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Camp Williams • With a patch on the arm and a ceremonial welcome, 53 soldiers from the Utah National Guard on Friday joined the Army's 101st Airborne Division.
The Utah soldiers were from the 300th Military Intelligence Brigade. The soldiers will remain in part-time service with the National Guard in Utah, but are considered part of the active-duty 101st Airborne with headquarters at Fort Campbell, Ky.
It's part of a larger effort by the Army to incorporate more National Guard units into active duty units. The soldiers formerly with the 300th will train and be prepared to gather intelligence for 101st Airborne missions. The Utah soldiers also eventually will be trained to conduct what the Army terms air assault — parachuting from airplanes and rappelling from helicopters.
Sgt. Lee Eaton, of Cottonwood Heights, was one of the soldiers brought into the 101st on Friday.
Eaton, 25, said the 101st is more attuned to what he signed up for when he joined the Army's 145th Field Artillery unit more than eight years ago. He later transferred into the 300th.
"The 145th, awesome unit, but it's not fast rope out of helicopters," he said.
The 300th will carry on with about 1,400 remaining soldiers. The 300th provides a variety of intelligence-gathering skills, but is best known as a linguistic outfit. According to a Utah National Guard webpage, the 300th translates 19 languages.
During the ceremony Friday, superiors removed their subordinates' Velcro 300th patches from their left shoulders and replaced them with a patch featuring "Old Abe," the eagle head that identifies members of the 101st. The 101st is nicknamed the Screaming Eagles.
The 101st's commander, Maj. Gen. Gary Volesky, welcomed the Utah soldiers.
"We say intelligence drives operations," Volesky said. "Well, today the Screaming Eagles are going to put [the Utah soldiers] into the driver's seat."
The 101st Airborne is best known for parachuting into Normandy, France, on D-Day. Later in World War II, members of the unit parachuted into Holland then fought in Belgium and Germany.
In recent years, the 101st was a major component of the 2009 and 2010 surge in Afghanistan.
About 60 soldiers from the Wisconsin National Guard joined the 101st Airborne in a ceremony Tuesday at Fort Campbell.
Twitter: @natecarlisle —
New commander for fighter jet wing
A new commander took charge Friday of Hill Air Force Base's 388th Fighter Wing.
Col. Brad Lyons replaced Col. Lance Landrum in a ceremony at the base. Landrum is taking a post at the Pentagon. Lyons will oversee the 388th as it transitions from flying F-16s to the Air Force's new F-35. Those aircraft are scheduled to arrive in the fall.
Lyons received his commission at George Tech.