
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
is an element of Army Forces Command
United States Army Forces Command
United States Army Forces Command is the largest Army Command and the preeminent provider of expeditionary, campaign-capable land forces to Combatant Commanders. Headquartered at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, FORSCOM consists of more than 750,000 Active Army, U.S. Army Reserve, and Army National...
. It is based at Fort Huachuca
Fort Huachuca
Fort Huachuca is a United States Army installation under the command of the United States Army Installation Management Command. It is located in Cochise County, in southeast Arizona, about north of the border with Mexico. Beginning in 1913, for 20 years the fort was the base for the "Buffalo...
, Arizona
Arizona
Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...
. The unit mascot is the Thunderbird
Thunderbird (mythology)
The Thunderbird is a legendary creature in certain North American indigenous peoples' history and culture. It is considered a "supernatural" bird of power and strength...
, a hawk-like bird perched upon a globe shooting thunderbolts out of its eyes. Soldiers in this unit call themselves "The Thunderbirds."
History
Designated Headquarters and Headquarters Detachment, 11th Signal Group, 4 September 1964, to support the Joint Chiefs of Staff worldwide contingencies. The 11th Signal Group was originally assigned to Fort LewisFort Lewis
Joint Base Lewis-McChord is a United States military facility located south-southwest of Tacoma, Washington. The facility is under the jurisdiction of the United States Army Joint Base Garrison, Joint Base Lewis-McChord....
, Washington, as part of STRATCOM, the U.S. Army Strategic Communications Command. The group became a regular participant in exercises in Alaska.
On 25 April 1966 the group was reorganized and redesignated Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 11th Signal Group. The following December, the group was reassigned to Fort Huachuca, Arizona its current home.
As the 11th Signal Group the unit contained:
HQ, HHQ, and four companies, 505th 521st, 526th, and 557th Signal Companies.
Units of the group participated in Operation Power Pack
Operation Power Pack
The second United States occupation of the Dominican Republic began when the United States Marines Corps entered Santo Domingo on April 28, 1965. They were later joined by most of the United States Army's 82nd Airborne Division and its parent XVIIIth Airborne Corps...
in 1965.
The group was designated 1 October 1979 as Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 11th Signal Brigade.
After Iraq's invasion of Kuwait
Kuwait
The State of Kuwait is a sovereign Arab state situated in the north-east of the Arabian Peninsula in Western Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the south at Khafji, and Iraq to the north at Basra. It lies on the north-western shore of the Persian Gulf. The name Kuwait is derived from the...
in August 1990, the 11th Signal Brigade (minus two companies that remained to execute other contingency missions) deployed to Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia , commonly known in British English as Saudi Arabia and in Arabic as as-Sa‘ūdiyyah , is the largest state in Western Asia by land area, constituting the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and the second-largest in the Arab World...
in support of Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm.
The 11th Signal Brigade deployed some of its Signal personnel to East Timor in 1999 supporting the U.S. contingent with INTERFET
INTERFET
The International Force for East Timor was a multinational peacekeeping taskforce, mandated by the United Nations to address the humanitarian and security crisis which took place in East Timor from 1999–2000 until the arrival of United Nations peacekeepers...
.
Operation Enduring Freedom
The 11th Signal Brigade deployed shortly after the 11 September 2001 attacks to support ARCENT in its position as CFLCC. During OEF in 2002, the 11th Signal Brigade had soldiers and civilian personnel supporting CFLCC Forward in UzbekistanUzbekistan
Uzbekistan , officially the Republic of Uzbekistan is a doubly landlocked country in Central Asia and one of the six independent Turkic states. It shares borders with Kazakhstan to the west and to the north, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan to the east, and Afghanistan and Turkmenistan to the south....
, the U.S. Army's 10th Mountain Division
10th Mountain Division
The 10th Mountain Division is a light infantry division of the United States Army based at Fort Drum, New York. It is a subordinate unit of the XVIII Airborne Corps and the only division-sized element of the U.S. Army to specialize in fighting under harsh terrain and weather conditions...
in Bagram, Afghanistan and Task Force Rakkasan (3rd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division
101st Airborne Division
The 101st Airborne Division—the "Screaming Eagles"—is a U.S. Army modular light infantry division trained for air assault operations. During World War II, it was renowned for its role in Operation Overlord, the D-Day landings on 6 June 1944, in Normandy, France, Operation Market Garden, the...
), in Kandahar, Afghanistan. They also had soldiers deployed to Djibouti, Africa in support of Combined Joint Task Force, Horn of Africa (CJTF-HOA). The "Thunderbird Brigade," successfully performed its mission of providing Command, Control, Communications, Computers, and Internet (C4I) services to the warfighter but soon deployed back home to Fort Huachuca, Arizona shortly after establishing tactical communications networks for coalition forces.
Operation Iraqi Freedom
Shortly after its deployment supporting OEF, the 11th Signal Brigade reconstituted and deployed to the now closed Camp Doha, KuwaitCamp Doha
Camp Doha was the main US Army base in Kuwait, and played a pivotal role in the US military presence in the Middle East since the 1991 Gulf War and in the 2003 invasion of Iraq. The complex is located on a small peninsula on Kuwait Bay, west of Kuwait City...
to support CFLCC in early 2003. It successfully enabled the warfighting commanders which included GEN Tommy Franks
Tommy Franks
Tommy Ray Franks is a retired general in the United States Army. His last Army post was as the Commander of the United States Central Command, overseeing United States Armed Forces operations in a 25-country region, including the Middle East...
of USCENTCOM, LTG David McKiernan
David D. McKiernan
David D. McKiernan is a retired United States Army four-star general who served in Afghanistan as Commander, International Security Assistance Force from June 3, 2008 to June 15, 2009. He served concurrently as Commander, U.S. Forces Afghanistan from October 6, 2008 to June 15, 2009.Prior to...
of CFLCC and LTG William Wallace
William S. Wallace
William Scott Wallace, is a retired four-star general in the United States Army who served as Commanding General, United States Army Training and Doctrine Command at Fort Monroe, Virginia from September 5, 2005, to December 8, 2008. He retired from the Army on December 8, 2008.-Biography:Wallace...
of V Corps (later commanded by LTG Ricardo S. Sanchez) to have real-time battlefield communications capability in the Iraqi theater of operations. The 11th Signal Brigade was featured in the History Channel
The History Channel
History, formerly known as The History Channel, is an American-based international satellite and cable TV channel that broadcasts a variety of reality shows and documentary programs including those of fictional and non-fictional historical content, together with speculation about the future.-...
's show "Tactical to Practical
Tactical to Practical
Tactical to Practical was a short-lived History Channel program that ran from 2003 to 2005. Each episode documented ways in which technologies utilized by the civilian public were originally developed to serve military purposes. The show was hosted by Hunter Ellis....
" for its efforts in implementing the use of COTS or "Commercial-off-the-shelf" information technology equipment in a real-world military operation.
Subordinate units
The 11th Signal Brigade is an Echelons Above Corps or "EAC" Signal Brigade. It comprises the following units:- Headquarters and Headquarters Company (HHC), 11th Signal Brigade
- 40th Expeditionary Signal Battalion (United States)
- 86th Expeditionary Signal Battalion (United States)
- 62d Expeditionary Signal Battalion (United States)
- 57th Expeditionary Signal Battalion (United States)
The 51st Signal Battalion is no longer part of the 11th Signal Brigade. It is a subordinate unit of the 35th Signal Brigade
35th Signal Brigade (United States)
The 35th Signal Brigade is the largest signal unit in the world and was the only airborne signal brigade in the United States Army. The brigade was previously based at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, and provided rapidly deployable force projection signal support, and rapid communications for Army,...
.
Capabilities
The 11th Signal Brigade provides echelon-above-corps signal support (EAC). It has the capability to install, operate, and maintain a tactical communications network supporting either joint or Army organizations, establish command center communications nodes, area signal centers, and small extension nodes. It provides installation, construction, and test teams on a worldwide basis during peacetime, war, and operations other than war, and in response to emergency requirements to restore or expand information systems facilities. Also, the brigade provides on-site training in the operation and maintenance of new or modified non-tactical information systems and limited commercial-off-the-shelf communications equipment and systems at worldwide locations.Due to its total communications capabilities, the brigade can support the full spectrum of operations ranging from combat to peacekeeping to humanitarian. Since 1990, the brigade has participated in numerous contingency operations. The entire brigade took part in Operation Desert Shield/Storm. At the height of that operation, the brigade controlled more than five signal battalions and operated the largest tactical communications network since World War II. For its service during these operations, the brigade was awarded the Department of the Army Meritorious Unit Commendation. The brigade also took part in Operations Restore Hope and Continue Hope in Somalia from December 1992 to March 1994; Operation Intrinsic Action/Southern Watch
Operation Southern Watch
Operation Southern Watch was an operation conducted by Joint Task Force Southwest Asia with the mission of monitoring and controlling airspace south of the 32nd Parallel in Iraq, following the 1991 Gulf War until the 2003 invasion of Iraq.-Summary:Operation Southern Watch began on 27 August 1992...
in Kuwait from August to October 1992; and Operation Uphold Democracy
Operation Uphold Democracy
Operation Uphold Democracy was an intervention designed to remove the military regime installed by the 1991 Haitian coup d'état that overthrew the elected President Jean-Bertrand Aristide...
in Haiti from September 1994 to March 1996. Brigade soldiers have also supported operations in Korea, Guantanamo Naval Base, Cuba, and Saudi Arabia. Most recently, the brigade supported Operation Desert Thunder
Operation Desert Thunder
Operation Desert Thunder was a response to threats by Iraq's president Saddam Hussein to shoot down U-2 spy planes, and violate the no-fly zone set up over his country. The operation was designed to bring stability to the region by bringing in a military presence during the negotiations between...
in 1998 with a brigade task force.
The principal communications capabilities of the unit include tactical satellite, tropospheric scatter, super high frequency, and ultra high frequency line-of-sight transmission systems, and voice, message, and data switches. The brigade's communications networks are compatible with the mobile subscriber equipment communications networks found at corps and division level.
Past Commanders
NOTE: This is an incomplete list. Please update with previous commanders| Order of Precedence | Position | Incumbent | Start of Service | End of Service | Notable Service |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bridgade Commander | COL Edwin W. Chandler | 1978 | 1980 | ||
| Unknown | Brigade Commander | COL Roy Loudermilk | 1980 | 1980 | |
| Unknown | Brigade Commander | COL Mark S. Bowman | July 2000 | August 2002 | Operation Enduring Freedom |
| Unknown | Brigade Commander | COL Brian R. Hurley | August 2002 | July 2004 | Operation Iraqi Freedom |
| Unknown | Brigade Commander | COL Michael S. Yarmie | July 2004 | July 2006 | Operation Iraqi Freedom |
| Unknown | Brigade Commander | COL John B. Hildebrand | July 2006 | February 2009 | Operation Iraqi Freedom |
| Unknown | Brigade Commander | COL Francis J. Huber | February 2009 | March 2011 | Operation Iraqi Freedom |
| Unknown | Brigade Commander | COL Patrick Dedham | March 2011 | Present | |