A Visit With the Army's Most-Hated Unit

July 4, 2004 -- They've been called the most-hated unit in the Army — the 1st Battalion of the 509th Infantry — known as the Geronimoes.

The Geronimoes are tasked with playing the "enemy" at the Army's Joint Readiness Training Center in Fort Polk, La., putting visiting infantry and special operations troops through their paces.

Recently, that has meant playing Iraqi insurgents and terrorists — an enemy whose rocket attacks and suicide bombings are killing U.S. troops and Iraqi civilians almost daily. To play the part, the men of the 509th were allowed to grow full beards and wear Iraqi civvies in place of their uniform.

Lt. Col. Casey Griffith, the commander of the unit, calls the 509th "the best bad guys I know, but also the best good guys I have ever known."

The bad guys now have to switch sides. With the Army pressed to rotate more soldiers into Iraq, they have now turned to the 509th, which hasn't been deployed in 60 years. Two of the battalion's four companies, Alpha and Bravo, have been called up for duty in Iraq.

"I think the Army said, 'Hey that's the 509th — those are Geronimoes. They're a historic unit. They're a well-trained unit, a highly disciplined unit. We need somebody right now and those guys are ready,' " said Griffith.

So the notorious "bad guys" have had to shave their beards, put on an Army uniform, and become regular soldiers again. For the last few weeks, they've trained almost night and day with little sleep — learning to be U.S. soldiers, not foreign terrorists.

Best Trained, But Not in the Best Way

Sgt. Christopher Campbell has been watching Geronimoes fight other Geronimoes and is impressed. "These guys in a month have transformed a lot. It's amazing how they picked up from one side and went to the other."