The 2nd Brigade is in charge of seven “battalion clusters,” or about 3,500 personnel. Colonel John Harrel, Chief of Staff, for the 40th Infantry Division, said that units assigned to NOBLE EAGLE I and II had to ask their base commanders for permission to attend military schools or to conduct training. “Under NOBLE EAGLE III, the military base commanders still have operational control of the units assigned to their installations,” Harrel said. “But the 2nd Brigade will organize the units’ schooling and training.”
The California National Guard will now be the Command and Control Center for other National Guard units from Washington, Oregon, Texas, and several other states for NOBLE EAGLE III. In May 2003, 60 members of the 2nd Brigade of the 40th Infantry Division, based in Los Alamitos, were mobilized to serve as Command and Control of Operation NOBLE EAGLE III under the Fifth Army Headquarters, located at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, Texas. “They are an adjunct to the Fifth Army staff to work all the NOBLE EAGLE Forces,” said Colonel Jacob Van Goor, Director, Organization, Training, and Mobilization.
“Each site owns its own forces. They are doing administration and some training for all of the different sites. The unit on the site will be controlled by the installation.” The 2nd Brigade is Command and Control for western base clusters under Fifth Army. Base clusters are made up of units assigned to Fifth Army divided into geographic regions. The 2nd Brigade is supporting NOBLE EAGLE III through April 2004.