Col. Galloway assumes command of 142nd

Col. Troy Galloway, of Bentonville, Ark., assumed command of the 142nd Fires Brigade on Sunday (Oct. 16) during a change-of-command ceremony at the Fort Chaffee Maneuver Training Center.

The brigade, based in Fayetteville and having roughly 1,500 soldiers, has units in Bentonville, Berryville, Booneville, Fort Chaffee, Harrison, Lincoln, Ozark, Siloam Springs, Springdale and Rogers.

"I am incredibly humbled to join the ranks of the finest field artillery organization in the United States Army," said Galloway. “I commit to you that I will be with you all the time and all the way."

Col. Keith Klemmer, of Russellville, Ark., relinquished command of the brigade to assume a new role as chief of staff for the Arkansas National Guard Joint Force Headquarters.

"We’ve fired thousands of rounds and hundreds of rockets over the last three years," said Klemmer. "We’ve fueled, we’ve moved, we’ve communicated, we’ve Soldiered our way into being one of the premiere Fires Brigades in the Army National Guard and the Army at large."

Since its inception in 1893, the 142nd has been called to all the nation’s wars except the Vietnam conflict, according to a press release from the Arkansas National Guard. The ANG provided the following history timeline of the 142nd:
• Its parent unit, the 2nd Arkansas Regiment of Infantry was organized in 1893.

• Shortly after the regiment was mobilized in 1917 it was reorganized and re-designated the 142nd Field Artillery Regiment and assigned to the 39th Infantry Division.

• The regiment was again reorganized in 1943, being designated the 142nd Field Artillery Group. The organic field artillery battalions were taken away, re-designated, and sent their separate ways until the reactivation of 1947.

• The 142nd became a family again and remained a group until 1950 when it was again called to active duty. Again, the units were sent their separate ways — the headquarters to Europe to deter Soviet expansionism, the field artillery battalions to Korea to fight the communist forces.

• The group again was reunited in Arkansas in 1954 and retained its wartime designation — 142nd Field Artillery Group, and the 936th and 937th Field Artillery Battalions until June 1, 1959. The battalions again became the 1-142 Field Artillery and 2-142 Field Artillery respectively.

• Adapting to the changing times, the group was re-designated a brigade in 1977. The changes were in tactical doctrine only. The organization remained the same.

• In November 1990 the brigade was summoned to deter aggression in Southwest Asia; a brief but violent war in the arid deserts of Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and Kuwait.

• The next call to arms came when in December 1997, when the brigade’s meteorology section was mobilized and deployed for service in Bosnia.

• The 142nd continues to fight the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT). In 2005, the 142nd Field Artillery Brigade became the 142nd Fires Brigade-the first National Guard Artillery Brigade to transform. Since 9/11, every unit in the 142nd has deployed as part of the various on-going missions in the Global War on Terrorism.

• Most recently, the 142nd Fires Brigade was tasked to provide the Security Force for the Arkansas National Guard’s 2nd Agricultural Development Team mission that is currently deployed in Afghanistan and set to return later this year.