The Advanced Combat Training Academy
(ACTA)
ACTA was founded at the direction of Brigadier Roland M Gleszer (USMA 1940),
Assistant Division Commander for Operations, in the fall of 1965 and began
its first class at Camp Sitman on 2 December
of that year. The curriculum consisted of 262 hours of intense
training conducted over a period of 22 days, with the last
week devoted to live operations both in and below the
Demilitarized Zone. In addition to the mountaineering skills portrayed in
this site, soldiers were taught map reading and land navigation, weaponry
(accompanied by numerous live-fire exercises), demolitions, tactics, and
DMZ rules and regulations. During DMZ week, students manned guard posts,
conducted roving patrols (called "Hunter-Killers"), and ambushes
("Stake-outs"). Graduates were awarded the coveted IMJIN SCOUTS
patch. A history of the development of the patch and the Academy's first
year of operations may be found in the Jamison Article elsewhere in this
site.
The first Commanding Officer of ACTA was CPT George Marecek, assisted by
1LT Stuart Jamison and 2LT Gerhart Frick. Nearly 40 men, including
instructors, drivers, clerks, cooks, etc., went "North of the River" in
'65. Instructors were hand-picked. Under the auspices of BG Gleszer,
ACTA cadre had access to lists of incoming personnel and would meet to
discuss and choose people they knew and respected, although most were
already on orders to other units within the division.
Marecek was succeeded by CPT Donald C. Ingram (1966-67), and he by
MAJ Roger H. C. Donlon (MoH) (1967-68). The Academy continued in operation
at Sitman until January, 1972, when it relocated to Camp Casey. During its
period of operation, ACTA was one of only two DA-recognized schools to
operate in a hostile fire zone, the other being the 101st Airborne's
Recondo in Viet Nam.
Return to Imjin Scout Menu
|
