505th en bn december newsletter
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Check out the December 505th Engineer Battalion newsletter "From the Ground Up"TRANSCRIPT
From the Ground Up
505th Engineer Combat Battalion
Content PG
BN CDR 1
FSC 2-3
HHC 4-5
882 EN CO 5-7
544 EN CO 8-12
497 EN CO 13-
16
Birthdays/
Promotion
17
927th S&D 18
Parting Shot 18
DECEMBER 2012
“Essayons”
Our Regiment’s motto is French for
“Let us strive”; or more often said:
“Let us try”. This goes way back to
the Continental Army which was
supported by French subject matter
experts; and is why we still use French terminology such as “abates”,
“pontoons”, “gabions”, and
“fascines”, in our work. Our Regi-
mental Medal, the “De Fleury”, is
named for one of the subject matter
experts François-Louis Teissèdre de
Fleury, a French Engineer in the
Continental Army.
Many of you are subject matter ex-
perts as well. The spirit of
“Essayons” applies to YOU. You
who left your mark, and are leaving
your mark here; in building Camp
John Pratt in Afghanistan, complet-
ing the Udari project, renovating
trailers, blue bricks, the fuel farm,
connex yards, tent pads, etc. This
spirit doesn’t only apply to the engi-
neers in the 505th, but also to those
who support them; the logisticians,
administrative staff, fuelers, design-
ers, surveyors, mechanics, cooks, etc. The whole 505th comes together in
this spirit to get the missions accom-
plished. We figure out what needs to
be done, by when it needs to be done,
how to get it done, and what it will
take to get it done. This deployment,
the battalion has conducted hundreds
of mission, worked hundreds of thou-
sands of labor hours, and has saved
the US Government Millions of dol-
lars in construction costs.
The next three months will be busy.
The 497th and 544th Engineer Com-
panies are preparing to redeploy back
to FT Carson. They will be heavily
engaged not only in completing mis-
sions but also in inventories, load-
outs, and with the relief in place with
their replacements. They are great
engineers and we have been lucky to
have these companies assigned to the
505th.
As for the rest of us, we will con-
tinue to push forward with engineer
missions. We will be integrating the
377th and 232nd Engineer Companies
and be transitioning the Afghanistan
mission. Soon, the organic units of
the Battalion will be preparing to
redeploy.
Please stays focused on safety, mis-
sion accomplishment, and continue
to demonstrate the spirit of
“Essayons”.
Castle 6
François-Louis Teissèdre de Fleury (1749–1799) was a French
nobleman who joined the Royal
Army in 1768 and later volunteered
to fight in the Continental Army dur-
ing the American Revolutionary
War. In America he demonstrated his
bravery at Piscataway in May 1777 after which he was appointed an offi-
cer of engineers. He fought at the
Brandywine in September and was
wounded at Germantown in early
October. He served capably during
the Siege of Fort Mifflin where he
was wounded again in November.
George Washington made him an
assistant to Friedrich Wilhelm von
Steuben at Valley Forge in the spring
of 1778. He served during the Mon-
mouth Campaign in June 1778 and
fought in Rhode Island in August.
While leading one of the attacking
columns at Stony Point in July 1779,
Fleury won an award for being the
first attacker to enter the British bas-
tion. Granted leave to return to
France later that year, he returned to
fight at Yorktown in October 1781.
Back in the French army, he held
commands in India and the Indian Ocean until 1790 when he returned
to France. In the early part of the
French Revolutionary War he was
badly wounded and later resigned
from the army. He received a pen-
sion in June 1796 and died in 1799.
The De Fleury Medal, named for
Fleury, is awarded to outstanding
members of the United States Corps
of Engineers.
(Ref. Wikipedia)
François-Louis Teissèdre de Fleury
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CDR: CPT Rodney
Woody
1SG: Morris Lee
Engineers: From the Ground UP!
Fsc Alpha-Dawgs FROM THE COMMANDER: As the FSC ended November and started the month of De-cember, we realized that our “Over the Hump” was on the horizon and we can now see the light at the end of the tun-nel for our return home. As we prepare for the Holidays; Christmas and New Years
brings a closer time of togeth-erness for all of us, because we are so blessed and thank-ful to have the support from back home and people around the globe. There have been so many organizations and great people sending boxes, packages, letter’s and gifts, that it’s truly overwhelming.
We as the FSC can’t send enough gratitude and thanks for all the support we’ve gotten while deployed. AMERICA…NORTH CAROLINA…FAMILY & FRIENDS…you are the
BEST!! I personally want to say thanks to our FRG ladies (Mrs. James, Mrs. Parker, and Mrs. Woody) for the wonderful sup-port they’ve given to make this deployment so much easier. You ladies are doing so much for us and I want to make sure everyone knows it!
The events, training and highlights this month were many. We started it off by getting 4 of our Mainte-nance Soldiers back from Afghanistan safe and sound and going to the M4/M16 Individual Qualifi-cation range. We had 80 Soldiers go to the range, and 80 Soldiers qualified. The FSC not only main-tains transports and feeds the troops; they can shoot and Soldier-up with the
best of them.
MAINTENANCE PLATOON: The Maintenance Platoon organized a Christmas shopping trip to the Ku-
waiti Navel Base to get their shopping done in time to a mail the present’s home for Christmas. This past month, they also began a Driver’s Training Program to make sure every Soldier was familiar and licensed on vehicles and equipment that’s organic to Engineer operations. On the 13th of December, the National Guard celebrated its 376th Birthday where many of the Maintenance Platoon Sol-diers participated in the 5K Fun Run/Walk. Brigadier
General Austin (From North Carolina) was the host for a cake cutting ceremony where SFC Jarman helped cut the cake (he got the honors be-cause he is the “oldest” in the FSC). The Recovery Section had several missions this month and our SAMS-E clerks pre-pared for an Integrated Logis-tics Analysis Program (ILAP) Readiness Review. SPC Garner assisted in teach-ing the Level 1 Combatives course, 4 Soldiers completed the 30 hour Hazmat class, 1 Soldier completed Network plus training, and 2 completed the 40 hour Microsoft Office class.
FIELD FEEDING SECTION:
Our 92G’s (Food Service Spe-cialist) were also all first time “GO”s in qualifying their as-signed weapons. At DFAC VI, the Hick-a-Billy’s Band per-formed several times (Starring our own SFC “Dave” Parker). SSG Lake and SPC Reid are back managing the SPOD DFAC after a short break. SPC Timberlake is doing an outstanding job working for ASG-KU, and even with her busy schedule, she enrolled in Combative Level I where she is being slammed, slapped and punched each night until mid-night. She is enjoying the class so much after her graduation on DEC. 14; she hopes to enroll in Combative Level II to further her training in hand to hand combat.
FSC Alpha-Dawgs
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Engineers: From the Ground UP!
Fsc Alpha-Dawgs DISTRIBUTION PLATOON: These gals & guys have driven over 4000 miles this month and have went on over 25 missions to make sure fuel, engineer material and big items such as bulldozers/trucks are where they need to be so that operations for the Battalion run smooth. The Fuelers in Afghanistan have surpassed distributing 100,000 gallons of fuel for their operations over there. SGT James Gibson began the Warrior Leaders Course (WLC) at Camp Buehring and graduated the Commandant’s List. SGT Gibson also was named the 505th EN BN’s
Hero of the Quarter; where he received the Army Achieve-ment Medal for his profession-alism and dedication to duty. All four of our Afghan Fuelers received a memorable Coin from the 557th Engineer “Red Horse” Happy New Year. Continue your support as we continue the fight. We’ll be home before you know Squadron, USAF for their out-standing job. Four Soldiers attended the Advanced Safe Drivers Training at Kuwait Naval Base. SGT Coleson completed Heavy Equipment Transporter System (HETS) Drivers Training. The Distro
Platoon finished support op-erations at the Udari Range Complex in Northern Kuwait and are ready for the next big mission.
As you can see, the FSC is
rolling along and ready for any
Support Operations that need
to be done. From CPT
Woody, 1SG Lee and the en-
tire FSC, we want to wish
each of you a very Merry
Christmas and a Happy New
Year
ALPHA DAWGS…
WE DELIVER!
FSC Alpha-Dawgs
LTC Gilbert recognizing SGT Gibson for his out stand-
ing service.
FSC Maintenance keeps the equipment oparational
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4
What’s All the Hype about Resiliency?
November Issue November Issue
CDR: CPT Clifton Gauldin
1SG: Randall Rogers
The term “resiliency” has
become a new buzz word
that is becoming ever more
popular throughout the mili-
tary and civilian populations.
Resiliency is defined as an
occurrence of rebounding or
springing back or the ability to recover readily from ill-
ness, depression, adversity,
or the like. Over the years,
Army leaders have become
increasingly concerned with
Soldiers’ ability to cope with
problems that are being asso-
ciated with the long wars in
Iraq and Afghanistan. As a
result, the Army launched
the Comprehensive Soldier
Fitness (CSF) Program in October 2009. The
vision of the program is to
create an Army of bal-
anced, healthy, self-
confident Soldiers, fami-lies and Army civilians
whose resilience and total
fitness enables them to
thrive in an era of high
operational tempo and
persistent conflict. The
five dimensions of the
program are physical,
emotional, social, family and
spiritual, focusing on identi-
fication of the 5 dimensions
and strengthening a Soldier’s
general resilience by work-
ing on them. As part of the
program, the Master Resil-
ience Training (MRT) Pro-gram was developed, in 2009 as well, to develop re-
siliency experts in the mili-
tary with the goal of having
MRT experts in every com-
pany to help monitor and
develop the 5 dimensions of
CSF.
Many people confuse resil-
iency as a trait that individu-
als are born with. While
some people seem to come
by resilience naturally, these
behaviors can be learned as
well. Characteristics of resil-
ience include awareness of
the situation while maintain-
ing control and thinking of
new ways to tackle prob-
lems; an understanding that setbacks are a part of life;
belief that actions one take
will affect the outcome of an
event; strong problem-
solving skills that lead to a
successful solution; having
strong social connections
with people who can offer
support; identifying as a sur-
vivor, not a victim while
staying focused on a positive
outcome; and knowing when
to ask for help. Help can
come in a variety of forms,
to include books, online mes-
sage boards, support groups
and consulting with qualified
mental health professionals.
Possessing these characteris-
tics can aid your ability to
deal with life’s setbacks.
10 Ways to Become More
Resilient: 1. Build positive beliefs in
your abilities by becoming
more confident about your
own ability to deal with
problems.
2. Find a sense of purpose in
your life by becoming in-
volved in your community,
growing in your spirituality,
or participating in activities
that are meaningful to you.
3. Develop a strong social
network with people you can
confide in and can help you
come up with possible solu-tions to your problems.
4. Embrace change as flexi-
bility is an essential part of
resilience, enabling individu-
als to adapt and thrive.
5. Be optimistic by main-
taining a hopeful outlook and
understanding setbacks are
temporary.
6. Nurture yourself by mak-
ing time for activities that
you enjoy, which can
boost your overall health
and resilience.
7. Develop your problem-
solving skills by practic-
ing, so you will be better prepared to cope when
serious challenges arise.
8. Establish goals in a
realistic manner and break
them down into manage-
able steps.
9. Take steps to solve
problems and don’t wait
for them to go away. Take
steps toward making your
situation better and less
stressful and focus on the
progress that you have made
thus far.
10. Keep working on your
skills as resilience may take
time to build. Most impor-tant, remember to build upon
your existing strengths.
Achieving maximum output
from us, as Soldiers, requires
that we receive adequate
sleep, maintain physical fit-
ness and engage in activities
away from work that pro-
mote the building of resil-
ience in all five dimensions
If you voluntarily quit
in the face of adversity,
you'll wonder about it
for the rest of your life.”
-- Former President Bill
Clinton
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5
of CSF. Mission requirements
know no timelines or cycles
and will be ever-present. This
can lead to Soldiers developing
a “burn-out” pace of activity to
stay on top of mission require-
ments. Leaders must ensure that time is dedicated for ade-
quate rest and resilience-
building activities. We are a
resilient Army, and we are
committed to building our indi-
vidual and collective strength
to build resiliency across the
force. Resiliency should be an
important part of our well be-
ing and we must constantly
seek to refine and apply the
resiliency skills we learn.
Resiliency plays an important
role during the holiday season, as well. I pray that everyone
had a blessed Christmas and
you will have a blessed coming
New Year. Holidays are a dif-
ficult time for some Soldiers
and we need to ensure that we
are taking care of each other
during these times. Check on
your battle buddies and become
involved in their lives. Re-
member, one of the key charac-
teristics of resiliency is estab-
lishing social connections with
others in order to share life’s
experiences with. We are over halfway through the deploy-
ment and it won’t be long until
we get home to our patiently
awaiting loved ones.
---Titan 6 Out!
November Issue
“People who soar are those
who refuse to sit back, sigh
and wish things would
change. They neither com-
plain of their lot nor pas-
sively dream of some distant
ship coming in. Rather, they
visualize in their minds that they are not quitters; they
will not allow life's circum-
stances to push them down
and hold them under.”
--- Charles Swindoll
"MSG Smith extends his current
enlistment this month for 4
years. Once his enlistment is com-
pleted, he will retire with 34 years of
service. Congrats MSG Smith!"
"SSG Kopczinsky extends his current enlistment this month for 6
more years. Once completed his enlistment is completed, he will
have 18 years of service. Congrats SSG Kopczinsky!"
Recent WLC Graduates at Camp Buehring
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Thanksgiving has
come and gone and the bonds
between the Pirates have only
grown stronger as another
month has passed and we all
remain focused on the mission
at hand. Already, December has started off as a very busy
month for the 882nd Engineers
in Kuwait. With a number of
projects underway and even
more coming up in the near
future, the Pirates are
moving ahead with
even more vigor and
tenacity as the holiday
season quickly ap-
proaches.
The first half
of the Blue Brick
Building Project led by LT
Pelusi and SFC Moreno is
already near completion as 3rd
Platoon continues to work tire-
lessly on completing the total
renovation in preparation for
training exercises to take place
next year.
With the help of 1LT Melott,
SFC Barker and the 1st Platoon
engineers, the Blue Brick
Buildings have been progress-
ing with break-neck speed and
look absolutely fantastic; a
true testament to the skill and
experience of the carpenters,
electricians, and plumbers of
the Mocksville-based unit.
Meanwhile, 2nd Pla-
toon has been spear-heading
the total demo and renovation
of a number of trailers that
were, before, out of commis-
sion. The most important of
these is a 2,240 square foot
building at LSA that will soon
house an entire aviation battal-ion providing a much-needed
facility for both U.S. and Ku-
waiti military aircraft.
In other recent news,
the Pirates intramural flag
football team has continued to trample the competition and
fought their way to the Camp
Arifjan playoffs. Just last
night, Coach Stephen Casey
and Quarterback SFC
Lewczyk lead the team to vic-
tory in the second match
against the 705th. While some
minor injuries were sustained,
the team shook it off and
crushed their competition with
numerous plays that left their
rivals stunned and confused.
Some highlights included SPC
So continually pushing back
the line with her precision rush
techniques, SPC Naylor with
over 50 yards and 3 receptions.
SPC Edwards stone-walled the
705th players with a game-changing interception in the
red zone and 1LT Estheimer
came through under pressure
to score the winning touch-
down for the Pirates. Tonight,
they will be up against “The
Lightning”; keep your ears
open for further news as the
playoffs progress.
As the Christmas
holiday approaches, spirits
remain high, though the fami-
lies and friends we have left
behind for a short while are
never far from our thoughts.
We sincerely appreciate the
thoughts, prayers, and kind
gestures of friends, families,
parents, siblings and children
as you patiently wait for our
upcoming return to the States.
We wish every one of you the
best in the upcoming holiday
season and we look forward to
hearing from you soon.
From The Ground Up! November Issue 882nd EN CO.
Spc. James Benefield
Public Affairs Officer
882nd En Co.
Left, Top:
Pirates hard at work on the
35th CAB project
Right:
CPT Day is visited by a special
VIP!
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1st Platoon Working Straight Through The Holidays
2nd Platoon Completing The Storm Water Retention Pond
1st Platoon has been busy working 10 hour days digging drainage ditches and preparing earth pads on four differ-
ent sites. As a platoon, they have laid rock and base on over 21 acres in the last month. Their completion of the 110
-acre project site will allow for contractors to open the CRSP yard, Retrosort yard, wash racks, and the Sterile yard.
As 1st Platoon continues to work tirelessly on all of their assigned projects, they would like to wish everyone back
home a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. As always, we look forward to the Spring and returning home to
our families and friends.
SPC Hudnall getting ready to go to work in her Benz.
SFC Wilmoth and SGT Tate laying culverts
for a driveway.
2nd Platoon continued to work 10 hour days throughout the
month of December in efforts to complete the Camp John
Pratt Storm Water Retention pond. All together, they exca-
vated an average of 1,500 cubic yards of earth per day with
only three scrapers! The retention pond, which is already
47% complete, is currently being utilized to collect all the
runoff water and prevent flooding of CJP and Camp Marmal.
As 2nd continues to drive on with the mission, making their unmistakable mark in Afghanistan, they are wishing everyone
a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
(Left to Right) SPC Dover, SGT Fre-
chette, and SGT Hardenberger pulling
dozers from the mud hole in the Reten-
tion Pond
875th Engineers December Issue
8
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Maintenance Making The Missions Possible Page 8
Maintenance has been working 11 hour
days, servicing and repairing 94 pieces of
wheeled and construction equipment. This
month maintenance platoon relocated the
entire maintenance operation into a new
facility, sheltering them from the harsh
winter weather as they do repairs. The
overall mission is to keep the operational readiness status of equipment full mission
capable, thus allowing all the horizontal
platoons the equipment to work on their
projects sites. Maintenance would like to
recognize the following Soldiers on their
achievements: SGT Mazyck and PFC
Brooks who both received Certificates of
Achievement and SPC Slater who was
awarded Hero of the Battlefield from the
RC-North TAC. Maintenance is always
thinking of their loved ones back home as
they send a special thanks for all their sup-
port during the holiday season.
3rd Platoon, Onto The Next Mission
3rd Platoon has been working sun up to sundown trying to beat the clock with the upcoming rainy season. They completed
the 15.6 acre entry control point and then moved seamlessly onto their next project, a 23.5 acre mission sustainment area
that has to be completed before the New Year. This LOGCAP project site will create a contractor living area and multiple
Soldier sustainment areas for Camp John Pratt. They have also started stockpiling the rock and base materials required for
their current and future projects trying to beat the contract expiration dates at the end of
the year, a total of 18,200 cubic meters of material. As the year comes to an end, 3rd
Platoon is keeping warm and looking forward to the upcoming holiday season knowing
they will be home as soon as possible.
The Maintenance Platoon taking their Holiday Portrait!
SPC Lyons fueling a Grader
I hope everyone had a great Christmas! Many thanks to every-
one that sent packages to us. Your support makes the separa-
tion from our friends and families that much easier. The Work-
horses had a productive December and are poised to bring in
the new year with a bang as we begin to wind down
our operations in Afghanistan. This month, third platoon com-
pleted a new Entry Control Point for Camp John Pratt. They
spent long hours moving dirt, emplacing barriers, pouring con-crete and building fences in order to complete their project. As
a result of their efforts, the amount of traffic that can enter the
base has doubled. First Platoon completed a 110 acre equip-
ment retrograde facility that included everything from motor
pools to earth pads and culverts and ditches. This month, they
will move on to building a large tent living area that will even-
tually house 1,600 Soldiers. Second Platoon completed grading
a ten acre parking facility and continued to excavate a massive
storm water retention pond. As the rain begins to fall, their
project has become the most important one on Camp John
Pratt. Again, I'd like to thank everyone for their thoughts and
prayers and on behalf of the Soldiers and NCOs of the 875th,
wish everyone a Happy New Year!
"Workhorse!"
Commander’s Comments
CPT Dudley
A special thanks from
the 875th to SPC Den-nison for her contribu-
tion of the 875th pho-
tos.
9
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From The Ground Up!
1LT Bridget Bentley
Spartan 1-6
1st Platoon
1LT Bridget Bentley It was another busy month for us here in Kuwait. Everyone has been working extremely
hard on the Blue Brick Building at the Kuwaiti Naval Base, and they are very excited to finally finish them and hand them over to the Kuwaiti military.
This was a long, tedious pro-ject but the platoon worked hard each day to get it done. Its completion is very impor-tant to the relationship be-
tween the U.S. and Kuwait. After we finish the building, the
platoon will go right into pack-ing our containers for ship-ment, an important step that gets us a little bit closer to
redeployment. SSG Falcon and SPC Otieno made the decision to extend their commitment to serve the
United States as they re-enlisted. PFC Barr and PFC Hughes were promoted this month, an important step in their careers and reflective of
their hard work.
We all wish we were at home to celebrate the holidays with
you, but will of course make the most of spending this time with our Army family. We hope that all of you at home have a wonderful holiday sea-
son as we continue to look forward to seeing all of you again.
Spartan 1-6
2nd Platoon
1LT Tony Palocaren The 2nd Platoon family would like to wish all of you the hap-piest of holidays. Words can-not express our thankfulness
for the love, support, and gifts that we received from all of you. Nothing brings up morale like letters and packages, and it means a lot to us to be able to
see how much thought you’ve put into the contents of your boxes. It is that support and letters that fuel us every day
and keep us motivated. The challenges that lay ahead of us are never as great as the sup-
port behind us!
This past month, we have been busy and accomplished a lot. Amid our busy day-to-day schedule, we have had a few platoon members who have
decided to extend their service to the country by re-enlisting. We would like to recognize and congratulate SSG Jach, SGT Stewart, SGT Dearman, SGT
Boyer, SPC Beaty, SPC Diaz, SPC Alampiev, SPC Jones, SPC Hazzard, and SPC Duff. In addi-tion to the re-enlistments, join
us in congratulating SPC Sweeney and PFC Royal for getting promoted this past
month. SPC(P) Polena passed the NCO board, and is also
ready to take the leap and be-come an NCO. We welcome SGT Switzer, an electrician from Indiana, to our family.
We have been extremely pro-ductive this month renovating a “blue brick building” at the Kuwaiti Naval Base, putting in over 10,000 man-hours and will
complete construction by the end of December, just in time to celebrate the New Year holiday and begin packing for
redeployment!
Spartan 2-6
2LT Tony Palocaren
Spartan 2-6
“SPC Murcia wiring an electrical outlet on a renovation “
(Above)“A courtyard view of the ‘blue brick
building’ 1st Platoon has been working on for the past five weeks”
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November Issue From The Ground Up! 544th EN CO
1LT
Stephanie
Garcia
Spartan 3-
Please join me in congratulating SGT
Abbot, SGT Govin, SGT Jenkins, SGT Roof, SGT Urguhart, CPL Brefeld, CPL Simmons, SPC Gidley, SPC Horne, SPC Lawhon, SPC Mussel-
man, SPC Palmer, SPC Sanchez, and SPC Wade. All of these Soldiers have made the decision to extend their service in the Army by choos-
ing to re-enlist this past month. Your Soldiers have been working hard. They are currently located at the Kuwaiti Naval Base finishing
refurbishments on a 10,000 square-foot barracks building. The platoon has made noteworthy improve-
ments to the building, to include painting all the rooms, installing new light fixtures, fixing the existing
plumbing, and re-installing drop ceil-ing. This project has allowed all the Soldiers an opportunity to utilize their specialties due to the large
number of plumbing, electrical, and carpentry needs. On behalf of the Platoon, I would like to wish all a Merry Christmas
and a Happy New Year. The Pla-toon is looking forward to a well deserved break for the holidays:
time to enjoy good food and catch up
with loved ones. Af-ter the holidays, the
platoon will be preparing to rede-
ploy back to Fort Carson. I would like to take a moment to introduce myself, 1LT Stephanie Garcia. I am looking forward to working with 3rd Platoon, the best
platoon in the company. I have been immediately impressed by the amount of work that 3rd Platoon’s Soldiers have completed at the Ku-waiti Naval Base, and it’s a privilege
to have the opportunity to lead them.
Spartan 3-6
Happy Holidays
from 2nd
Platoon
(Left)“1LT Meintel
re-enlists a group of 3rd Platoon Soldiers on the beach at the naval base”
“CW2 Bourque hands SGT Boyer a certificate in exchange
for a few more years of service”
“CW2 Fleck re-enlists SPC Duff and SPC Hazzard”
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Commander’s Corner
544th EN CO From The Ground Up!
CPT Tyler J. Scheidt
Spartan 6
Happy New Year!
I hope everyone enjoyed some time
with friends and family even if it
meant you had to eat all of their
amazing cookies, brownies and other
holiday treats. To everyone who sent
a note, care package, or gift to the
Soldiers of the 544th EN CO, I would
like to say “Thank You” for your
support. Your thoughtfulness is
much appreciated and keeps us going.
All three platoons have finished their
extensive barracks renovations and
have now returned to the main camp
as we prepare to receive our replace-
ments. This was a challenging pro-
ject for everyone as we pushed
through material delays and the
buildings’ poor conditions but the end product looks great and is some-
thing we are proud to put our names
on.
Our next major hurdle is to in-
ventory all tools and equipment
to ensure we have 100% ac-
countability prior to packing for rede-
ployment. This can be a very lengthy
process but I think everyone is moti-
vated to complete it and get that
much closer to getting home.
Thanks again for all of your support
and best of luck with your New
Year’s Resolutions!
“Operations Soldiers still smiling after running a half-marathon”
Operations, Maintenance, and
Supply
CPT Pete Friedewald
Happy New Year to the family and
friends of the 544th operations, mainte-
nance, and supply Soldiers. We greatly
appreciate your support throughout the
holiday season as we enjoyed all of the
cookies, candy, and decorations. We will
be working hard over the coming weeks to
do lots of PT and try to lose all the weight
we gained eating those treats!
Your Soldiers have done an amazing
job supporting the company throughout
the past month. The operations crew kept
all the weapons, communications, and
mission command functions running
smoothly. The field maintenance team has
done great work performing final services
on our equipment to prepare for redeploy-
ment. The supply section has been slaving
away at the critical equipment records
keeping involved in the upcoming move-
ment back stateside. The effort they put in
on a daily basis makes the company suc-
cessful in all we do.
There have been a number of per-
sonal achievements over the past month.
SGT Lamay received a much-deserved
promotion and was welcomed into the
NCO Corps. SGT Zimmerman graduated
from the Warrior
Leader Course and distinguished her-
self by making the
C o mma n d a n t ’ s
List. SFC Orloski
was awarded an
Army Achieve-
m e n t M e d a l
(AAM) for win-
ning the
Marine Corps
Marathon For-
ward in Kuwait, and SPC Pitts received an
AAM for his support to the 505th Engineer
Battalion S1 staff.
Thank you for your continued sup-
port and encouragement. We are eagerly
counting the days until we see you all
again!
Spartan 5
Promotion ceremony for CPT Friedewald and SGT Lamay”
“SPC Estevez painting ceilings during the platoon’s renovation”
12
12
Engineers: From the Ground UP!
Wow – what a month! Between going
to the firing range, the sporting events
of the Commanders Cup, the return
from the UDARI Range mission as well
as our regular training; this month
seems to be flying by!
As we begin preparation for redeploy-
ment, we would like to take a tactical
pause and send some holiday wishes to
our loved ones. The pace is rapidly
increasing as we start the portion of our
deployment when we must do more
with less, as more of our equipment is
put away in order to make a smooth
transition back to Fort Carson.
From CPT Makar: To my wife Lauren
and daughter Danielle - Merry Christ-
mas, Happy New Year, and Happy
Birthday to you both! To my friends
and family: Happy Holidays!
From SFC Collins: To my
wife Anika, and my wonder-
ful children Corey, Haylee,
Carley, and Hannah - Merry
Christmas and Happy New
Year - See you soon!
From PV2 Hampton: To my
friends and family - Merry
Christmas and Happy New
Year!
From LT Shepard: To my
fiancée Brittany, my family,
and all the families of the
soldiers who I am deployed
with; thank you for your
support, Happy Holidays,
and God bless!
From SPC Wilcox: To Hannah, and
Malakai - Merry Christmas and Daddy
Loves you!
From SPC Bays: To my wife Wendy, my
daughters Brittany and Abigail, my son
Kaleb, my parents and siblings, and the
rest of my family - Merry Christmas and
Happy New Year from Kuwait!
From SGT Petro:
To my parents,
Mr. and Mrs. Petro, Jenn, and to the
rest of my entire family - Merry Christ-
mas!
From SPC Stevens: To my wife Chris-
tina and my son Joshua, I miss you, I
love you, Merry Christmas, and I will
see you soon!
From SGT Becker: To my wife Tiffany
and my children - Merry Christmas!
From SPC Cho: To my parents, my
brothers, and all of my friends back
home - Merry Christmas and I miss you
all, and I’ll be home soon!
From SSG Costanzo: To Beth, Colleen,
Dominic (and tiny Tim, too) – Merry
Christmas and Happy New Year!
“Renegades”
2nd PLT
497th EN CO
By 1LT Suh
Mii YI
497th EN CO
2nd Platoon
Hello Family and Friends of 2nd
PLT/497th EN CO!
The holidays are upon us, and even in
Kuwait, we have found a way to partake
in some winter holiday cheer. SGT
Bogacki recently setup a platoon Christ-
mas tree for the office – though it is
small in size, it has not disappointed in
increasing morale and helping us re-
member that in just a few months, we
will be coming home to our family and
friends.
Thanks to 1SG Limas, the platoon also
received multiple care packages from
Healdsburg SOS (http://
www.healdsburgsos.org) containing
home-baked goods, granola, blankets,
beanies, and other candy and personal
hygiene items. Thank you to Healdsburg
SOS as well as all the spouses, parents,
friends, and volunteers that continue to
think about us and send their love throughout this deployment. We could
not do what we do without your sup-
port!
Our platoon is
keeping busy at
work even as we
count down the
days until we re-
turn. We are cur-
rently working a
BOM haul delivery
mission, running
getch and gravel
material into the
camp for use on
projects, as well as
working on two
tent pad projects. We are also spending
time at the motor pool taking care of
our equipment and our facilities in
preparation for follow-on missions. We
have already made contact with our
follow-on unit and cannot wait to teach
them all we know and set them up for
success.
In other news, our platoon also ran a
company M4/M16 range this past month
and the Soldiers of 497th EN CO did an
outstanding job qualifying on their as-
signed weapons. And, as expected, 2nd
Platoon continues to dominate all things
flag football. Our platoon flag football
team took another first place finish in
the camp-wide flag football tournament,
beating out ten other teams to take
home the gold medal. Congratulations
to the team and their coach, SPC Hunt,
on a job well done!
SGT Fielding taking a picture with the Platoon
Christmas Tree
13
13
Engineers: From the Ground UP!
Hello families of 3rd Platoon, I
am the new Platoon Leader,
2LT Harmony McCoy, taking
over for 1LT Mossman this
month. I have been here getting
to know the Soldiers of 3rd pla-
toon for a couple of weeks and
have been really impressed with how skilled they are at their
jobs. They have already taught
me a lot. I am really looking
forward to spending the next
year or so working with them
and getting to know each of
them and their families.
Third platoon has
completed the project that they
have been working hard on the
last several months! Two park-
ing lots, four helipads, and a
half mile of road network were
successfully built thanks to the
Soldiers’ hard work and dedica-
tion. A lot was learned about
construction and everyone was able to increase their skills in
horizontal engineering through-
out the duration of the project.
With the closeout of
this project, we will be looking
forward to, and preparing our
equipment for, future projects.
We are also beginning the pack-
ing process for the trip back to
Fort Carson in a few short
months! This month we would
like to express our congratula-
tions to SPC Hallas, SSG
Knoeck, and SPC Ells on their
reenlistments. We would also
like congratulate SPC Clark on
his promotion. Lastly, third platoon
would like to wish “Happy
Holidays” to all of our family
and friends back home and
thank you for your support
throughout the deployment.
We look forward to seeing eve-
ryone soon!
Harmony McCoy
2LT, EN
3rd Platoon Leader
497th EN CO
3rd Platoon
SPC Arvich hard at work at the range
on ammo duty
Opening care
packages Working at Udairi Range
Pushing Dirt at Udairi Range
14
14
ENGINEERS! From The Ground Up Engineers: From the Ground UP!
Maintenance, 497th EN CO
“Black Sheep”
Dear Maintenance Family and
Friends, the month of December
is quickly coming to an end. The
most eventful news is the suc-
cessful completion the com-
pany’s large scale construction
project. We have been working
on it for over two months, and
it’s finally complete. The me-
chanics did a superb job making
sure all the equipment was main-
tained and repaired to keep the
project moving. It’s a testament
to their skills as mechanics how
they were able to keep things
running so well. Now that the
project is complete, we are be-
ginning the painstakingly tedious
job of inspecting and servicing all
the equipment before we hand it
over. On top of all the inspec-
tions, we are beginning to start
cleaning and inventorying all our
tool boxes and testing kits prior
to packing them into the con-
tainers. It’s going to require
some long days, but we are all
willing to do what it takes to get
home safely with all our equip-
ment. Christmas is quickly ap-
proaching, and as a result the
care packages have started to
pour in. Spending Christmas in
the desert of Kuwait is not ideal,
497th EN CO
1st Platoon, 497th EN CO
Greetings from the desk of the
Platoon Leader! First off let me
introduce myself; my name is LT
Fite and I am taking over 1st Pla-
toon from LT Krause. He has
been an excellent leader for the
platoon and one who has cre-
ated big shoes to fill. However,
LT Krause has set me up for
success by leading me through
the daily tasks and showing past,
current and future projects. I am
up for the challenge!
Let me first tell you a little about
myself and what I have done. My
name is Thomas Jay Fite, I hail
from a small farm town in South-
east Iowa. I graduated college at
the University of Iowa, BEST
SCHOOL IN THE BIG TEN,
where I got a BA in Political
Science. I went on to EBOLC at
Fort Leonard Wood and wound
up in Fort Carson Colorado. My
first assignment was to take over
FSC Maintenance Platoon and
the role of MCO. After holding
that position for 12 months I was
moved to my current position. I
am excited and ready to take on
the new role and learn new
things from the NCOs that sur-
round me.
The first part of the month the
platoon focused on change of
command inventories, an outgo-
ing fuel berm project, as well as
completing a drainage ditch for
the MWR Oasis building
1st Platoon
15
15
Engineers: From the Ground UP! 497th EN CO
Time is beginning to dwindle down and we
are approaching the final few months, not like anyone here is counting or anything! The Sol-
diers here are highly motivated and always looking for that next challenge or project. We will
be finishing our main project here very soon and then who knows what. From the desk of the
new Platoon Leader, Best wishes and Happy holidays to all the families!
Additionally, the NCOs of the platoon organized
a MWR trip around the middle of December.
They got the opportunity to travel into the heart
of Kuwait and see one of the Grand Mosques
and shop at local vendors. This trip was very
beneficial to all the NCOs as it let them relax
and bond stronger to fellow battle buddies!
Soldiers of the 497th at the Range, on
projects and in Kuwait City
16
16 Engineers: From the Ground UP!
Commander’s Corner:
Season’s Greetings to the Devasta-
tor friends and family from Kuwait.
It has been getting cooler over here
lately. It is not uncommon to see
most people in winter PT uniforms
conducting PT in the mornings. We
are all excited about the holidays
here…..and not just because it
means a few days off. It also means
that we will be coming home soon.
Many of our projects have been
finishing up, which is a good feeling.
We have been working on our vehi-
cles that just came back from work-
ing on our big project we finished
up. Spending some time maintaining
these vehicles will help us keep
them running, and will help us pro-
vide the unit replacing us with equip-
ment that will work for us.
We appreciate all of the holiday care
packages that are coming our way.
Although it can’t come close to
being home with our friends and
family, it is nice that people are
thinking of us and are providing us
with some holiday cheer.
I hope all of you have a great holiday
season, and look forward to seeing
you all in person soon.
Devastator 6 OUT!
Wishing you a
Happy Holiday
by the TOC
Christmas Tree
(Right) The 497th at the
range
(Bottom left and right)
Soldiers in formation at
Camp Arifjan
17
17
Also, several soldiers were promoted this month and congratulations go out to the
following individuals on their accomplishments;
MOVING
ON UP!
HALSTEAD, JODY A
HUTCHINS, JAY A LEE, SHANNON C MOTE, DONNIE R
NIEMYER, RUSSELL S SIGMON, KEVIN D
SWAIN, BRITTANY H TOBIN, BARBARA A DUNCAN, JESSICA C
HARRIS, BRITTNIE BOWIE) HOYLE, JARED T LEE, MORRIS B
SWEENEY, MICHAEL D ZAVALA, JESUS A
BEAL, JOHN CASEY
COLPITTS, MICHAEL R DULA, CHRIS A
ELDRIDGE, DEMES Z GALLOWAY, JARED J JOHNSON, WILLIE T
KEENE, JUSTIN D MAYS, MICHEAL L
MORRISON, TODD R
ROBISON, WESLEY W WILMOTH, CORY H
WILSON, ERIC L WINCHESTER, CRISTINE L
BARKER, CHAD L
BEAVER, ROBBIE O
BENNETT, NATHAN R BROWN, GREGORY J
COCKERHAM, HEREMIAH L
COLLADO, STEPHEN L GALLEGOS, EDUARDO
GRIFFIN, JOHN R GRIFFIN, SAMUEL A
MCMILLIAN, JARMAUD T
ROYALL, LARRY D TOMLINSON, NICHOLAS T
YATES, THOMAS E
SCHOENFELDER, KENNETH CANNON, ALFRED
CHARBONEAU, CHRISTO-
PHER DYE, JIMMY
GHOTRA, AMANDEEP
HAMMONDS, MATTHEW HOWARD, JOVAN
JOBSON, JOHNATHON
MIMA, NAKIA ORME, MORGAN
POPE, ANDREW SNYDER, NATHANIEL
WRIGHT, JAY
ABBOTT, COREY ACHEAMPONG ,PAUL
BEATY, JR DAVID
COUILLARD, MICHAEL COURNOYER, TROY COURVILLE, CHAD
CRUZBONILLA, CARLOS DANNY, CARLA
FALCONMOLINA, JOSE FORD, JR RONALD INMAN, CHARLES
OLIVEIRA, JR JERRY PALMER, MARY
ROWE, JR ROBERT
SCHEIDT, TYLER SINGER, CRAIG
STEWART, JR STANLEY SWEENEY, KEVIN
TAYLOR, III CLYDE
497th
SPC Reid, N
SPC Watson, M
PV2 Wilson, D
HHC
SGT Deese, M
875th
SGT Turner, M
SGT Mitchell, V
544th
SPC Sweeney, K
PFC Royal, S
PFC Barr, C
SGT Lamay, G
CPT Friedewald, P
FSC
SPC Do, D
SPC Alexander, M
882nd
SGT Mitchell, N
SGT Samiento, A
SGT So, G
CPT Gauldin shakes SGT Dees
hand at his promotion
18
18
Engineers: From the Ground UP!
This has been the first
deployment for the 927th Survey
and Design Team in its short, three
year history, but 2012 has been an
unforgettable year for the team.
There have been some great learn-
ing experiences and challenging
projects along with some great memories that have made us a
better unit. SPC Ryan Meins com-
mented “From when we first ar-
rived to Kuwait to where I am
now, my knowledge and skill in
working with AutoCAD and Trim-
ble Business Center have in-
creased exponentially.”
Having NCO’s that have
numerous deployments as a 12T
and also a senior NCO that works
on the civilian side as a surveyor
are
valuable assets which have
made our deployment a success
thus far. Although 2012 has been
a great year, we aren’t too sad to
see it go. 2013 is upon us and it
feels like we have cleared another
hur-
d l e
o n
t h e
downhill road to getting back
home. The team is still working
projects throughout Kuwait and
Afghanistan with new projects
coming up nearly every week.
SSG Stephen Smith’s team re-
cently completed a high-priority
project near Camp Buehring that
was nearly 40 acres in size that
included large parking lots, heli-
pads, and a turnabout.
In Afghanistan, SGT
Andy Kennedy’s team has worked
on and completed nearly 60 differ-
ent projects to include large pads,
Engineer Compounds, and an En-
try Control Point (ECP). Work has
slowed down from the 16 hour
days from when they initially ar-
rived in country and is anticipating
a steady workflow until departure.
Christmas is right around
the corner and it’s extremely diffi-
cult this time of year to be away
from family, but all of us here
from the 927th want to wish every-
one a Merry Christmas and a
Happy New Year! We will all see
you soon!
SFC Harris, SGT Kennedy, SGT Bell-
man, & PFC Tyler Kasuske pose for a picture near a job
site in Afghanistan It snowed!
CPT Sigmon (S4) and Santa
927th Article by
SGT
Antonmarchi