New active-duty military information support battalion stands up

By Mark A. Schulz
7th MIS Bn. PAO

November 3, 2011

	Photo by Mark A. Schulz/7th MIS Bn. PAO Lt. Col. Lee Evans receives the 7th MISB colors from Col. Reginald Bostick during the activation and assumption of command of the unit Oct. 18, on Meadows Field on Fort Bragg.

The 7th Military Information Support Battalion held an activation ceremony Oct. 18, to establish the third active-duty battalion as part of the 4th Military Information Support Group, commanded by Lt. Col. Lee Evans. The ceremony was held at Meadows Field outside U.S. Army Special Forces Command.

Evans took the colors from Col. Reginald Bostick, commander of the 4th MISG and passed them to Command Sgt. Maj. William Tilley as he took charge of the new battalion.

The activation of a battalion was a special occasion, a snapshot in time that is a, “constant reminder of the past while operating in the present and looking forward to the future,” said Evans
Unit members made a jump into Gettysburg, Pa., two weeks earlier from a CH-47 helicopter to make the symbolic connection to the past history of psychological operations. The unit traces his history to the 3rd Mobile Radio Broadcast Company which trained near Gettysburg, and was very important during World War II. The unit was formed in 1943.

“The event made our history special as it created a huge respect and passion for the 3rd MRBC to the members of the 7th Battalion, and (it) will never be forgotten,” said Evans.

The mission of the 7th Bn. will be different from the 3rd MRBC, as it supports special operations missions in Africa, which includes more than 50 countries. Evans said that he and his Soldiers, will meet the challenges with “audacious professionalism.”

Those challenges were identified by Bostick after passing the responsibility on to Evans. He pointed out that the 53 countries in Africa have vast and diverse ethnic and cultural differences that will demand that the 7th Bn. be, “adaptive and innovative,” in their approach to their mission.

Bostick told the Soldiers of the 7th Bn. to keep up the fire by quoting from Samuel Adams, whom he considers to be the father of American psychological warfare movement: “It does not take a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority keen on setting the brushfire of freedom in the minds of men.”

Share