“During a Soldier’s eight day iteration, they are trained and assessed on their ability to perform tasks ranging from mounted and dismounted patrols to basic army hand-to-hand combative moves,” said 1st Sgt. Braden Simonet, non-commissioned officer in charge of the Minnesota Pre-Mobilization Training and Assessment (PTAE) team at Camp Ripley. “They are also expected to complete a series of online training such as learning basic Arabic terms and phrases.”
With the first of many iterations of Regionally Aligned Forces (RAF) training completed, a wave new wave of 34th Red Bull Infantry Division Soldiers make their way home while others arrive to kickoff another round of training at Camp Ripley Training Center on July 15. RAF training is a program that is designed to train and assess Soldiers slated for deployment in the region’s cultural and religious norms as well as their basic Soldiering skills.
With the first of many iterations of Regionally Aligned Forces (RAF) training completed, a wave new wave of 34th Red Bull Infantry Division Soldiers make their way home while others arrive to kickoff another round of training at Camp Ripley Training Center on July 15. RAF training is a program that is designed to train and assess Soldiers slated for deployment in the region’s cultural and religious norms as well as their basic Soldiering skills.
With the first of many iterations of Regionally Aligned Forces (RAF) training completed, a wave new wave of 34th Red Bull Infantry Division Soldiers make their way home while others arrive to kickoff another round of training at Camp Ripley Training Center on July 15. RAF training is a program that is designed to train and assess Soldiers slated for deployment in the region’s cultural and religious norms as well as their basic Soldiering skills.
With the first of many iterations of Regionally Aligned Forces (RAF) training completed, a wave new wave of 34th Red Bull Infantry Division Soldiers make their way home while others arrive to kickoff another round of training at Camp Ripley Training Center on July 15. RAF training is a program that is designed to train and assess Soldiers slated for deployment in the region’s cultural and religious norms as well as their basic Soldiering skills.
With the first of many iterations of Regionally Aligned Forces (RAF) training completed, a wave new wave of 34th Red Bull Infantry Division Soldiers make their way home while others arrive to kickoff another round of training at Camp Ripley Training Center on July 15. RAF training is a program that is designed to train and assess Soldiers slated for deployment in the region’s cultural and religious norms as well as their basic Soldiering skills.
With the first of many iterations of Regionally Aligned Forces (RAF) training completed, a wave new wave of 34th Red Bull Infantry Division Soldiers make their way home while others arrive to kickoff another round of training at Camp Ripley Training Center on July 15. RAF training is a program that is designed to train and assess Soldiers slated for deployment in the region’s cultural and religious norms as well as their basic Soldiering skills.
Learning the customs and courtesies of a foreign nation before traveling to the area is designed to combat culture shock and is a pre-emptive way for Soldiers to build an understanding of the way of life in that nation. The PTAE team allows this training to be brought to the Soldiers rather than relying on traveling to an Active Duty post.
With minimal travel, Red Bulls are given the chance to go deep into the thick of the woods on Camp Ripley’s land navigation course to find designated points, low crawl through sand and tall grass to neutralize an enemy bunker, and practice first aid during a combat life saver class.
The Minnesota PTAE team exists for Soldiers and their families’ to mitigate time apart from each other, said Simonet. Since the state has all the resources and assets it needs to conduct this training, it saves nearly a month of training away from family at a pre-mobilization station out of state.
The new commander of the Red Bull Infantry Division in Rosemount understands all the emotions experienced when a son or daughter is deployed in combat to protect Americans and their freedoms. Major Gen. Ben Corell has three sons who have chosen to protect and serve. More…
Decorated veteran Augustus Blocksom was a man of his time, but times were changing. He exemplified Progressive Era America prior to the Great War. Blocksom participated in all the major US Army campaigns for nearly a half-century. He fought American Indians, Spaniards, Chinese and Filipinos. He brought that experience to Camp Cody, New Mexico where he assembled units from across the mid-West to form the 34th Infantry Division in 1917.
Blocksom’s leadership and experience was critical in the development of the 34th Infantry Division in its first year. In the austere desert environment, Blocksom took ill-equipped and inexperienced soldiers of many races, languages and nationalities and guided them through tough military and social training to form a cohesive, combat-ready US Army infantry division. Unfortunately, at age sixty-three, Blocksom faced mandatory retirement before he could deploy to France, but his division was formed and ready.[1]
Sarah Blocksom, Ca. 1920
Augustus Perry Blocksom Jr.’s regular Army career began upon his graduation from the US Military Academy at West Point in the top third of his class. This sharp cadet was noted for his “remarkable powers of mental concentration.”[2] In 1877 he was commissioned Second Lieutenant and began the first of many Cavalry assignments in the 6th Cavalry in Arizona. He commanded Company C (Indian Scouts) and fought Apaches on multiple occasions. In 1884 he was promoted to First Lieutenant and served as Professor of Military Science and Tactics at Ohio State where he married his wife of forty-six years, Sarah Griswold Beaumont Leuffer. In 1887, he accepted a second teaching position in Cavalry and Law at the Fort Leavenworth School of Application. Two years later he returned to frontier duty to fight Apaches in Arizona and Dakota Indians in South Dakota.
Capt. Blocksom fought in the Spanish-American War in Santiago de Cuba on July 1, 1898, when he was wounded in the assault on San Juan Hill. He received the Silver Citation Star from General Franklin D. Baldwin “for most gallant conduct under heavy fire of shrapnel and small arms at San Juan Hill. He performed arduous services in trenches at the siege of Santiago under intense heat and desultory fire of the enemy; deserves every consideration of the government.”[3]
This die-hard cavalryman declined a promotion to Major in the 27th US Volunteer Infantry in 1899. He stayed in the Cavalry where his promotion took four more years.
In 1900, he commanded the 6th Cavalry in the Chinese Campaign and was again cited for gallantry. He received his second Silver Citation Star for his charge against the Boxers in Tientsin. According to one account, “Two hundred men of his command charged across a Chinese graveyard against several thousand insurgents and routed them.”[4]
Capt. Blocksom served in Manila, Bogo, and Malabang, Philippines during the insurrection. Maj. Blocksom served as an Inspector General in the 1st Cavalry at Fort Clark, Texas in 1905. After another tour of the Philippines, and a short stay at Fort Des Moines with the 6th Cavalry he was quickly promoted to Lieutenant Colonel and full Colonel.
Col. Blocksom was promoted to Brigadier General during his service in Texas where he repelled border raiders from Mexico. General Funston, Department Commander said, “The duties performed by General Blocksom during the border raids of the summer and fall of 1915 were of the most trying and exacting nature, and he met every situation with judgment. He had numerous opportunities to involve us in serious international complications, but never once lost his head. He has shown himself to be a most dependable officer, and has a record to be proud of. I strongly recommend his promotion.”[5]
In 1917, Blocksom received that promotion and command of the 34th Infantry Division at Camp Cody, New Mexico. Later that year Maj. Gen. Blocksom and his immediate staff toured the battlefields of France. According to his American Red Cross field director, “It is the intention to have all the Division Commanders visit France for a couple of months in order to put them into immediate personal touch with the way things are done over there. Then they come back to their posts primed to put the finishing touches on their troops before taking them across.”[6]
As Maj. Gen Blocksom’s Camp Cody command came to a close, he believed his soldiers were ready for the fight. “I am very grateful to all of them for the cooperation which we have received here,” he said. “I consider that this division is progressing very favorably as a result of the school work and the program of training which has been adopted. We hope now to be across the water in a few months.”[7] Unfortunately, when the division deployed to France it was broken up to support other commands.
In April 1918, Blocksom earned an honorable discharge from the National Army and transferred to a Regular Army command the Hawaiian Department as a Brigadier General until his retirement in November.
Blocksom left Camp Cody with the great appreciation of his soldiers. “Cody’s ‘Grand Old Man,’ beloved by every man in the Deming camp and a dynamic leader in American military circles for years, is to leave his command in the 34th division, the camp which he has guided and directed since its inception and institution among the foothills of the New Mexican desert, for a broader range of activities in the great American possessions in the Pacific.
Maj. Gen. Augustus Blocksom, circa 1917
In leaving Camp Cody for his new post, brigadier general Blocksom leaves as many friends and devoted well-wishers as there are men in camp, besides his wide circle of friends in civilian life. During his connection with the Deming camp, he has been popular with both officers and enlisted men and many expressions of regret at the transfer are heard on all sides. But what is lost to the sunshine division, is gained by the Hawaiian department and all Cody stands up to bid God speed to its retiring commander, congratulating the Pacific lands of Hawaii upon its invaluable acquisition.”[8] Having served forty-one and a half years he was promoted to Major General, Retired in 1930. At seventy-six years, he died in Miami, Florida and was buried in Arlington National Cemetery, Virginia.
According to West Point, “When we examine his record, consider the services he has performed and the findings of his superiors in rank as to how they were performed, we have no hesitation in saying that he not only served his country well, but unusually well.”[9]
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Companies, batteries and regiments of the 34th were broken up and nearly all personnel were reassigned to other commands in France. Reduced to a skeleton of cadre NCOs and officers, the 34th remained at Camp Cody just long enough for new draftees to refill its ranks. The reconstituted division then went to France, but by the time it arrived in October 1918, it was too late to see action. The 151st Field Artillery and the 168th Infantry Regiment, serving under the 42nd Rainbow Division, earned battle streamers for Aisne-Marne, Champagne 1918, Champagne-Marne, Lorraine, Meuse-Argonne, and St. Mihiel. The 125th Field Artillery, 135th Infantry, and 136th Infantry also earned a WW1 streamer with no inscription.
*Blocksom, Augustus P. “A Retrospect and Prospect of War.” Journal of the Military Service Institution XXXV (July-Dec 1904): 215-26. Accessed July 6, 2017.
*_____. “An Ideal Drill Regulations.” Journal of the US Cavalry Association XII, no. 41 (March 1899): 176-80. Accessed July 5, 2017.
*_____. “Discussion on “Letters on Cavalry“.” Journal of the US Cavalry Association 1, no. 1 (March 1888): 377. Accessed July 5, 2017.
*_____. “Visual Drill Signals.” Journal of the US Cavalry Association XVI, no. 57 (July 1905): 91-4. Accessed July 5, 2017.
*_____. “War Lessons for Laymen.” Journal of the Military Service Institution XXVII (July-Dec 1900): 17-25. Accessed July 5, 2017.
*”Cody Loses Gen. A. P. Blocksom in Transfer to Hawaiian Post.” Trench & Camp (Deming), April 25, 1918.
Davis, Henry Blaine. Generals in Khaki. Raleigh, NC: Pentland Press, 1998. (Copy wanted.)
*”Died. Major General Augustus Perry Blocksom.” TIME, August 31, 1931. “Died. Major General Augustus Perry Blocksom, 76, who fought successively against Apaches, Sioux, Spaniards, Boxers, Filipinos; at Miami, Fla.; of old age.”
*Morris, Edmund. Theodore Rex. (New York: Random House, 2002). eBook Collection (EBSCOhost), EBSCOhost (accessed January 8, 2018). Regarding the investigation of the Brownsville Raid of 1906, see Wikipedia.
*”One Week in Deming, New Mexico.” Edwin H. Brown to wife. September 23, 1917. Minnesota Historical Society, St Paul, MN.
*Thayer, Bill. “Cullum’s Register.” George W. Cullum’s Biographical Register of the Officers and Graduates of the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, since its establishment in 1802. Accessed June 29, 2017.
Tucker, Spencer. Almanac of American Military History. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2013. Regarding the investigation of the Brownsville Raid of 1906. See Google Books.
Who Was Who in America. A component volume of Who’s Who in American History. Volume 1, 1897-1942. Chicago: A.N. Marquis Co., 1943.
Compiled by MSG Daniel Ewer, MNNG Command Historian
* Source available from MNNG
At the headquarters for the 34th Infantry Division in Rosemount, a change of command ceremony was held to welcome incoming Brig. Gen. Benjamin Corell into the role of division commander. He is replacing Maj. Gen. Jon Jensen who was recently selected as the new Adjutant General for the state of Minnesota.
JOHNSTON, Iowa – Brig. Gen. Benjamin J. Corell, Deputy Adjutant General of the Iowa National Guard, assumed command of the 34th Infantry Division “Red Bulls” during a ceremony in Rosemount, Minnesota, on December 9, 2017.
Headquartered in Minnesota, the division has been commanded almost-exclusively by members of the Minnesota National Guard since 1968.
“Typically there’s been very few people who have been allowed to command the 34th Infantry Division that didn’t come from the state of Minnesota,” Corell said.
Brig. Gen. Ben Corell takes command of the 34th Red Bull Infantry Division from Maj. Gen. Jon Jensen during a ceremony December 9th, 2017 at the Rosemount Armory in Rosemount, Minnesota.
Maj. Gen. Jon Jensen, 34th Infantry Division Commander,spoke on the occasion of the dedication of Pvt. 1st Class Andrew Biggio Square in Winthrop, Mass. (Photo by Minnesota National Guard Public Affairs)
WINTHROP, Mass. – Settled in 1630, Winthrop is one of the oldest communities in the United States. Service members of all branches of the military from this seaside town just north of Boston have fought on behalf of their state and nation since the Revolutionary War. On Saturday, Sept. 16th, Maj. Gen. Jon Jensen, the commanding general of the Minnesota-based 34th Red Bull Infantry Division, participated in a ceremony that honored one of Winthrop’s own: Pvt. 1st Class Andrew Biggio.
Soldiers from the 34th Red Bull Infantry Division – many of whom are based in Rosemount, Inver Grove Heights and Faribault – have officially been told to prepare for a possible fall 2018 deployment to southwest Asia.
ROSEMOUNT, Minn.- More than 500 Soldiers from the 34th Red Bull Infantry Divisionheadquarters have been notified of a possible deployment to Southwest Asia beginning in the fall of 2018.
“The Red Bulls maintain a high level of readiness, and over the next 12 months, our soldiers will train for this mission while also preparing their families and civilian employers here at home,” said Maj. Gen. Jon Jensen, 34th Infantry Division commanding general. “The official notification is an important step in the process of building readiness for an overseas deployment.”
During a culminating event, Soldiers of the Minnesota National Guard and the Norwegian Home Guard conduct squad movements under supervision of local Minnesota law enforcement officers after two days of domestic operations training conducted at Camp Ripley June 24-26. (Minnesota National Guard Photo by Master Sgt. Ashlee J. L. Sherrill)
CAMP RIPLEY, Minnesota – Soldiers of the Minnesota National Guard’s 34th Red Bull Infantry Division and the Norwegian Home Guard received training from local Minnesota law enforcement officers during a three-day domestic operations training event on Camp Ripley, June 24-26, 2016.
The training event, meant to provide both Minnesota and Norwegian Soldiers with an understanding of inter-agency cooperation between law enforcement and the military, consisted of basic instruction in crisis negotiation, active shooters and hostage rescue.
“We were asked to participate in this training exercise, which I consider an honor,” said Washington County SWAT team member Chris Rheault who is a crisis negotiator and also a full-time Woodbury police officer. “This training provides everyone an opportunity to share tactics. Although we’re instructing the training, it really provides us with an opportunity to all learn from each other. These Soldiers have different experiences and teach us just as much as we can teach them.”
