Lt. Col. Charles “Chad” Buehring was commissioned as an Infantry Officer from The Citadel in 1985. His first assignment was with the newly formed 2-22nd Infantry Regiment, 10th Mountain Division as a platoon leader at Fort Benning, Ga., and later as a company executive officer at Fort Drum, N.Y.
Graduating from Special Forces Assessment and Selection in 1989 and the Special Forces Qualification Course in 1990, Buehring served as an operational-detachment-alpha commander in 3rd Battalion, 3rd Special Forces Group (Airborne), leading multiple missions to Botswana. He was one of the first U.S. military personnel deployed in support of the United Nations operations to Somalia in 1992.
In June 1994, Buehring graduated the Functional Area 39 course at Fort Bragg, N.C. with a follow-on assignment as a team leader in the 96th Civil Affairs Battalion (Airborne). While assigned to the 96th CA Battalion, Buehring supported the 15t Armored Division’s entry into the former Yugoslavia during Operation Noble Eagle.
From 1998 to 2001, Buehring served as detachment commander with Company A, 8th PSYOP Battalion, where he served at the detachment commander supporting Operation Desert Fox delivering more than two million leaflets into Iraq.
As the S3 of the 3rd Battalion (Dissemination), Buehring personally executed the delivery of print assets to South Korea and Guam, enabling a key component of PSYOP support to CONPLANs and OPLANs on the peninsula. He was also responsible for laying the foundation of what is now the Media Operations Center.
Finally, as the battalion operations officer, Buehring planned, resourced and executed global production, dissemination and distribution support to both active and reserve component PSYOP units.
In 2003, Buehring served as senior Psychological Operations planner for U.S. Army Central Command. In this capacity, Buehring represented the PSYOP Regiment by reporting directly to the commanding officer, Coalition Forces Land Component Command on all PSYOP supporting programs. These programs directly supported 5th Corps and 1st Marine Expeditionary Force combat operations in the opening days of Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Upon the overthrow of the Saddam Hussein regime, Buehring was offered the opportunity to return to the United States with his unit; he volunteered to remain in Baghdad to establish a Military Information Support Team to support the Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance.
During the early morning hours of Oct. 26, 2003, Iraqi insurgents launched a rocket attack targeting Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, who was staying at the AI Rashid Hotel. As the first salvo of rockets impacted the AI Rashid, Buehring pushed a group of fellow Soldiers gathered in his room to safety in the hallway before returning to the window to engage the enemy. At that time a second salvo of rockets impacted the AI Rashid, mortally wounding Buehring. After his death, Camp Udaire in Kuwait was memorialized Camp Buehring, serving as the staging area for U.S. troops going into the Middle Eastern Theater Reserve.
We honor you, Charles “Chad” Buehring.
