When talking of Dirty Dozen everyone remembers the American war movie that starred Lee Marvin together with his bunch of men that were not afraid to fight. In the US Army there is a real unit that is called the Filthy Thirteen, an unofficial unit of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division. The group was comprised of hard – living and hard – fighting brawlers nicknamed the Filthy Thirteen.
The unit’s nickname rose from their training in Britain and they are known to bathe and shave only once a week and never washed their uniforms. These men were selected and trained to destroy targets behind enemy lines and are known for their courage in battle and their general disregard for rules of any kind. While the Dirty Dozen movie is comprised of convicts, the Filthy Thirteen which inspired the movie is not made of convicts but is made up of men who are not scared to fight or spend their time in the stockade.
The unit was led by Jake McNiece a half – breed Indian from Oklahoma also known as Mr. McNasty was the unit’s acting sergeant except when he went to town. In spite of the fact that Jake made four combat jumps and displayed tremendous courage in the battlefield during the war, he was consistently bumped back to the rank of a private. The unit was assigned to take a bridge on D-Day over the Douve River in France that cost most of the men’s lives.
The unit became famous during the war and their tale grew through the years and with the release of the Dirty Dozen film, the real – life band of misfits became the most well – known units during World War II. One of the surviving veterans of the unit said that they were not murderers but they just didn’t do everything that they were supposed to do in some ways and did a whole lot more than they were asked to do in other ways. Thus, the unit was always in trouble.
Today, the making of the Dirty Dozen is covered during the Infantry Squad Leaders Course (ISLC) wherein Marines can improve their combat leadership skills. The ISLC trains non – commissioned officers in applying their leadership to a squad composed of a team of 12 Marines under the leadership of a squad leader during infantry assaults and patrols.
The purpose of the ISLC training is to train sergeants and corporals to be rifle squad leaders focused on squad and platoon level techniques and weapons organic to the rifle company. It is designed to provide concepts, knowledge and skills associated in war fighting, decision making, weaponeering, patrolling, attacking, defending and military operation other than war.
The team is composed of three four – man fire teams. Each team has a leader, a rifleman, an automatic rifleman and an assistant rifleman. The automatic rifleman is armed with a squad automatic weapon and the assistant automatic rifleman is in charge of carrying ammunition and takes the M-249 squad automatic weapon in case the main automatic rifleman is killed or wounded and cannot fight during the battle.
The field training includes how to move toward an objective during an attack and the course is mostly field exercises. The hardest part of the training course is writing the combat orders not because they are hard but because they are time consuming. This is because the orders take a lot of time in writing the details. Every conceivable contingency must be planned and orders usually include the mission and how it should be done. These include the order of fire – team movement, equipment to be taken, how to respond when in contact with the enemy, assigning of second jobs and what to do with casualties. The training is not only a challenge to the trainees but it is also a challenge to the instructors on how to get all the orders stick to their heads.
In honor of the Filthy Thirty the unofficial unit of the US Army two commemorative coins were created to remember these courageous men who risk and lost their lives in the battle.
One is the Dirty Dozen of the Distro Platoon challenge coin. This is a 1.75″ token that was designed and minted by U.S. Challenge Coins for the Dirty Dozen also known as the Bernstein Bears who are deployed in Tuz, Iraq. The coin is a highly polished nickel with 3D and painted designs on both side without edging and epoxy.
Another interesting challenge coin is the 2″ round 101st Airborne Division challenge coin. It is of antique nickel finish with raised and painted details on both sides with no edging and epoxy. The token is created for the 101st Airborne Division.
