Show III Big 1 At Ft Lewis By Doug Jacobson Jacobsen and Ted Olsen With Vernal National Guard At Ft Lewis Washington For the past five weeks Company A of Vernal has been taking part In Exercise Mesa Drive which is the bar lar gest military maneuver In the Pacific Northwest since World War II Mesa Drive started May 7 and en ended ed May 21 A problem of this nature requires much planning and hard work Company A was part of the man aggressor force for this exercise We arrived at atthe atthe the area which Is known as Badger Pocket two weeks before the problem started Iu In those lint first two hectic weeks the company helped set up tEnts build roads build cattle guards and dig holes for latrInes and Mess Much of the dig dig- digging J ging had to be done dOM with the aid of blasting powder and andack ack ack hammers The Fhe ground rocky and dig here bere La is very Ring ging is Allin all we dug 72 of these Craters problem the 1st platoon from fromA fromA A Company were set aside as the fire department for the After the beginning of the entire aggressor camp This being a very Important job ob the men from this platoon were on oil call 24 hrs a day Th 2nd and 3rd platoons ac acted ted as Camp Engineers this required many long hours in inthe inthe the field repairing fences cattle guards and ditches damaged by heavy equip ment building roads and con can converting as Infantry during a crisis in the battle Our Aggressor Force Base was located 10 miles East of Ellensburg Washington in country that Is much like that which we find on Diamond mond tt Mt The camp was corn com posed of tents Showering facUlties facilities Chapel and Barbershop were all housed In nearby tents A movies was played In various Mess halls throughout the Battalion each tach evening The Aggressor Army was a fiction force at was with the Friendly Forces In Inthis Inthis this case the Friendly Forces were Wisconsin's Divi sion A different uniform flag and salute were used through through- throughout out the aggressor camp Company A will stay be- be behind behind hind for an additional week I aft after the I e- e eo problem o to I emble the camp area After the completion of our work here the company will move in convoy back to our garri son area Even though the Guards Guards- Guardsmen men have been away from their jobs and the stork has has- hasn't hasn't nt been away from his Little bundles of joy oy have been I brought tc the families of Sp 4 Terry Anderson a boy Sp 51 4 Earl Murphy a boy and Earl Oaks a boy With I the coming of these new baby boys the prospects for lor the I company's staying at full strength is quite favorable |