Category: Idaho Military Divison

Idaho Military Division Public Affairs/Crystal Farris

The Idaho Army National Guard’s 1st Battalion of the 148th Field Artillery Regiment returned from its annual training July 24, after spending more than two weeks at Camp Guernsey, Wyoming, where it participated in its first M1156 Precision Guidance Kit new equipment training.

“Receiving the PGK NET was a great opportunity that will enhance the battalion and the 116th Cavalry Brigade Combat Team’s lethality on the battlefield,” said Lt. Col. Eric Orcutt, commander of the 1-148th FAR. “We purposely sought to field the PGK prior to the brigade’s upcoming mobilizations. If the PGK capability exists in the theater of operations we end up in, then our Soldiers will be trained to employ it and bring a precision capability to the fight.”

The GPS guidance kit with fuze functions and integrated GPS receiver, provides the 1-148th FAR with the latest technology to perform its warfighting mission and enables the unit to more accurately deploy munitions within 30 meters of an intended target, as opposed to the average 50 meters of traditional artillery.

Small aerodynamic fins on the fuze allow the system to make flight adjustments of the round’s trajectory and steer the shell on target. A fail safe can also prevent the shell from exploding if it falls outside 150 meters of an intended target.

This enables Soldiers to more confidently call in artillery support close to their position, reduce the number of shells needed to destroy a target and reduce difficulties in keeping crews supplied, said Sgt. 1st Class Mike Taylor, master gunner with the 1-148th FAR.

The fuze kit weighs three pounds and threads into the nose of conventional 155mm high explosive artillery shells, providing near-precision capabilities at a cost far less than precision munitions, Taylor added.

During the training, Soldiers belonging to Batteries Alpha, Bravo and Charlie learned about the PGK’s capabilities and conducted live-fire for the first time since the 1-148th FAR completed its National Training Center rotation at Fort Irwin, California, in 2019.

Orcutt said Camp Guernsey provided the battalion the ability to effectively train and conduct live-fire with more than 10 kilometers of open land.

“The 1-148 FAR was excited for the training at Camp Guernsey,” he said. “After last year’s annual training during COVID-19, everyone was eager to get back on the guns, on the hill, behind their fire direction computers, or wherever their job is. The training area was wooded, green, and full of terrain that many have not had an opportunity to experience, keeping the morale high and the training challenging.”

The 1-148th FAR employs fire to destroy, neutralize, suppress or shape enemy forces; provides fire support to maneuver in close combat and during counterattack to control land areas; and provides counterfire.

It is equipped with M1096A6 Paladins, self-propelled howitzers that fire 155mm artillery shells. Crews that operate the Paladin consist of four-man teams; a driver, a number one man, a gunner and a howitzer section chief.

The number one man is responsible for loading and firing the howitzer, the gunner fuzes the round and cuts propellant powder, while the section chief manages all firing data and ensures the howitzer is laid on target.

Idaho Military Division Public Affairs/Crystal Farris

The Idaho National Guard dedicated its newest barracks in honor of Medal of Honor recipient U.S. Army 1st Lt. Vernon Joseph Baker on Gowen Field, Tuesday.

Baker was one of seven African Americans awarded the Medal of Honor for service during World War II. He received the award nearly 50 years later for his extraordinary heroism on April 5 and 6, 1945, while in Viareggio, Italy. The award is the nation’s highest and most prestigious military decoration.

“I’m thankful that on this day, we will create a lasting legacy in the name of 1st Lt. Vernon J. Baker, Medal of Honor recipient,” said Jerome Mapp, former Boise City Council member and Caldwell planning and zoning director. “Those who will enter into this building will have the opportunity to learn about Baker, his leadership and the sacrifices he made.”

Baker joined the Army in 1941 and later attended Officer Candidate School to earn his commission as a second lieutenant in 1943. The following year, he deployed with the 92nd Infantry Division to Italy. On April 5, 1945, Baker led 25 African American infantrymen through a maze of German bunkers and machine gun nests to attack Castle Aghnolfi, a German stronghold.

He lost 17 of his men during the battle. However, Baker destroyed various enemy installations, personnel and equipment during the attack. The next night, he volunteered to continue the advancement of a battalion through further enemy minefields and heavy fire.

Baker earned the Distinguished Service Cross for his actions, the Army’s second-highest award for bravery.

In the early 1990’s the Department of Defense and the U.S. Army initiated an investigation that determined a climate of racism had prevented African American service members from receiving proper recognition for acts of courage during World War II. In total, seven African Americans, including Baker, were later approved to receive the Medal of Honor.

Baker was the lone survivor of those seven individuals on Jan. 13, 1997, and the only African American to ever personally receive the award for service in World War II, when he accepted the Medal of Honor from President Bill Clinton at a ceremony in the White House. He was 77 at the time.

After Baker retired from the service in 1986, he moved to Idaho to pursue his love of hunting. He later met his wife Heidy, who he lived with in their St. Maries home until Baker’s death in 2010 when he was interred at the Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia.

Mapp said in 2020 he had wanted to recognize an African American from Idaho and remembered meeting Baker in 2000 during an event at the Idaho Black History Museum. Mapp thought Baker was worthy of recognition as an Idaho citizen and Medal of Honor recipient and requested he be memorialized by the Idaho National Guard.

Maj. Gen. Michael Garshak, adjutant general of Idaho, said the organization wanted to honor Baker in a lasting way, where other service members could benefit from Baker’s accomplishments.

“Vernon Baker is a genuine American Hero,” said Garshak. “Not only for his heroic actions on the battlefield in World War II, for which he was awarded the Medal of Honor, but also because of his unfailing determination to put honor and country above all else.”

Construction of the barracks started in April 2020 and took three years and approximately $8 million to complete. It provides temporary lodging for up to 156 personnel with 39 private rooms and a shared dayroom.

It is the first building on Gowen Field to earn a gold certification in Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design; the second highest rating of four certifications that verify a facility’s green features. The Vernon J. Baker Hall earned its LEED rating through various features including integrated ground loop heating and cooling systems, low flow fixtures, sustainable building practices and sustainable landscape features.

Heidy, who still lives in St. Maries, spent the night in the barracks prior to the dedication.

“It’s wonderful to have this building dedicated to my husband and a great honor for our family,” she said.

Outside the barracks is a stone that reads “Baker Hall,” a statue of an elk symbolizing Baker’s love for hunting in Idaho, and a plaque embedded into the bricks of the building entrance. Inside the building is his Medal of Honor citation and a brief history and biography of Baker.

Idaho Military Division Public Affairs/Maj. Robert Taylor

Cassandra Cridland has known her husband, Sgt. 1st Class Wayne Cridland, since junior high.

“The thing to know about my husband is he’s just committed to life,” she said. “Whatever he’s doing in the moment, he’s fully committed to that. If he says he’s going to conquer something, you might as well stand out of his way. He’s going to do exactly that. Whether it’s cancer, going on a deployment or mowing the yard.”

Cridland was diagnosed with Stage 4A squamous cell carcinoma in February 2009. In September 2010, he deployed to Iraq with the Army National Guard’s 116th Cavalry Brigade Combat Team in support of Operation New Dawn.

“That’s what we train to do,” Cridland said. “As an NCO, I didn’t want another NCO leading my guys into combat and being responsible for them. If something happened to them, I didn’t want that responsibility on someone else’s shoulders who hadn’t spent a lot of time with them.”

Cridland said the cancer started in his left tonsil and then spread to the left side of his face, jaw, tongue and neck. His doctors proposed an aggressive treatment plan that gave Cridland an 85 percent chance of surviving. For eight weeks, Cridland was to receive radiation every day and chemo every Monday for five hours. Cridland said he had an IV port inserted into his heart to accept the chemo because the heart’s vessels are bigger than other blood vessels, which allows them to handle more damage from the chemo.

At seven weeks, Cridland said the treatment was causing him more harm than the cancer was, so his doctors had him take a week off. At that time, his chances of surviving dropped to 14 percent.

Cridland finished the last week of treatment in June and said he was given six months to live. He had shrunk in size from 190 pounds to 124 pounds while receiving treatment. He had a feeding tube for nearly three months because scar tissue from the radiation made it impossible for him to swallow. After it was removed, he had to learn to chew and swallow again. His doctor wasn’t sure he would be alive for Christmas. Cridland had other plans. He quickly went back to work and working out.

“I told him I didn’t have time for that and I was too dumb to die,” he said. “My wife absolutely wouldn’t let me quit. Every time I got down, my wife was there to remind me I had things to live for and keep me going.”

Cassandra said she deals with stress by walking and that while Cridland slept after treatment, she’d walk nine or 10 miles a day.

Cridland said he only missed drill once due to the cancer. He was hellbent on deploying with his unit, B Company, 145th Brigade Support Battalion, even as doctors told him they didn’t think it was possible.

“By the time he finished treatment, he needed something he could face head on,” Cassandra said. “He was completely out of control of the outcome of his treatment and he needed something he felt like he had some control over and I respected that. The deployment was something he needed. Doctors kept telling him he wasn’t going and he kept saying, ‘yes I am, just watch me.’”

Cridland said he argued with his doctors to clear him to deploy.

“I said, ‘if you can’t give me a medical reason why I can’t deploy, you need to deploy me.’ I think it was because I kept bugging them, they gave in and let me go. There was no medical reason for me not to go.”

Cridland deployed with the rest of the 116th Cavalry Brigade Combat Team in September 2010. The brigade trained at the Orchard Combat Training Center in Boise and at Camp Shelby, Mississippi, before deploying to Iraq.

ONE A SOLDIER, ALWAYS A SOLDIER

Cridland enlisted into the Idaho Army National Guard in 2007 as a 91B wheeled vehicle mechanic. He previously served in the U.S. Army from 1985 to 1991. After a divorce that left him with primary custody of three children under the age of five, he decided to get out of the Army. With his children grown and 9/11 still on his mind, he joined the National Guard.

“I’m from that age group where you don’t attack America and get away with it,” he said. “I was still young enough to come back in, so I reenlisted.”

Cridland was nearly 40 at the time. He said he showed up to the recruiting station with long hair and no one thought he was serious about enlisting until he produced his DD-214, indicating he had previously served.

“I like serving my country and knowing we’re making a difference,” he said. “In the National Guard, we can serve the public with snow removal, firefighting support and those type of missions, and we’re available for combat if we’re needed. A lot of it is just giving back to the community and supporting them when they need us.”

Cridland said the biggest difference between serving in the 80s and post-9/11 was the Army’s change of mission. Cridland was a mechanic for an infantry line unit during his first stint in the Army. He said training focused on defeating Russia in the Cold War. His mission in Iraq was largely convoy security and escorting VIPs in an urban environment.

Cridland was a squad leader during the deployment as his unit conducted more than 260 convoys along the 17-miles between Camp Victory and Baghdad’s Green Zone. For most missions, he was the convoy commander with 11 other Soldiers. He said most days were uneventful, with one exception.

On July 7, 2011, part of his team was hit by an IED, which claimed the lives of Specialists Nathan Byers and Nicholas Newby. The Soldiers were the brigade’s only two causalities during the deployment. Byers was 24. Newby was 20.

“I had known Byers for quite a few years,” he said. “That hit me hard. He was a good kid.”

Cridland, and the other part of his team, responded to the scene in just minutes to assist with fire support and security.

During the deployment, Cridland checked in monthly with the local aid station to have his throat inspected once a month to ensure the cancer hadn’t grown back. It still hasn’t grown back, though he lives with what he describes as low-grade pain all the time due to the damage the chemo caused his muscles and joints. His heart and lungs are both scared as a result as well.

Cridland’s two sons also deployed with his company. They were assigned different missions to prevent the family from being involved in the same mass casualty event. Cridland would see his oldest son, Michael, occasionally and his youngest son, James, fairly often as they were located at the same staging area.

While the three were deployed, Cridland’s daughter got engaged and planned her wedding for the day after her dad and brothers were scheduled to return home. Cassandra said she ended up having to delay the wedding by two hours but as soon as the three got home, they changed and Cridland walked his daughter down the aisle.

Cridland said it felt good to be home and that the loss of two Soldiers just weeks before still weighed heavily on his mind without any real closure. He took 45 days off and then went back to work.

‘THERE’S MORE HERE THAT I JUST HAVE TO DO’

Cridland said early into his diagnoses, he went to his company’s first sergeant and told him he had cancer and that he didn’t want to get out of the National Guard. Cridland doesn’t know what decisions were made at higher levels, but said his first sergeant and his unit fully supported him and his decision to deploy.

“As long as I was making progress, they kept working with me,” he said.

Cridland said since recovering from cancer and returning home from a deployment, he has become a lot more focused on his relationship with his wife and pursuing his goal to be promoted to first sergeant of the only company he’s served in since 2007.

Cridland met Cassandra in junior high. His now brother-in-law introduced the two because they were both in the school’s band and enjoyed reading. They became friends but didn’t start dating until 1993, after both had married and divorced other people.

“After three years, we decided we probably should just get married because we found a friendship and companionship that felt like a lasting thing and not something that is temporary,” he said. “We work really hard to get through things and not give up.”

“She kept me going. I didn’t want her to end up spending the next 30 to 40 years around without me around.”

After the deployment, Cridland took his wife to Scotland. The two hiked 138 miles in 12 days. He also found a job much closer to his home in Sandpoint, Idaho. He now works as a diesel mechanic for a local mining company. He had previously worked in Wyoming and traveled back and forth during the month.

“I don’t let things worry me as bad as they used to,” he said. “I use to have this since of urgency about everything, now I pick and choose what gives me that sense of urgency. I take things as they come now.”

He plans to stay in the National Guard for as long as he can. He’s currently 54 and could have retired two years ago, but as much as he enjoys his civilian job, he enjoys being around Soldiers more. He plans to deploy with the 116th Cavalry Brigade Combat Team in 2022.

He’s completed his military education and is his company’s combatives instructor and resilience trainer, efforts he’s made to learn as much as he can while he still serves.

“I had a college teacher who said once you have knowledge, no one can take it from you,” Cridland said. He said whenever you have the opportunity to learn something, you should learn it because then you own it and no one can take it.”

Cridland shares his story with members of his church whenever he can. He tells people not to give up when they are going through tough times. He tells people to keep fighting, knowing he’s made it through his worst days and is around to see his children have children.

“I’m not afraid to die, I just felt like there’s more here that I just have to do,” he said.