Welcome to the second edition of the Warrior Scribe Newsletter. I’ve received numerous positive feed-

back regarding the previous edition, so we will continue to try to send these out to keep the families updat-

ed on current and upcoming events for the company. 1SG and I

are approaching nearly five months of command and I can not

believe how fast time has gone by. I am truly grateful and appre-

ciate of all of the efforts from our Families and our Soldiers. As always, the months of May and June have been extremely

busy for the company. We’ve spent many hours in training on

our basic Warrior Tasks and Soldier skills during the month of

May, and then transitioned to our construction skill set by using

our equipment out at East Range training sites during the month

of June. We will soon be recovering all of our equipment that

was used in the field to be prepared for any follow-on missions

that are required from us. I believe the company has made great

strides over the past two months in building on our common

Soldier tasks as well as honing our skills on our horizontal con-

struction equipment. Training aside, it was great to spend the

day with all of the families at Bellows. I was amazed at the turn-

out and hope everyone had a great time. The month of July will be a very slow month for the company, as I see a majority of us will be enjoying some

much deserved leave. I hope that many of you are taking advantage of this opportunity as we all need some

time to rewind and relax. Once leave is over, on Saturday, 27 July, the battalion will be hosting the KOA

OHANA Day for all of the spouses to participate in some fun and challenging opportunities that our Soldiers

experience on a common basis. I know we had a great turnout last year, so I look forward to seeing the

families come out and support this event again. The events and times have not been determined yet, but once we receive the information, we will be sure to pass it along. The month of August will be mainly fo-

cused on our weapons skills and will maintain our qualifications by going to ranges. I know there are still many questions floating around about the Guam deployment and we are all sharing the

same frustrations. Currently, the company is still preparing to go to Guam, but the mission has the potential

to change in us only sending one platoon and some limited maintenance personnel. Until a final decision is

made, we have to continue to prepare as if the entire company is deploying. Once that decision is made, I

assure you we will pass this along so everyone knows exactly what the timeline and requirements are. I

apologize for this as I know it has significant impacts on many families and appreciate your patience.

From the Commander

PROMOTIONS

Congratulations to the following Soldiers

on their promotions. Well deserved!

SSG Chanthaseng

SGT Uribe

SGT Deathrage

SGT Reed

SGT Campanini

SGT Nicholson

SGT Skinner

21 June 2013 Volume 1, Issue 2

Warrior Scribe

Inside this

issue:

1ST PLATOON

2ND PLATOON

3RD PLATOON

MAINTENANCE

HEADQUAR-

TERS

FRG EVENTS

The following Soldiers have arrived to

the unit after 01 May. Welcome to

the Warrior Team! SPC Bernard PV2 Daros SGT Sorg

PVT Binford PV2 Embrey SGT Yiznitsky

SSG Chanthaseng PFC Flak PFC Selau

PVT Callazo SPC French PV2 Sherwood

PFC Conaway SPC Gerber

PV2 Conn SGT Gonzalez

SGT Cook PV2 Hall

1LT Hansen PV2 Lones

1LT Orozco SGT Orozco

PV2 Palombaro SGT Rausch

NEW SOLDIERS

A special thanks to Barbara Eittreim for making

a truly awesome Engineer Cake for Family Day!

SPOTLIGHT

Congratulations to SGT

Williams and SGT Ordaz

for winning the 84th EN

BN NCO of the Month

Board! Keep up the

great work!

2

1ST PLATOON The Roughneck Platoon

Platoon Leader Note:

The month of May kicked off the Roughneck preparation for

Guam with both major training events and significant personnel

changes. The platoon started the month by shifting focus back to

the heavy equipment world when we executed airfield training at

East Range. Guam preparations then progressed with the Con-

struction Management Training and Cultural Awareness training.

All E4s and below gave scholarly cultural classes on areas in the

Pacific while E5s and above were exposed to the Construction

Management training they will need for Guam. Amidst all the ar-

duous training, the Roughnecks experienced some significant

personnel changes. 1st Platoon lost SSG Lewis to Operations,

but gained SGT Sorg, SPC Hale, and SPC Richardson, PFC Falk,

PV2 Rooney, PV2 Sherwood. In addition, three E4s made the

by name list for their promotion to Sergeant. First Platoon

would like to congradulate soon to be SGT Uribe, SGT

Deatherage, and SGT Reed on their upcoming promotions!

-LT David D. Karwick

Above: SPC Ortiz, SPC Whitting-

ton, and SPC Wright are ex-

posed to the Navy 3M system in

preparation for Guam.

Above: SGT Ganal coaches SPC Harrington on

Grader Operation used to construct and Airfield. Above: SGT Sandoval give Soldiers a class

on Tactical Airfields.

3

2nd Platoon Dirt Dawgs were at it again! The month of May was

filled with great training and certification in preparation for the upcoming Guam De-

ployment. The beginning of the month was focused on certifying the platoon on Army

Warrior Task and Battle Drills. This was an oppor-

tunity for the platoon to train and retrain on skills

deemed critical to Soldier survival in combat.

Training included weapons instruction, tactical

communications, and first aid; some skills which

many hadn’t reviewed since Basic Training. To-

wards the end of the month, training focus shifted

to Construction Project Management for the

NCOs in preparation for Guam and the upcoming

Platoon STX. NCOs spent a week at Pearl Har-

bor learning the Joint Construction Crew Leader

Handbook, and then the following week put their

training to the test in the construction manage-

ment and planning of their Platoon STX Project at East Range starting 3 June. Dirt

Dawgs are looking forward to the month of June. The Platoon STX will be a great op-

portunity for the platoon to prove our skills on our construction equipment, and train

on what we do best!!

Other News:

May was a month for significant personnel changes. Welcome to our newest

members of the Dirt Dawg team: SSG

Chanthaseng, SGT Rausch, SPC French,

PFC Conn, PFC Brown. Additionally, fare-

well to SPC Rozier who PCS’d to Ft. Stew-

art, Georgia on May 10th.

Congratulations to SGT (P) Page on

achieving her promotable status this

month!!

Congratulations and thank you to SPC Cer-

vantes, SPC Martin, and SPC Melendez and

their families for their recent reenlist-

ments!!

2nd PLATOON DIRT DAWGS

SPC Cervantes Reenlistment Ceremony

at Waimea Bay (above)

SPC Martin Reenlistment ceremony on top of

Punchbowl Tantalus (above)

4

We have had a very busy month in the 561st EN CO. As always the Warrior Family is preparing to do

their part to contribute to the efforts of the “Never Daunted” Battalion both here at home and

abroad. 3rd PLT/561st has been busy preparing for STX Lanes, in which “UNIT” has been awarded the

opportunity to participate in Project U-Turn. Project U-Turn is a improvement of Schofield Barracks

Range Road, in which many of the veteran and new soldiers of 3rd PLT will get a chance to exercise

their skills. The Warrior and UNIT family would like to congratulate SGT Ronnie Williams on being

awarded NCO of the Month and getting his promotable status to Staff Sergeant. Also UNIT would like

to recognize SPC Matthew Skinner for getting his promotable status to Sergeant. The UNIT has also

welcomed the arrival of several new soldiers to 3rd PLT in anticipation of future missions in which they

will be mentored by veteran soldiers and NCO’s on horizontal construction operations. In prepara-

tion for the upcoming STX Lanes and Projects UNIT was able to get back into the swing of things with

a Project Rollout of the new D7 Dozers and Graders, as well as other equipment in an effort to meas-

ure the performance of both the soldiers and construction equipment. The rollout was a overall suc-

cess helping the UNIT gauge its readiness, train soldiers on the new equipment and identify any faults

that needed to be corrected. It is with sadness that the Warrior Family and UNIT offers our condo-

lences to SPC Tyler Nielsen and the Nielsen family in their recent lose of his sister. Our thoughts and

prayers are with the Nielsen family during their time of grief.

3d PLATOON

“UNIT”

SGT Ronnie Williams is the 84th EN BN

NCO of the month. He has devoted himself

to leading by example as well as studying tire-

lessly in order to be pro-

moted to Staff Sergeant

and earn honors as NCO

of the month. Con-

gratulations once

again to SGT Ron-

nie Williams

SOLDIER OF THE ISSUE:

SGT RONNIE WILLIAMS

3rd Sqd after completing rollout and excavation exercises in

preparation for PLT STX. In which UNIT will be conducting repairs on Areas 3 and Area 4 of ER-ETA Drivers Training Roads in an operation titled Project U-TURN (picture on

right)

PROMOTIONS BIRTHDAYS NEW ADDITIONS

Congratulations to the follow-

ing soldiers for being promoted

to Sergeant:

Matthew Skinner

Promoted to Staff Sergeant:

Ronnie Williams

Happy Birthday to the fol-

lowing soldiers:

Austin Hohnke: May 07

Jeffrey Evangelista: May 17

Congratulations to the follow-

ing soldier and their spouse on

celebrating their newborn!

James and Holly Nicholson

5

Maintenance PLT

Soldiers from Maintenance PLT, 561st EN CO

receiving their safety brief before Table II qualifi-

cation on the M249. Photo taken by 2LT Casey

Kilpatrick

“ALWAYS READY”

Above is a picture of a point that soldiers had to find

during land navigation training at Bellows. As you can

see, the point blended in very well with its surround-

ing environment, making it very difficult to find the

point. Photo taken by 2LT Casey Kilpatrick

Soldiers from the Maintenance Platoon, 561st Engineer Company re-

cently finished up a month full of services in the motor pool. Maintenance

needed to ensure that the vehicles would be up and running to take on the

Platoon STX lanes throughout the month of June. The Maintenance Platoon

also supported the Battalion by conducting a M249 Table II Qualification on

April 22, 2013 at CR-2 on Schofield Barracks. The platoon was able to qualify

20 firers from 561st, 6 firers from 643rd, and 2 firers from HHC. Maintenance PLT took time away from Schofield Barracks to conduct

land navigation with some different scenery. On 9May2013, Maintenance got a

hands on training experience at the Marine Corps Training Area located at

Bellows Beach Park. The soldiers appreciated the challenging course that Bel-

lows provided. We were able to train 25 soldiers from both Maintenance

and Headquarters platoons. I In the past month the Maintenance Platoon has received many

new soldiers to its fleet. SPC Gerber, PFC Selau, PV2 Hall, PV2

Collazo, and PV2 Shelua, Welcome to the team!

6

Headquarters

“From the Front”

The Headquarters Platoon (Backbone of the Company!) focused the month of

May on training and field preparations. The platoon started off the month taking a

successful PT test. 1LT Thompson and CPT Browning both led the way scoring a

300! After the event, the platoon average was 266.

After a successful PT test, the next highlight of the month was

SPC Tarbutton’s 26th birthday on May 8th. According to him,

this was the most important day of the month, a day filled with

plenty of cake and ice cream. His cake is pictured here

The training focus of the month was training on Warrior Tasks

and Battle Drills, and conducting the Initial Command Inspection

(ICI). Every Thursday, the Soldiers trained on Land Navigation,

squad movements, and basic skills every Soldier needs to know. The training was a

great refresher and an opportunity to get out of the office and back into the field.

For the ICI inspection, battalion leader-

ship inspected every section in Headquar-

ters: Personnel Management, Training,

Land and Ammo, Arms Room, Communi-

cations, and Supply. Our Soldiers and

NCOs did a great job preparing their sec-

tions and every one of them received a

“Commendable” rating.

The month ended with the great Family Org Day at Bellows Beach on May

28th. Soldiers and families gathered at the beach for games, BBQ, prize drawings,

and informal socializing on the beach. The highlight for the kids was the surprise

visit from the “Mermaid”.

Oh yah, it was also SSG Hess’s 29th birthday. His wise words of

wisdom ... “HOOAH!!”

7

Facebook

Warrior FRG

IMPORTANT PHONE NUMBERS

Army Community Services: (808) 655-4227

Army Substance Abuse Programs: (808) 655-8700

Battalion Chaplain: (808) 655-1297

Military Family Life Consultant: (808) 226-7307

Military One Source: 1-800-342-9647

Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-8255

Tripler Trolley: (808) 433-1200

LEADER: Dana Lashley

360.701.8693

561stfrg@gmail.com

TREASURER: Liz Bartley

ALT TREASURER: Jenna Browning

SECRETARY: Lizzie Graves

KEY CALLERS: Megan Hess

Dede Nichols

Paige Nieves

Wendy Robles

Juanita Stiglitz

VOLUNTEERS: Allie Beverly

Josie Patterson

561st Calendar

Aloha Warriors!

Summer is upon us! This is always

a busy time of year for everyone, especially

those who are PCS'ing. During this time of

transition, our FRG needs YOU! Several of

our key volunteers will be or have already

left the Warrior Family. This means that

we have open positions; please contact me

if you are interested in joining the team!! The FRG has started a new pro-

gram: BABY BASKETS! If your family is

anticipating the arrival of new baby, please

email us with your name and due date.

Baskets will be presented at 561st FRG

Socials. Donations (diapers, clothes, wipes,

etc.) for baby baskets can be made at the

HHQ Office. Thank you in advance for all

your support!!! The Warrior FRG is dedicated to

the Families and Soldiers of the 561st Engi-

neer Company. Our goal is to foster a

sense of belonging to the unit and commu-

nity and provide a vehicle for families to

develop friendships while they gain infor-

mation about the unit and community. In

addition, we provide information, referral,

and share support. We are here for YOU!

Do not hesitate to contact us! A special thank you to everyone

who assisted with FAMILY DAY! We had

an excellent turn out...including a visit from

a MERMAID!! Mahalo for All your Sup-

port! -Dana

Military & Family Life Counselor (MFLC)

Information

For the 130th ENG BDE

What is an MFLC?

A Military & Family Life Counselor (MFLC) provides short-

term situational problem-solving counseling to Service Mem-

bers (SM) and their families.

What kind of services can a MFLC help me and my

family with?

An MFLC can help SM and their families understand the impact

of stress, deployments, family reunions following deployments

and the stresses of military life.

Where can I see an MFLC for appointments?

Your BDE MFLC is located in Trailer 14 close to Hamilton

Field and across the street from the Soldier Support Center. It

would be best to schedule your appointment in advance with

your current MFLC, Bessie Estonactoc at 808-226-7307.

Services can be provided on or off military installations, but not

in your home.

How about if I need to see an MFLC right away and

you aren’t available?

You can go to the ACS Center and walk in between the hours

of 7:30am to 4:00pm to see an MFLC or call 808-222-7088.

Who will you share my information with when I see

you for a session? Services are confidential and private, except for duty-to-warn

situations.