By Capt. Ronald C. Garner
JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, Wash. - To honor the heritage and lineage of the United States Artillery, two Joint Base Lewis-McChord based artillery units came together in a week of celebrations that they dubbed, "Redleg" week.
The term Red Leg derives from the early 1800's as the military desired to differentiate the branches by color. The Field Artillery's color was Scarlet and the Field Artillery Soldiers wore a Scarlet stripe down their pant legs' on the field of battle.
The 17th Field Artillery Brigade and the 2nd Infantry Division Artillery began its celebrations with a combined run consisting of thousands of Artillery Soldiers.
"This is a unified effort of two Fires Brigade Level Commanders to integrate our very diverse teams into a combined force that provides synchronized, lethal fires to our supported Maneuver Commanders from Brigade Combat Teams to Corps," said Col. Phillip Raymond, Division Artillery Commander. "This week is the second consecutive week of integrated training between 17th FA Bde., and the DIVARTY. It is the first week in probably a decade that every Joint Base Lewis-McChord based Field Artillery, Air Defense and Fire Support entity came together as a singular team to not only pay respect to our patron, Saint Barbara, but more importantly to build greater esprit-de-corps."
The Red Leg run was the first of two events that celebrated all Field Artillery Soldiers on JBLM. The second event was the Saint Barbara's Day Ball.
Saint Barbara is the patron saint of Artillery, and is often commemorated with a formal military ball and other camaraderie building events once a year.
"The St. Barbara's Day ball was a unique experience that made me feel the camaraderie amongst fellow Soldiers," said Spc. Travis Francois, Bde. Intel Analyst, Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, 17th FA Bde., before performing several songs on his saxophone for the St. Barbara's Day Ball.
U.S. Army Pacific Commander, Gen. Vincent Brooks, was the guest speaker at the ball, saying "There are many highlights and missions that you have been doing...and every one of you, every mission, I am proud of," said Brooks. "You're making history in your own way. You're making history by doing your duty, every day, to the best of your ability."
For pictures of the weeks' events visit the 17th Field Artillery Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/17thFieldArtilleryBrigade/.
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