New commander arrives to ‘We Attack’ battalion

Photo By Dani Johnson | Lt. Col. Abraham N. Osborn speaks after assuming command of the 5th Battalion, 4th Air Defense Artillery Regiment from Lt. Col. Todd M. Daniels July 9 on Shipton Kaserne, Germany, with Col. Michael L. Gibson, 678th ADA Brigade commander, officiating the COVID-19 appropriate ceremony.  

GERMANY

07.09.2020

Story by Dani Johnson 

U.S. Army Garrison Ansbach

ANSBACH, Germany – Lt. Col. Abraham N. Osborn assumed command of the 5th Battalion, 4th Air Defense Artillery Regiment from Lt. Col. Todd M. Daniels July 9 on Shipton Kaserne, Germany, with Col. Michael L. Gibson, 678th ADA Brigade commander, officiating the COVID-19 appropriate ceremony.

“What a phenomenal job you have done in building this battalion, with a stand-up date of October 2018 and quickly coming together and getting Table 8 certification in May 2019,” said Gibson. “Throughout the year, you have continued to press forward with building alliances with 2CR (2nd Cavalry Regiment) and 1IBCT (1st Infantry Brigade Combat Team) bringing SHORAD back to maneuver.”

There are 10 tables (or steps) total for an Avenger crew. Tables are a tiered approach to certifying crews and each table is progressively more challenging and complex. Soldiers must pass all previous tables to continue to the next until they reach the eighth table, which certifies them as a team able to employ their Avenger in combat.

“What great accomplishments to build readiness, increase capacity and support the strategic vision through 5-4’s (ADAR) tactical execution,” said Gibson. “You have proven that short range air defense is vital to Europe, the multi-domain theater and full spectrum operations thus deterring our adversaries from hostile aggression.”

Daniels leaves as the first commander of the battalion since its activation in October 2018, after a dormancy of 20 years, as the Army’s only Short Range Air Defense Battalion (SHORAD).

“That is the way of this battalion the last two years, finding creative solutions to very unique problems,” said the outgoing commander. “Two years ago, 5-4 ADAR didn’t exist. There wasn’t a single Soldier on the books, not one piece of equipment on the books. Today, there is a fully functioning battalion able to deploy anywhere in the world, to fight and win our nation’s wars.

“The leaders and Soldiers of this battalion have achieved every objective set before them,” said Daniels. “There were those in various headquarters here in Europe and elsewhere said we were moving too fast, that we were destined to fail. They were wrong. They didn’t know the Soldiers and leaders in this battalion.”

Daniels next assignment is as a student at Army War College, Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania.

Osborn comes to Germany from the Missile Defense Agency, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, where he coordinated the agency’s operational support to U.S. Central Command and U.S. Indo-Pacific Command and was the executive officer to the Director for Test.

“I really only have one message for the battalion and higher headquarters, that is simply readiness,” the new commander said. “As our Army chief of staff has said, our Army serves to defend the nation, we don’t go to participate, we don’t go to try hard, we go to win. Winning matters.

He added, “our role is to be ready and continually validate that readiness even in the midst of modernization to a new weapons platform and even in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.”

• Date Taken: 07.09.2020
• Date Posted: 07.10.2020 02:26
• Story ID: 373616
• Location: DE