Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
SALT LAKE CITY -- U.S. Army Reserves at Fort Douglas brought home a prestigious national award, but the unit is actually going away in about a month.
The 96th Regional Readiness Command will fold up its flag and send it back to the army archives next month, but not before showing off its capabilities and honor one last time.
Maj. Gen. Peter S. Cooke, with the 96th Regional Readiness Command, spoke about the 7,000 troops in his command with great pride. "We cannot as Americans and Utahns forget that there is a war and there are people that are leaving their families and sacrificing and going and fighting every day," he said.
Soldiers of the 96th Regional Readiness Command based at Fort Douglas gave a lot during the war on terror; three made the ultimate sacrifice.
Last week, the 96th RRC won the Army Community Excellence Award--rated the best-managed reserve command in the U.S. for mobilizing troops from a six-state area at a time of multiple deployments. Cooke said, "We've mobilized about 110 percent of our soldiers, and then to be able to be acknowledged that we are the best run operation of all the army reserve, which is 54 percent of the United States army, it's no longer just weekend warriors."
The award comes with $750,000, which the unit will use around the fort to leave a legacy because the unit will be inactivated next month.
Two other commands will soon call Ft. Douglas home, but the 96th will be restructured into history.
Cooke, a Utah man more than four decades, will retire. He said, "Unbelievable way to cap this out, to be able to receive this award. It speaks so highly of those who work here, that they didn't give up."
The reserve soldiers will see little change. Regular staff will likely be absorbed by the other commands. As a community, we won't notice a lot of change.
E-mail: jboal@ksl.com
