560th Battlefield Surveillance Brigade

560th Battlefield Surveillance Brigade
560th Battlefield Surveillance Brigade emblem
Active	October 2007 – 2016
Country	United States
Branch	United States Army National Guard
Type	Surveillance brigade
Garrison/HQ	Cumming Regional Readiness Center (CRRC), Cumming, Georgia
Disbanded	2016

The 560th Battlefield Surveillance Brigade, based at the Cumming Regional Readiness Center in Cumming, Georgia, was a major command of the Georgia Army National Guard. It was organized as the first battlefield surveillance brigade in the Army National Guard.

Since its inception on 1 October 2007, the brigade’s mission has been to provide command and control of reconnaissance, surveillance, and intelligence operations in support of a division, corps or joint task force. The headquarters provides command, control and supervision of the tactical operations of the brigade and attached units, while the headquarters company provides unit administration and logistical support for the brigade staff sections. The 560th is authorized an estimated 1,100 soldiers with which to carry out that mission.

In October 2010, the 560th BFSB changed command for the first time since its formation, with Colonel Peter VanAmburgh relinquishing full-time command of the 560th to Colonel Thomas Carden, JFHQ’s former military personnel officer.

An article in the June 15, 2016 edition of the Forsyth County News noted that the 506th BfSB was inactivated in a ceremony held on June 11 "at the Cumming Regional Readiness Center, where the unit had operated since the center opened in 2013. The 3rd Battalion, 121st Infantry will now use the center."

2007-2010 Colonel Peter VanAmburgh

2010–2013 Colonel Thomas Carden

2013–2015 Colonel Raymond D. "Boz" Bossert Jr.

2015-2016 Colonel Jeffery Dickerson

The 560 BFSB has been involved in a number of exercises since its inception.

During the period of 27 Feb–18 Mar 2008, the 560th BFSB sent a command and control (C2) cell to participate in U.S. Army Japan Exercise North Wind 2008. The operation was a bilateral field training exercise with active army and ARNG soldiers training with the Japanese Ground Self-Defense Force (JGSDF). The 560th BFSB exercised overall command and acted as the higher headquarters for the exercise and the brigade response cell for the staff exercise and collective training. The units involved included the 35th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion; 1-297th Infantry (Alaska ARNG); various ARNG soldiers from California, Florida, and Nebraska; and the 5th Regiment/9th DIV, JGSDF. North Wind 2008 was held in the Iwatesan training area in a remote and mountainous part of north Japan. This was the first known U.S. Army exercise to employ a BFSB as a higher headquarters and as part of a bilateral operation.

In October 2009, the 560 BFSB participated in Exercise Natural Fire 10, a 13-day exercise oriented on conducting a humanitarian assistance and disaster relief exercise from 16 – 25 OCT 09 in the Republic of Uganda in order to enhance interoperability and the capability to respond to complex humanitarian emergencies. The exercise consisted of three events: a table top exercise (TTX) focused on pandemic influenza response, senior manager disaster response, and multinational involvement; a field training exercise (FTX) consisting of area security, entry control point, vehicle control point, convoy security, non lethal weapons, and weapons training; and a humanitarian civic action (HCA) focused on providing medical and dental assistance to the local population. During the exercise, the BFSB – as part of Task Force Kitgum – performed command and control operations in Kitgum, Uganda, in order to synchronize multinational forces conducting field training exercises and humanitarian civic assistance operations to enhance interoperability among participating forces. the 560 BFSB served as a joint and multinational task force headquarters of over 1000 army, navy, air force, marines and personnel from Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda. This was the largest exercise of its kind in East Africa and the first test of a BFSB as a joint and multinational HQs.