Đại tá Thomas Nguyễn, Lữ đoàn trưởng Lữ đoàn 35 Pháo binh phòng không Lục quân Hoa Kỳ hiện đang trú đóng tại Nam Hàn.

Niềm hãnh diện của Cộng đồng Người Việt Quốc Gia Hải Ngoại.
Đại tá Thomas Nguyễn, Lữ đoàn trưởng Lữ đoàn 35 Pháo binh phòng không Lục quân Hoa Kỳ hiện đang trú đóng tại Nam Hàn. Lữ đoàn 35 có 2 Tiểu đoàn 2/1 và 6/52 trực thuộc. Tiểu đoàn 2/1 có 5 pháo đội, Tiểu đoàn 6/52 có 6 pháo đội trang bị hỏa tiễn Patriot chống phi đạn/hỏa tiễn đạn đạo tấn công từ Bắc Hàn.
Đại tá Thomas Nguyễn đã từng là Tiểu đoàn trưởng, Tiểu đoàn 2, Trung doàn 44, Lữ đoàn 108 Pháo binh phòng không Lục quân Hoa Kỳ khi còn mang cấp Trung tá vào năm 2009.
Đại tá Thomas Nguyễn và Đại tá Lương Xuân Việt là 2 vị Đại tá Lục quân Hoa Kỳ rất "sáng giá" trong vai trò chỉ huy cấp Lữ đoàn tác chiến, hy vọng một trong hai vị, hoặc cã hai sẽ trở thành Tướng lãnh Hoa Kỳ gốc Việt.
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COL Thomas Nguyen - Eighth Army - U.S. Army

35th Air Defense Artillery Brigade
Commander

COL Thomas Nguyen

    COL Colonel Thomas Nguyen was born in Saigon, Vietnam. His family immigrated to the United States in April, 1975 during the fall of Saigon. He is a native of Annapolis, Maryland and a 1991 Graduate of Towson University. He was commissioned a Distinguished Military Graduate through the Reserve Officer Training Corps at Loyola College of Baltimore, Maryland. Colonel Nguyen holds a Master of Science Degree in Strategic Studies from the U.S. Army War College and a Master’s Degree in Administration from Central Michigan University.

    Colonel Nguyen’s assignments include: Stinger Platoon Leader and Battery Executive Officer, 5th Battalion, 3rd Air Defense Artillery, 1st Armored Division, Germany; Battery Commander and Assistant Division Air Defense Officer, 3rd Battalion (Airborne),4th Air Defense Artillery Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, North Carolina;Battery Commander, 6th Battalion, 52nd Air Defense Artillery, Ansbach, Germany; World Class Opposing Force Plans Officer, Battle Command Training Program, Fort Leavenworth,Kansas; Brigade S-3, 35th Air Defense Artillery Brigade, Fort Bliss, Texas; Battalion Executive Officer, 2nd Battalion, 1st Air Defense Artillery, Gwangju Air Base, Republic of South Korea; G-3, Chief of Air Defense Artillery and G-7, Chief of Training and Exercises, NATO’s Rapid Deployable Corps-Valencia, Spain; Chief of Signals Intelligence and Electronic Warfare Operations, NATO International Security Assistance Force, Kabul, Afghanistan; Battalion Commander, 2nd Battalion (Air Assault), 44th Air Defense Artillery, Fort Campbell, Kentucky; Air Defense Artillery Branch Chief, U.S. Army Human Resources Command, Fort Knox, Kentucky.

    Colonel Nguyen’s deployments include: Operation Northern Watch, Battery Commander, C/6-52 ADA, Incirlik, Turkey; Operation Enduring Freedom 07-08, NATO ISAF CJ2, Kabul, Afghanistan; Operation Enduring Freedom 10-11, Battalion Commander, 2-44 ADA, Kabul, Afghanistan.

    Colonel Nguyen’s military education include: the Air Defense Artillery Officer Basic Course; the Short Range Air Defense Weapons Course; the Patriot Transition Course; the Armor Officer Advanced Course; the U.S. Army Command and General Staff Officer Course; the Joint and Combined Warfare School; the United States Army War College; the M1A1 Tank Commander Certification Course; the Joint Firepower Command and Control Course; the Airborne Basic Course; the U.S. Army’s 82nd Airborne Division’s Jumpmaster Course, and Fort Campbell’s Air Assault Course.

    Colonel Nguyen’s awards and decorations include: the Bronze Star Medal; the Defense Meritorious Service Medal; the Meritorious Service Medal (3OLC); the Joint Service Commendation Medal; the Army Commendation Medal (1OLC); the Army Achievement Medal (3OLC); the National Defense Service Medal with Bronze Star; the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal; the Afghanistan Campaign Medal with Campaign Star; the Global War On Terrorism Service Medal; the Korean Defense Service Medal; the Joint Meritorious Unit Award; the Meritorious Unit Citation; the NATO ISAF Medal (2nd Award); the Spanish Cross Medal; the U.S. Army Senior Parachutist Badge; the Air Assault Badge; the British Army Parachutist Badge, and the German Armed Forces Proficiency Badge (Gold).

    Colonel Nguyen is married to the former Jill Louise Hefty of Mount Horeb, Wisconsin. They are blessed with three children, Claudia (14), Jackson (10) and Hattie (5 months). 

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Mission

On order, 35th Air & Missile Defense Brigade conducts joint and combined theater air and missile defense operations of defended asset list priorities in order to protect key assets, preserve sortie generation capabilities, build combat power, and provide freedom of action to enable Combined Forces Command/U.S. Forces Korea campaign objectives.
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2-1 ADA BN Mission

MISSION: Gaurdian Battalion conducts Theater Air and Missile Defense (TAMD) operations at the specified DALs in the KTO-N AOR in order to deter, then defeat North Korean (nK) Tactical Ballistic Missile (TBM) attacks. BPT defeat nK ABT attacks on defended assets within the KTO-N AOR.

6-52 ADA BN Mission

MISSION: Iron Horse Battalion conducts Theater Air and Missile Defense (TAMD) operations at the specified DALs in the KTO-N AOR in order to deter, then defeat North Korean (nK) Tactical Ballistic Missile (TBM) attacks. BPT defeat nK ABT attacks on defended assets within the KTO-N AOR.

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The History of the Dragon Brigade

Like all Air Defense Artillery units, the 35th ADA Brigade traces its lineage back to the American Coastal Artillery. On 1 June 1918, the 35th Coast Artillery Brigade was organized and constituted at Fort Hunt, Virginia in defense of the Potomac River. With the United States entering the Great War in Europe, however, it was only a matter of weeks before soldiers of the 35th were shipped across the Atlantic as part of the American Expeditionary Force (AEF).
The brigade arrived in France in September of 1918, just in time to participate in the Meuse-Argonne Offensive. The 35th fell in on European artillery pieces and helped the Allies overcome the German will to continue on with the war.   

Artillerymen of the 35th Coast Artillery load a 14-inch rail gun during the Meuse-Argonne offensive in World War 1

With peace in Europe, the U.S. Army did not need to maintain its wartime strength. That following year, the 35th Coast Artillery was inactivated at Fort Totten, on the banks of Long Island, New York.
But peace was short-lived, and by 1942, the United States was once again headed to Europe and to war. During the interwar period, no military innovation witnessed a more extensive development than that of air power. The Axis Powers of Germany, Italy, and Japan were using aviation technology to their advantage, with the Allies struggling to catch up. From this came the need to create and field units capable of shooting down the enemy airplanes.
In January of 1942, the U.S. Army reactivated as 35th Coast Artillery Brigade at Camp Stewart, Georgia. The new anti-aircraft artillerymen trained rapidly on the 40mm Bofors cannon. Then, in April of 1943, the 35th sailed for North Africa, with the mission of providing anti-aircraft defense for the Fifth U.S. Army, recently activated in Morocco.
On 9 September 1943, the 35th Coast Artillery was part of the Allied invasion force that assaulted Salerno beachhead as part of Operation Avalanche. In doing so, the 35th became the first Allied Anti-Aircraft outfit to set foot on the European mainland during World War II. 

Anti-Aircraft Artillerymen with 5th Army in Italy following the Salerno landings.

To address its new mission, the 35th Coast Artillery was renamed the 35th Anti-Aircraft Brigade and moved to England to prepare for the Allied assault on Hitler’s Atlantic Wall. During Operation Overlord in June of 1944, the 35th participated in the invasion of southern France where it achieved 406 confirmed and 286 probable kills on German Luftwaffe aircraft. This greatly assisted the Allied invasion force as it broke through the Nazi defensive line and liberated France. Less than a year later, the war in Europe would be over. 

AA gunners on the coast of France following the Normandy Invasion.

After the conclusion of WWII, the 35th Brigade returned to the United States and was inactivated at Camp Kilmer, New Jersey.
Over a 25 year period during the Cold War and Vietnam Era, the 35th Anti-Aircraft Brigade was reactivated at Fort Bliss, Texas and moved to Fort Meade, Maryland were it assumed the mission of providing anti-aircraft defense for the nation’s capitol. The focus of Air Defense during this period was to counter the threat of long range bombers targeting the United States. In 1957, the brigade set an Air Defense milestone by becoming the first Nike Ajax guided missile command, a weapons system that not only served as the face of the branch, but the military and geopolitical tensions of the time. During the height of the Cold War, Nike Ajax sites were established around the nation’s largest cities to defend against bomber attack. When the Ajax system was upgraded to the Hercules system in 1958, the 35th Artillery Brigade (Air Defense) oversaw the establishment of the nation’s third Nike Hercules site in Davidsonville, Maryland, the first such site on the east coast. As with previous conflicts of the century, the end of the Vietnam War would bring another inactivation for the Brigade, which took place at Fort Meade on 4 June 1973. 

Army Vice Chief of Staff Lyman Lemnitzer marks the activation of the Nike Hercules site at Davidsonville, Maryland on 4 September 1958. The insignia on the podium is that of the U.S. Army Air Defense Command (ARADCOM).

It would be another twelve years before the brigade colors were raised again, this time as the 35th Air Defense Artillery Brigade at Fort Lewis, Washington on 1 June 1985 with the mission of supporting US Army I CORPS. At the time of this activation, the 35th Brigade was the only Corps ADA Brigade in the U.S. Army.
In six years, the members of the 35th ADA Brigade were back in combat, this time as part of Operation Desert Shield and Desert Storm during the Persian Gulf War in 1991. 3-2 ADA, the “Eagles Dare” Battalion, deployed from Fort Lewis to Saudi Arabia to assist in the campaign to liberate Kuwait. Soldiers from 3-2 assumed a myriad of different missions in support of US and UN Forces. 

Patriot Launcher site in the Saudi Desert during Operation Desert Storm

Following the attacks of September 11th, 2001, Air Defense Artillery branch answered the call to defend the homeland from future terrorist attacks. Elements of the 35th Brigade helped plan and execute Operation Clear Skies, which served as a component of the larger Joint Operation Noble Eagle designed to protect the National Capitol Region against aerial threats. While in Washington DC in 2003, Soldiers from the 35th Brigade helped in the development of tactics, techniques, and procedures that would be used for future Homeland Defense missions.   

An Avenger Team defends the National Capitol in support of Operation Noble Eagle in 2003

When the US Army began to reshape the posture and design of its force in 2003, Air Defense Artillery was at the forefront of the transition. In addition to MTOE changes and new missions for a number of battalions within the branch, Air Defense also repositioned its assets around the globe to address the greatest Air and Missile threats. A key part of this repositioning was the movement of the 35th ADA Brigade from Fort Bliss, Texas to the Republic of South Korea which began in the summer of 2004. By the end of that year, the brigade was fully operational on the peninsula, with its headquarters at Osan Air Base, 48 miles south of Korea's Demilitarized Zone. This move made the newly named “Dragon Brigade,” the U.S. Army’s only forward-stationed ADA brigade. The brigade then oversaw the reshaping and expansion of the ADA defense design in theater that was highlighted by the addition of a second Patriot battalion, thereby establishing a battalion presence in both the northern and the southern sectors of the peninsula and greatly increasing the Air and Missile Defense capability for United States Forces Korea (USFK.) The two Patriot battalions were serving one year temporary change of station from CONUS. 2009 marked the end of the battalion rotations, with the 6-52 Air and Missile Defense Battalion and the 2-1 Air Defense Artillery Battalion permanently stationed under the 35th ADA Brigade.   

Soldiers of the 35th ADA Brigade mark their arrival at Osan Air Base, Korea

 

Patriot Launchers watch the skies over Suwon Air Base, ROK

Over a proud history that stretches nearly a century, from the Meuse-Argonne, to Salerno and Normandy, to the Persian Gulf, and finally to the Land of the Morning Calm, the Soldiers of the 35th Brigade have always led the way in the mission of protecting the skies. To this day, the Dragon Brigade remains at the forward edge of Air Defense, facing down the most substantive air and missile threats to the United States military and its allies. Constantly on alert, well-trained, and proud of its distinguished history of service to the nation, the 35th Air Defense Artillery Brigade stands Ready in Defense.  http://8tharmy.korea.army.mil/35ada/CDR.php

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