505th EN BN December Newsletter

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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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

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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.

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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