Fort Hood Sentinel (Fort Hood, Tex.), Vol. 74, No. 34, Ed. 1 Thursday, September 1, 2016 Page: 7 of 24
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www.FortHoodSentinel.com
NEWS
September 1, 2016
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Borth: Trainer led HCD to excellence
Continued from Al
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- Larry Borth
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Photo by Chris Hawkes, Sentinel Staff
Retirees honored at ceremony
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Wherever I went
in the Army, I
had a horse.
Anybody can do
whatever they
want if they just
commit their
self.
Ill Corps and Fort Hood honored 13 Soldiers and one Vietnam Veteran at the monthly retirement ceremony held Friday at the Phantom Warrior Center. Recognized for their service were Col. (Chap-
lain) Zande Sellers, Lt. Col. Aricai Berry, Chief Warrant Officer 2 Anthony Hall, Chief Warrant Officer II Jeffery Johnson, Command Sgt. Maj. Roger Velarde, 1st Sgt. Jack Logan, 1st Sgt. William
Henderson, Sgt. 1st Class Michael Crow, Sgt. 1st Class Edgardo Valdivia-Vizcarra, Sgt. 1st Class Kareem Johnson, Sgt. 1st Class Joseph Fardella, Staff Sgt. Franklin Silverio, Staff Sgt. Juan Felipe
and Vietnam Veteran Radioman 2nd Class Mikio Ludwig.
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VT
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Photos by Sgt. Garett Hernandez 1st Cav. Div. Public Affairs
ABOVE, Larry Borth, the stable master and civilian trainer for the 1st Cav. Div. HCD, gives some last minute pointers to
a trooper before the detachment’s weekly demonstration at the detachment’s stables. RIGHT, Larry Borth, the stable
master and civilian trainer for the 1st Cav. Div. HCD, is awarded the Department of the Army Meritorious Civilian Service
Award by Maj. Gen. J.T. Thomson, commanding general of the 1st Cav. Div., for his 23 years of service to the detach-
ment.
Larry Borth, the stable master and civilian trainer for the 1st Cav. Div. HCD,
watches the weekly demonstration put on by the HCD at the 1st Cav. Div.
stables. Borth watches every demonstration put on by the detachment. After-
ward, he gives the troopers riding pointers on their performance.
I
that sparked Borth interest
detachment stable master.
“When the job became open, I
applied for it,” he said. “Because it
was in the horse world. It had to do
with horses and people; that’s why I
was interested.”
One of Borth’s main duties is to
train Soldiers in military horse rid-
ing, a task he performs exceedingly
well.
During Borth’s 23 years of service
to the detachment, he has been a
part of the Tournament of Roses
Parade 11 times. While in Cali-
fornia, the HCD stables the hors-
es in the same stable as the Los
Angeles Police Department stables.
The detachment is
also welcomed to the
Los Angeles Saddle
and Sirloin club for
breakfast each year.
Saddle and Sirloin
club is a private club
for horse owners and
gives their members
the chance to ride
horses inside Griffith
Park.
“We were watching
these guys rope, and
you could tell that LB
was itching to get out
there,” said 1st Sgt.
Aaron Campanella,
the senior enlisted
advisor of the 1 st Cav.
Div. HCD. “And one
of the guys asked if
he wanted to give it a
go, and (Borth) kind
of ‘aww shucks’ his
way on to the horse. When they let
that calf out, he was on it.”
“He didn’t miss the whole time I
watched him,” Snell added. “By far,
besides at a professional rodeo, the
best roper I have ever seen. He really
is that good.”
Borth also cares for the nearly
50 horse and mule teams of the
detachment. He is responsible for
r__
saddles over the years. He has won
titles all over America and Europe.
His titles include Alaska State
Champion, European Champion
more than once, Pennsylvania State
Champion, Virginia State Cham-
pion and several in Texas.
“Winning an event here in Texas
is pretty tough,” Borth said. “There
is some tough competition around
here in Texas.”
During the different times Borth
was stationed at Fort Hood, he
never could make it to the HCD
while on active duty.
“As a Soldier, I tried to get sta-
tioned here. I think that was in the
80s,” Borth said. “Then I tried to
get back out here when I got back
from Germany in the 90s. I heard
the first sergeant slot was coming
open. I thought I’d try to come out
here. I just inquired about it, but of
course, I couldn’t get released.”
Borth said that when he was on
active duty, it was very hard to leave
the aviation career field to go to
special-duty assignments because of
how important the career field was.
After 25 years in the Army, Borth
retired as a first sergeant in January
1993. An unusual job opened up
around, cared for and competed
with horses.
Borth started life in North Dako-
ta in a farmhouse, where he was
born during the middle of winter.
The youngest of six spent his days
on the farm and going to school in a
one-room schoolhouse. His siblings
and he walked three miles to and
from school every day unless the
weather was bad. That’s when his
father would load the six children
into a horse-drawn sleigh.
“We’d all pile in the back of the
sleigh wagon, or wagon sleigh what-
ever you call it, pulled by a team of
horses and he’d take us to school
wrapped up in blankets,” Borth said.
After North Dakota, Borth
found himself in Columbus, Geor-
gia. There, he went to school and
worked as a mechanic at a gas sta-
tion. It was during this time his love
of cars grew.
One day while driving his two-
door ’57 Ford Custom, another
car smashed into the front of his
beloved car.
“Some drunk guy pulled out in
front of me one night when I was
going to work, and I totaled the
front end,” Borth said. “I said, ‘Well,
I know what I want to do. I want to
make a race car out of it,’ so I did.”
Once he was satisfied with the
rebuild of his car, Larry took up dirt
track racing in the old Ford, win-
ning many races.
“I’ve been wanting to go back to
it ever since,” Borth said.
During his racing days, Borth
moved from Georgia to El Paso,
where he continued to race and win.
It was at this time the 20-year-old
received a letter in the mail - it was
a draft notice.
On the advice of an older broth-
er, who was a Soldier stationed at
Fort Bliss, Larry decided to commit
an additional year to the Army to
become part of the regular Army
This gave Borth different job
options within the Army that were
not available to draftees. He entered
the Army in 1967 as an aircraft
mechanic.
Borth was soon sent to Vietnam
twice, once with the 101st Airborne
Division and again with 1st Bat-
talion, 10th Cavalry Regiment, 4th
Infantry Division.
It was in January 1972, with two
tours of Vietnam under his belt,
Larry rode in to Fort Hood for the
first time. It was about this time he
bought his first horse. For most of
his Army career, Borth was able to
pursue his passion of horses while in
the Army Wherever the Army took
him, he always found a way to bring
his beloved horses with him.
“It was hard to do sometimes, like
when you get deployed,” Borth said.
“Wherever I went in the Army, I
had a horse. Anybody can do what-
ever they want if they just commit
their self.”
Throughout his military career,
Borth charged toward excellence,
not just in the Army, but in his pas-
sion for horses as well. He took up
roping in amateur rodeos in 1974
winning countless titles, buckles and
I'M
everything from managing the herd’s
diet to matching the right rider to
the right horse. Borth is present for
all of the demonstrations and cav-
alry charges, as well as the trail rides.
He watches the riders and horses,
giving advice to the troopers on how
to improve their riding or how to
better control a horse. He is the first
one troopers go to when they have a
question about their assigned horse.
“My hobby became my career
which made my hobby really aggra-
vating,” said Borth, chuckling.
Borth’s time with the 1st Cav.
Div., once again, came to an end.
During a Distinguished Service Rec-
ognition ceremony held Aug. 25
on Cooper Field,
Borth was awarded
for his many years
of service to the
detachment with
the Department of
the Army Meritori-
ous Civilian Service
Award.
On the same
level as a Legion of
Merit, the Meritori-
ous Civilian Service
Award is awarded to
those who have dis-
played a pattern of
excellence.
Over the years
Borth has, in no
small way, contrib-
uted to the detach-
ment’s pattern of
excellence. One
last honor Borth
received was a
chance to ride in a cavalry charge.
During a cavalry charge, detach-
ment troopers on their horses gal-
lop across Cooper Field, re-enacting
how the cavalry would ride into
battle.
“It was awesome riding with
the Soldiers for my final run with
them,” he said. “It’s something I’ll
never forget.”
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Pruden, Todd. Fort Hood Sentinel (Fort Hood, Tex.), Vol. 74, No. 34, Ed. 1 Thursday, September 1, 2016, newspaper, September 1, 2016; Fort Hood, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1204978/m1/7/: accessed August 15, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Casey Memorial Library.