Beruflich Dokumente
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Battalion Commander
Family and Friends of the Dreadnaughts,
2-34 Armor CAB 7104C Desert Storm Drive Fort Riley, KS 66442
Inside this issue:
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Friends and Family of 2-34 AR, I certainly hope this newsletter finds everyone well the Battalion continues to excel out here in Maiwand and it is clear that we have hit our stride now with over 100 days deployed. So far, this is what we have accomplished in the first 100 days: C Company (Fighting Aces) providing a nearly lost sense of security to the people of Hutal, best exemplified by Aces Soldiers and Afghan Police presence in the towns bazaar. When we arrived, this bazaar was believed to be controlled by the Taliban and all you could see was fear in the eyes of the people not anymore as C Company has taken back this critical hub and given visible hope to the people. FSC (Two Gun aka Fox) Unrelenting support to the battalion. This company has taken on every challenge imaginable from securing safe passageways for our logistics to move out to the Combat Outposts to providing playground equipment for kids to cooking hundreds of meals to thousands of Soldiers to securing our Entry Control Point (ECP) for our main base to repairing dozens of broken vehicles (as well as every other piece of equipment imaginable) across the battalion. B Company (Black Dragon aka Bulldogs) Operating away from their supporting headquarters here at FOB Ramrod, B Co has had to adapt to a new FOB, new battalion, new area of operations, new task organization (they lost an infantry platoon and gained an artillery platoon) and new type of terrain (their terrain looks more like Ft. Polk while ours looks like Ft. Irwin). They are also battling D Co for the most number of completed air assault operations! A Company (Orphans) Operating geographically close to B Company but still within Maiwand district, A Company has had to operate on the outskirts of our area with true independence. No other unit is as far away from resupply as A Company but you would never know it when you visit and talk to Soldiers. They love living far from the flagpole and have proven their lightfighter abilities by executing the most number of dismounted patrols they walk everywhere as it is the only way to connect to the people. D Company (Dauntless) The mighty tankers and Scouts of D Company have developed into expert jugglers of every tactical task from air assaults to serving as the primary trainers of the Afghan Army. They own the largest battlespace in the battalion and have begun expanding their knowledge base by actively seeking out the people in the smallest of villages dotting the vast landscape here. CSM McDwyer and I are exceptionally proud of everything the Battalion is doing. Thanks for all the pictures and packages from home as they are truly well received. Fear God, Dreadnaught!! LTC Chris Kidd
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1SGs CORNER
Families and friends of Hoplite Company, hello from Afghanistan. The Hoplite Company continues to march forward and make significant impacts on the region of Southern Afghanistan. Our mark is definitely being left everywhere we operate, and with every mission we execute. The success stories go on and on. On top of operations we are also conducting some outstanding training and making improvements across the Company in order to keep our skills sharp and stay on top of "our game". Some of these training TAC SEC visiting a local market events will include more marksmanship, medical, and communications training, along with an increased focus on inspections. These types of events are critical to ensure our success throughout our deployment. In other news, some highlights of the Company include Soldier promotions as well as attendance to the promotion boards. Deployments are where Soldiers really have a chance to "show off" how good they are when put "in the game" and it pays off. Although I do not have enough paper to share all the success stories, some of honorable mention are the SSG Kirks awesome performance as a Medical Platoon Leader as well as SSG Henagar's performance as his Platoon Sergeant and SSG Mason's performance as the new TAC SEC Platoon Leader. Congratulations also go to LTs Abaldo, Toft, Grisdale, Pierce and Walker as they are now promoted to the rank of Captain. Much deserved promotions for a few of the Battalions best officers. I want to thank you all for your continuous support of HHC and take this time to thank the International Club of Arbor View High School from Las Vegas, NV. They sent many care packages for our Soldiers that I distributed, and made a box for the Soldiers that work daily on base defense. Thanks again to all. I look forward to writing again soon. 1SG Matthew Peterson HOPLITE 7
ABOVE: 1LTs, Abaldo, Grisdale, Pierce, and Toft are all promoted to the rank of CPT by LTC Kidd LEFT:
Kidd
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Orphan 6 conferring with local leader to work though water irrigation issues
Volume 4, Issue 6
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Volume 4, Issue 6
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The company leadership farewells EOD Team 4. From left to right: SSGT Goedde, 1SG Mosher, CPT Decker, SrA Lail, and SSGT Weber.
permanent partnership model, and our ANA counterparts are thrilled to have men they can call their shohnas. Shohna is the Afghan word for shoulder which comes from the phrase working shohna ba shohna (working shoulder to shoulder.)
The company of AN-COP that we were partnered with has finished its rotation. The ANCOP deploy for 90 days at a time, and their last day of patrols happened on July 24th. Our Scout Platoon had the lions share of responsibility for partnering with and training the AN-COP company, and I can say without a doubt that this unit is more professional and better prepared as a result of the Scouts efforts. To be fair, all Dauntless platoons had some hand in training these Soldiers, and all should be proud of their progress. Additionally, the ANA Weapons Tolay has picked up responsibility for securing High-way 1, and even more importantly, moved from FOB Sarkari Karez to Hutal. You may recall that Hutal is the center of gravity for the Maiwand district, and ensuring its security is of the utmost importance to our counterinsurgency fight. There are multiple other ANSF units al-ready located in Hutal, but the addition of the Weapons Tolay completes the full spectrum of security forces. Partnership for this unit also falls to the Scout Platoon, and I have complete confidence that the Scouts will have the Weapons Tolay trained up and conducting security patrols in no time. The remainder of 6th Kandak has been conducting patrols in a rural village called Galangkesh. During these patrols they have been gathering census data, which is the first time anyone has truly interacted with the locals. Almost all of the people in Galangkesh have ex-pressed gratitude for the in-creased ANSF presence and security. I am hopeful that we can get this village (which represents almost 50 square kilometers of our area of operations) to participate in the governance process. Finally, we experienced some key personnel changes this month. CPT Dave Grisdale (thats right, he got promoted) will be leaving the Scout Platoon to take over as the company executive officer. With this move we welcome CPT Dave Marold as the new Scout Platoon leader, and say farewell to CPT Shawn Elkin as he assumes the role of battle captain in the battalion TOC (Tactical Operations Center.) All three of these officers are first rate men, so while I am happy to have CPT Marold as a new member of team Dauntless, we will all miss CPT Elkin as he leaves the company. With that, I will close this portion of my monthly up-date. I hope this finds you well as you put the first 25% of the deployment behind you. Sincerely, Timmy Dauntless 6
Hello DAUNTLESS family, It has been a busy month for us. We have taken on a new mission as an Air Assault company and it SSG Zerwig and SGT Petrides take a break has been an experience. I doubt than any of your Tankers ever thought they would be doing Air Asduring strong point operations on Operasaults and dismounted clearing operations when they became Tankers. For the Infantrymen in the com- tion Emporia IV. pany this is not really anything new. These missions have been physically challenging and leave us exhausted. But it is one hell of a weight loss program. By the end of this thing all of your Soldiers will be coming home much thinner I think. The pace here will continue to be fast and furious for some time to come. Keep us all in your thoughts and prayers and we will keep working hard to make sure we bring everyone home safely. Best wishes, DAUNTLESS 7
1SG Mosher shares some chai tea with an ANA Soldier and some locals in the village of Chashmeh.
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2-34 MORTARS
The Marauders have been extremely busy during the past few months, continuing to support Butcher Troop with awesome indirect fires. We have had multiple engagements, where all of our mortars proved to be one of the most valuable assets here in Afghanistan. Providing units with the special support like the Marauders do enables our comrades to be safer and more protected. With more than half of the deployment over, the Marauders have excelled in many aspects and have never stopped improving the mortar pit. We have added a lot of features to increase security and safety. The endless work that the Marauders constantly put in everything they do does not go unnoticed by anyone. We often have VIPs come to our mortar to pit to show off the professionalism of our work. There has also been news on redeployment for the Marauders. Since we fall under 6-4 CAV, we will redeploy with them back home. Nothing is set in stone, but we are supposed to return home mid to late December. We will keep you updated as soon as more information comes out. Thanks again to everyone who has supported the Marauders along our journey. We all look forward to making our way back to loved ones, but in the mean time I want to again thank you for everything you do to give us unending support. Sincerely, CPT Chris Wonsettler Mortar Platoon Leader
Raider Review
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Dreadnaught Newsletter
Friends and Families of the Dreadnaught Battalion, It is now August! Almost 4 months down with the deployment already! This month is a bittersweet one however. We are forced to say farewell to our long-term Family Readiness Support Assistant (FRSA), Melissa Valdez, as her and her family move on to the next assignment at Arizona State University in Arizona. This is a great opportunity for her and her family and she will definitely be missed. Melissa practically built the entire Family Readiness Group program in the Battalion as the unit transitioned from the MTT Team mission to stand up as a Combined Arms Battalion. Melissa has been the organizing force behind making sure our families were prepared for this deployment as they have shown they are through their resiliency and volunteerism. It is sweet though because we get to welcome a new member to the Dreadnaught team. We get to welcome our new FRSA, Jennifer Farinosi. Jennifer came highly recommended with many years of experience as an FRSA during her familys previous assignment in Germany. Like Melissa, Jennifer was one of the original FRSAs and helped define what that position was going to be. Her experience and expertise in this role is going to be very helpful in the Battalions next step as we begin to anxiously look forward to the redeployment and the joy, jubilation, and hardships that come with that. August is also going to mark the start of the school year and I personally hope this means the return of a lot of families who went home for the summer to be with their families. Get the kids back into school and get back here with the unit. We have some great events scheduled for the fall to include a Haunted House event at the new Battalion Headquarters in October. It would be great to see as many Dreadnaught Family Members there as possible. I know its been a hot summer and I hope everyone has been able to beat the heat! Fear God and Dreadnaught!
Volume 4, Issue 6
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Dreadnaught Soldiers, Families, and friends, As most of you know this is my last week with the Dreadnaughts and the last publication of the Dreadnaught Newsletter that I will be doing. With the Army changes are always happening and now I will be PCSing with my Soldier to a new location and adventure in our military life. I want to thank you all for the great 3+ years I have been the Family Readiness Support Assistant (FRSA) for the Dreadnaughts. I have made countless friends being with you all and will miss each and everyone of you. I am proud to be a Dreadnaught and will continue to be one till the every end. Even though I will be going on to a new adventure in my life I will do my best to stay in touch through the facebook page. Not sure what will be around this new corner for me, but I will always be there for the Dreadnaughts. Please be safe out there Dreadnaughts! I will be thinking of you all when you return from deployment. FEAR GOD, DREADNAUGHT!
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