Task Force 3-7 IN Newsletters

14 Feb 2008:

The great Cottonbalers of 3-7 IN continue to do a simply outstanding job each and every day. I am consistently amazed at the initiative that is routinely displayed by the fine young men and women who make up this battalion. It seems like everyday, I witness yet another instance of someone going above and beyond to get the job done. Morale remains high and our fine Soldiers are settled into getting the job done though everyone misses friends and family and our own great U S of A.

Dave Stewart and the men and women of Havoc Company continue to excel at all the taskings that make this battalion run from maintenance to FOB Security to even patrolling in the town of Abu Lukah which is the rural settlement that is just outside our front gate. The progress they are making on all fronts continues to astonish everyone to include Baler 6 and the Staff. There are times when I can only shake my head in disbelief at the magnitude and varied number of tasks that he and his Soldiers fulfill in such a way that they are transparent to the rest of us who benefit from their efforts.

Eric Tisland and the great men of Able Company continue to enjoy life up in Jurf As Sahkr. I’ve threatened on several occasions that I’m going to pack up here at Iskan and move up there with them because they all look so rested every time I visit and Eric just about has to give a direct verbal order to get them to come back here to Iskan to pull maintenance and other taskings such as guard. All the Able Soldiers are absolute professionals and it is there interactions with the population in Jurf As Sahkr that contributes so much to the peace and stability that we’re currently enjoying. I know they sometimes must feel like they’re an amusement park with all the visitors they get, but I’ll tell you every visit has been extremely valuable and all have been very well done thanks to the efforts of the men of Able Company. On a side note, some bad guys have been trying to move back into Jurf and the surrounding area. They should know better. Eric and I were in a meeting with one of my Spheres of Influence, Sheik Sabah, and Eric received radio traffic that 4 of those bad guys had been policed up by 2nd Platoon. The next day, 3rd Platoon picked up yet another bad guy. Great work.

Bravo Company continues to make great things happen up in the Khidr area which is right across the river from Alpha Company and Jurf As Sahkr. Khidr was totally destroyed by the activities of Al Qaeda in Iraq. There were only 2 or 3 homes left standing and everything else was flattened. Jim Hart and the great Berserkers however, have put in a magnificent patrol base which is named Patrol Base Kelsey in honor of the sacrifice made by SGT Kelsey. Everyday there are new improvements to the patrol base and if things continue at the current pace, I suspect that Jim will also have to just about give a direct verbal order to make his Soldiers come back to Iskan for their routine maintenance. The Berserkers carried out a midnight raid last week and captured a total of nine sure enough bad guys even though they were only targeting eight. These arrests were carried out in the most professional fashion possible with Soldiers actually sweeping the mud out of the homes of the civilians after they arrested the bad guys in the home. Everyone was treated with dignity and respect and the Berserkers are admired by the local citizens for the restraint and professionalism that they displayed during the raid.

Of course, Choas Company remains in Musayyib and continues to contribute to our pursuit of peace and security each and every day with the multiple personalities that they have to interact with and the raids that they carry out to capture bad guys as well as significant caches of weapons and explosives. Almost always, the Chaos crew receives tips about these caches from the very people that they interact with while out on patrol. The citizens of Musayyib love the Chaos Crew and get very concerned if they do not see them at least twice a day. Musayyib is a fairly large city and you all would just not believe some of the personalities that Chaos has to deal with. In addition to Musayyib, Chaos is beginning to push into a smaller town to the south of Musayyib. This is the town of Seddah and as you can probably guess many of the people in Seddah are extremely jealous of the success that the town of Musayyib has experienced and so the men of Chaos must struggle to placate such concerns and convince all the citizens that they love them all equally.

As you all have probably heard, Delta Company has been tasked to send a company headquarters and one platoon all the way over to the Eastern side of the Brigade’s Battle Space to a place known as FOB Zulu. They will serve as one of the MITT teams in that area that will help us eventually transition some of this terrain over to the Iraqi Security Forces. Matt Williams and the Dragons of Delta Company were very successful in the Tahrir, Bahbahani, Hamiya areas which are all just to the north of Musayyib. This area was extremely rural with simple, poor people who just want the opportunity to work their farms in peace. The Dragons recently captured a very large cache of weapons and ammunition in their area and were making significant inroads into an understanding of the operators who were trying to move back into the Musayyib/Bahbahani area. Mike McClain and the men of 2nd Platoon will travel with Matt Williams and the Dragons Company HQs to FOB Zulu and Greg Hope will stay behind in the Bahbahani area as source of continuity to all those folks that Greg had already established relationships with. Greg and the men of 1st platoon will be attached to Chaos for the foreseeable future or at least until we get all the Dragons back under the Cottonbaler umbrella.

We still see the great Soldiers of the Enforcers every now and then. I saw them today up at Kelsey when some of them came to pick up a bulldozer at that location and Chris Neels and I occasionally talk about personnel issues. I’m proud that he still seeks me out for suggestions and he and the crew always seem so much more at home when they have the opportunity to stop by FOB Iskan and stay a while. They do stay busy though with route clearance…practically going over all of the Brigade’s Area.

The great men and women of Forager continue to do an outstanding job of supporting all of us in a way that is so smooth that most of us never even notice, but you can bet we’d notice if the support stopped or was disrupted. As you know the Foragers never say no or can’t. They just always ask where and when do you want the stuff delivered. They recently had a Change of Command as Joe Anthony moves to command HHC, 703rd and Joel Dickey, an old Cottonbaler by association from way back, comes in to be the Commander of Foxtrot Company. Joel is a gifted logistician with an operator mindset just like Joe Anthony and the Cottonbalers are so blessed to once again have such talent in the Commander of our Foxtrot Company.

Of course, we still have 2nd Platoon of Chaos, 3rd Platoon of Dragon, and 2nd Platoon of Echo Company all up on FOB Falcon with 6-8 CAV and of course they continue to do an excellent job up in that area with all Cottonbaler Soldiers continuing to make solid contributions alongside the great Cavalrymen of 6-8 CAV. Keep us all in your prayers and remember that your loved ones over here think about you each and every day and miss you all terribly, but I think it’s a real testament of the support that you all provide that we’re able to do our jobs without distractions from back home and with the support of your prayers and thoughts. Thanks for all that you do and for all the sacrifices that you make on behalf of our great country. You are all more special than you’ll ever realize and one day you’ll look back on this period of separation and be able to say that you answered your country’s call to duty as a couple and served honorably and without regret in partial repayment to all of those who have served before us.

Until next time....
LTC Tim Newsome

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