David Burge

El Paso Times

FORT BLISS – One hundred years ago, eight brave U.S. soldiers were killed during Pancho Villa’s infamous raid on the border town of Columbus, N.M.

These eight soldiers, from K Troop with the 13th Cavalry Regiment, made the ultimate sacrifice trying to fight off Villa’s numerically superior force on March 9, 1916.

About 70 soldiers from Fort Bliss’ 2nd Squadron, 13th Cavalry Regiment visited Columbus on March 11-12 and participated in activities surrounding the centennial of the attack.

The 2-13 Cav is part of the same regiment which lost those soldiers 100 years ago.

Leaders from the Dakota Squadron – from staff sergeants up to squadron commander Lt. Col. Robert Born – participated in a parade through town and a ceremony remembering the soldiers who were lost on that fateful day.

Taking advantage of the trip, soldiers did research ahead of time, traveled out to the battle site and then went on a walking historical tour of their own creation.

“The fact that the 13th Cavalry is here now at Fort Bliss makes it all the more special,” said Command Sgt. Maj. Christopher Kohunsky, senior enlisted soldier for the Dakota Squadron.

“For us, it was a no-brainer” to participate, Kohunsky added. “A hundred years ago, soldiers from our unit were there and they served with honor.”

The 2-13 Cav stood up as a cavalry squadron here at Fort Bliss in 2008 as part of the moves that brought the 1st Armored Division to the installation.

During the trip, one of the highlights was meeting about 25 to 30 historical re-enactors who were dressed like cavalry soldiers from 100 years ago, Kohunsky said.

These historical re-enactors also set up a camp that was identical to what they would have done in 1916, he added.

“We got out of it a strong sense of unit pride, a strong sense of unit cohesion, as well as stronger community bonds especially with the re-enactors, many of them prior military,” Kohunsky said.

Sgt. 1st Class Ryan Dabel, the squadron’s operations sergeant major, said the unit was able to learn about the tactics used during the raid on Columbus, understand what happened there and apply those lessons learned to cavalry operations today.

“We are no longer riding horses; our soldiers are in Bradleys, but a lot of the tactics and decisions (then) are still relevant to today,” said Dabel, from Cody, Wyoming.

Capt. Erik Tonsfeldt, the squadron intelligence officer, said it was a nice break from what has been a busy past few months.

The squadron, along with the rest of 3rd Brigade, recently finished up six weeks of training known as Bulldog Focus and Iron Focus here at Fort Bliss. The Dakota Squadron and the rest of the brigade are also getting ready to do a training rotation at the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, Calif. in April and will then deploy to Kuwait sometime after that.

The trip “allowed some of us who were new to the unit to learn some of the unit’s history,” said Tonsfeldt, from Le Mars, Iowa.

David Burge may be reached at 546-6126;dburge@elpasotimes.com; @dburge1962 on Twitter.