Task Force 3-7 IN Newsletters
22 May 2008:
Hello to everyone from the beautiful Middle Euphrates River Valley where we grow closer by the day to self sustainability by the citizens of this area and the Iraqi Security Forces. I know from my last update that I at least introduced you all to the concept that violence was on the downhill slide and economic development and governance were improving throughout our area which encompasses Jurf As Sahkr on the West side of the river, Musayyib and Seddah on the east side of the river and in the southern part of our zone, and the Khidr region on the east side of the river and in the north part of our zone just across the river from Jurf As Sahkr. Musayyib is the only part of our area that could be classified as urban while Seddah, Jurf As Sahkr, and Khidr are rural farming communities with agriculture as the primary employer. The rural, salt of the earth citizens of these areas have fallen in love with our Cottonbalers and sincerely appreciate all that they do on a daily basis. On more than one occasion, Soldiers have gone into the schools to drop off donated school supplies only to have kids recognize them from earlier patrols conducted in their neighborhoods. You can imagine the shock of our Soldiers being called out by name in a school that they haven’t been in before. These are the seeds of long term success because these children are growing up and capturing memories of the good things that our fine young professionals do on a daily basis to make this area better. As these kids become teenagers and young adults, they’ll be much less likely to fall prey to the false teachings of the extremists and anarchists that harbor nothing but ill will for this nation with so much promise.
But of course no matter how much progress we make, the fact remains that we still miss our friends and family and our great nation. We’re approaching the halfway mark and we’re at just about the 50 percent mark of folks who have been home on EML. The rest of us eagerly await those 18 days to get back to our great land and immerse ourselves in our uniquely American Culture and Society. Morale continues to remain high even as we approach this halfway point in our rotation and again, I think the high OPTEMPO keeps most of us engaged with little time to concentrate on just how badly we do miss our great nation and our friends and families. Something we’ve all learned is that staying busy sure does make the time at least appear to fly by. John Peeples, our executive officer, has a favorite saying, “Long days help make short weeks.” We’re all finding that to be so very true.
Dave Stewart and the men of Havoc Company continue to impress me with the varied nature of all their tasks that they must complete on a daily basis to keep us afloat. On any given day, a member of Havoc Company is talking to the manager of the huge electrical plant here on our forward operating base while another group of Havoc Soldiers are prepared to escort someone in sector and another group is preparing to go outside the wire to visit and interact with Dave’s area of responsibility just outside the gate known as Abu Lukah or as we like to call it, our city of love. The people in Abu Lukah recognize the benefits that are to be had from cooperating with us and they capitalize on it. The men and women of Havoc recently worked to provide a large shipment of fertilizer for the farmers of Abu Lukah to be used as seed money to get their Agricultural Union up and operating. The farmers took what they needed and then sold the rest of it at 50% below the market cost. They then used that money to buy four brand new Massey-Ferguson tractors which they in turn rent out to the members of the Agricultural Union in order to generate more revenue that will allow them to continue to take advantage of the economies of scale that are not typically available to small farmers. Again, another great news story that is indicative of the path towards self sufficiency that we are pursuing.
Great work continues by Eric Tisland and the Heroes of Alpha Company. Able Company had to assume responsibility for Babahani and Hamiya when Delta Company moved to FOB Zulu and they have done a great job reaching out to the citizens in those two areas. Recently, Alpha Company got involved with the SGT Soper Organization which provides school materials and sports equipment for kids. Several schools benefited from the proceeds of the program with one drop of sports equipment concluding with a soccer match that was watched and enjoyed by everyone to include the parents of the kids.
Jim Hart and the Berserkers continue to do great things in the Khidr area as the displaced civilians from the region return to rebuild their homes and reclaim their lives. The Berserkers continue to attempt to tap into multiple sources of money on both the Coalition side and the Government of Iraq side to assist these returning civilians as much as possible. One thing that drives Jim and his men to try so hard is the hardy demeanor of the citizens who are coming back. They are self starters who detest Al Qaida for forcing them to leave their beautiful town and then destroying almost every single house in the town. Now that the Berserkers are living out at Patrol Base Kelsey, the people have vowed to work with us and to never allow Al Qaida to come back in the area. There is still a lot of work to be done in this region that was completely destroyed by Al Qaida, but the Berserkers, inspired by the attitudes of the returning citizens are getting after it and helping to get the job done.
MAJ Capehart and the men of Chaos continue to work 12-15 hour days every day to maintain their large area that includes the population center of Musayyib and all of it’s surrounding neighborhoods as well as the town of Seddah, which until three months ago had quite frankly been rather neglected by coalition forces and devolved into a Shia Militia Staging Area for activities to be conducted in Musayyib. While Steve and the rest of the company have remained focused on Musayyib, SFC Williams and 1LT Josh Ray have continued to push into Seddah; looking for opportunities to engage with the local leaders of the town and seize it back from the influence of the militias. Evidently, the citizens were more than ready for a change. SFC Williams and 1LT Josh Ray are welcomed with open arms at every any meeting that they attend and have been told over and over just how much they are appreciated. But more than just verbal praise, there are also the almost weekly reports from common everyday citizens on caches and militia members as they try to move back in.
I was able to get out to FOB Zulu once again recently and visit with Matt Williams and the fine men of Dragon Company. They are all doing well in spite of the nature of their austere surroundings. Even from a helicopter, FOB Zulu looks like an outpost on Mars, with absolutely nothing around it for miles and miles. While I was there this last time, they were preparing to go with their Iraqi Army Counterparts into the town of Al Kut in order to take a stance on security and stability for that town and to let the terrorists know that they would not have freedom of maneuver anymore. Everyone was upbeat at this opportunity to yet again make further progress in this area that was previously characterized as a relative safe haven for the insurgents and criminals. I actually went up in one of the towers at Zulu and spent a good bit time with one of our great professionals just talking about home, how he was doing, how he liked FOB Zulu and what he planned to do when we get back. I find it pretty inspiring to talk on these rather relaxed topics with our heroes to keep all of us mindful that this is only a temporary station and to constantly remind them that they’re sacrifices and the sacrifices of their families are acknowledged by a grateful nation.
Chris Neels invited me down to FOB Kalsu 2 weeks ago to pin some well deserved awards on the chests of some of our Enforcer heroes at that location. I couldn’t have been any prouder and I’ll tell you all, standing there with those fine heroes made me miss their presence in our formation here at FOB Iskan even more. They continue to do yeoman’s work on clearing every route between here and Timbuktu I do believe. Seems like they are in a new area every day, denying the enemy the opportunity to kill or injure our Soldiers and providing the safe passage for transit of the supplies and materials that we need in order to sustain ourselves during this fight. It’s starting to look like the Enforcers will remain in the role as a brigade asset for the duration of our deployment and while I regret that they aren’t here with us on this FOB, I am extremely proud of the work that they continue to do day in and day out for our brigade team.
Joel Dickey and the men and women of the Foragers continue their great work of providing the transparent support that allows us to do what we do on a daily basis. I was walking to the mess hall one morning and just happened to pass through the area that Forager uses to stage their vehicles prior to movement and I have to tell you that as I slowed down to take it all in, I was absolutely impressed with the number of moving pieces and the professional Soldiers behind those movements that allow us to operate on this FOB and the two patrol bases that are at distant locations from us. And yet, as complex as it all seems, Joel and his men and women make it happen on a daily basis and they do it so well that their efforts really are transparent unless you pause to observe as I did that morning as I saluted a group of enthusiastic, can do Soldiers preparing to go outside the wire to provide the support that all the rest of us depend upon.
2nd Platoon of Chaos, 3rd Platoon of Dragon, and 2nd Platoon of Echo Company all remain with 6-8 CAV and all continue to do an excellent job making progress each and every day with significant and long lasting contributions to the pursuit of peace and stability in their area.
To date, we have lost a total of 4 of our great heroes; men who paid the ultimate sacrifice as so many have before them in this proud profession of ours. We lost SGT Samuel E. Kelsey out of Echo Company on 13 December when he stepped on a Pressure Plate IED. We lost CPT Nathan R. Raudenbush of the Dragons on 20 February as his vehicle rolled over a large IED. We lost PFC Tyler Smith of the Enforcers on 21 March when a piece of shrapnel from an incoming mortar round hit him on FOB FALCON as he was standing between two buildings for protection. And we lost SGT Jevon Jordan of Chaos Company on 29 March when he finally succumbed to the effects of the explosively formed device that he was hit with on Easter Morning. Please keep all of their families in your thoughts and prayers and remind others of the magnitude of the sacrifice that is being made by these young heroes and all their comrades who are voluntarily answering their nation’s call to duty each and every day here in Iraq and in other places around the globe. Thanks for your continued support and prayers for all of our men and women who are answering their nation’s call to serve and thanks for the outstanding examples you have provided with your own service to our country. Hooah!!
Until next time....
LTC Tim Newsome
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