Army Bases

As an old lifer, I pointed out to the webmasters that for soldiers in general, the parent unit is much more significant that the physical bases and we take pride in the units we serve in and not the place its located. The Air Force has their "bases" and the Navy their "ships" but soldiers have their unit. For myself, I have requested several major units be added, such as my own Vietnam unit the "4th Inf Div" Maybe my last unit the "9th inf Div"Do any others feel like this? If so let 'em know.
Retired Lifer

I agree with you. It's nice to claim residence at a physical piece of real estate, but the unit affilliation is more important and it is how soldiers relate to one another. Granted, many Army Posts boast a particular unit, but one can be attached to a deployed unit and fight side by side without ever setting foot on the unit's home installation so let's add the Army units for affilliation.

Ernie

We are continuing to add new features as fast as we possibly can and we couldn't agree more about the importance of adding units to the site. This is definitely an area we want to expand on within the next couple of months or so. However, since there is such a large number of units, it's going to take some time to get everything in place and organized. We will keep everyone updated when new features like this are released.

Thanks for the request.

Should be easier just to add units as they are requested by members rather than just adding a bunch of units without affiliations. Would be ideal if members could just add their own units.

We get 20+ base requests a day that Rebecca handles. She has to research each one and make sure the name and location is correct. As soon as we open it up to allow units, thats going to sky rocket. We will allow users to add their own units but everything needs to be reviewed. If not then we will have units like 1INF DIV / 1st INV div / 1inf div, which are all the same thing. By reviewing and making sure we only have ONE of each, then we can put you into contact with others that were in your units seamlessly. That's out goal is to make sure you can find your buddies.

We have a really big project we are trying to release early next month and then I can come back and focus more on this aspect. Here are a few other things that I will focus on during that time.

I need to add sp4-9 ranks for army.
I need to separate out unit vs individual citations for army. (on ribbon rack and signature)
I have a few ribbons that need to be added into the rack.

Then I want to start the research and addition of badges/wings/afc's... etc.
During that research start planning out how to add units.

Now from my understanding units are assigned to a base or at least a physical location? So would it be a good idea when units are added they are added with a "parent" location. So If you add, I will use AF as example since I was in the AF, Charleston AFB to your military career, then you can select your unit from that base. If your unit is not displayed, then you can choose to add it for review. Does that sound about right?

Thanks guys!

Units should only be major units like divisions, independant brigades and battalions. In most cases the parent unit would be appropriate. The applicant should easily submit unit information, i just "googled" mine and got enough to verify. Good job but don't expect it to be easy.

You said: Now from my understanding units are assigned to a base or at least a physical location? So would it be a good idea when units are added they are added with a "parent" location.

Again, the "base" is typically Air Force. For example, I spent over 7 years with the 18th MI Bn, 66th MI Gp in Germany which had dozens field elements scattered across the whole of Germany but the HQ was in Munich. This is typical for MI units.

Vietnam was another case, for example I was assigned to the 4th MI Co which belonged to the 4th Inf Div and would list the 4th Inf Div which should not be a problem verifying. The Army only has/has so many divisions. But physically was at Camp Enari the base camp, but many others were scattered all over at fire bases, brigades, etc. so the "4th Ind Div" or "4th ID" would be the appropriate unit.

Hope this helps, let me know if i can be of assistance on this "unit" project.

I would like to see individual units on here, but I can understand how huge of a project that would be to get it done right. As far as putting the units under a parent location Units move. I was in the 24th ID in Fort Stewart which that unit is now retired and Fort Stewart is now 3rd ID. I was in the 3rd ID in Germany which was changed to 1st ID when the 3rd ID was sent to Fort Stewart. When I was in the 4th ID I was in Fort Carson but it also has units in Fort Hood. It can get very confusing. Its going to take a lot of time and work to get this done, but I for one appreciate all the work going into it. Thanks.

Yea its definitely on our list, we are just trying to map it out right and your guys' help is very much appreciated!!!

Good Luck!!! I was with the 1st Cav. in Nam. There are a number of web sites, even breaking down to the company level and certain spans of years. Viet Nam was endless because of the large number of Landing Zones (LZ's); Artillary fire base; Division Camps; I-IV Corps. The 1st Cav was in all four Corp Groups.
BEST OF LUCK!! Your work is cut out for you.