673rd OND Newsletter - 1107

8/6/2019 673rd OND Newsletter - 1107

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Greetings to the Family, Friends, and Sol-

diers of the 673rd DCASFWD. This lastmonth we have witnessed many events

and changes for our unit here in sunnyIraq. And the heat is on; temps are push-

ing the 120s and higher.

Our command group has relocated

our HQs from Joint Base Balad (JBB) toCOB Adder, which is more to the south.

This will facilitate that our HQs will re-main up and operational when JBB

closes. We will still be needed here, so wehad to find new digs. Our staff is doing a

splendid job keeping the lines open whilesome personnel relocate, with more to

follow once we are operational downhere. We have a building to ourselves (for

now). It is a very hardened structure, soyou can know that your friends and fam-

ily are safe while at work. Now if we

could just get our furniture to arrive inCONNEXs that were shipped weeks ago,then we would have something to sit on

and places to work at.

We have

been able to insti-tute our Rest and

Recuperation(R&R) Program

since June, allowingour troops to take

some valued leaveand be with family

and friends backhome. We will do

our best to get eve-ryone out before the

first of October;thats when USF-I

shuts the door on it.

We are authorized to rotate only a hand-

ful of personnel each month. I trust thatyou will find this a rejuvenating and rest-

ful experience. Enjoy your time off, prac-tice safety in all you do, and come back

ready to go the distance!

I want to express my gratitude to

those who offered thoughts and prayers

for me while I had surgery in Landstuhl

hospital the end of June. All is well, com-

pletely healed, and ready to finish this

mission. Please write often to your family

members, friends, and loved ones. Keep

in touch with the most important people

in your life. Boost your morale, keep

your spirits positive, and rememberthis

too shall pass. So make the best of this

experience, as we provide the best den-

tistry for our Nations Warriors!

COL Daniel Reese

673rd DCAS - FWD PROV

Commanding

Volume 1, Issue 3

Commanders Corner

July 2011

VALUE OF THE MONTH

RESPECTTreat people as they should be treated.

Sa

bertoot

h

Express

Notes from Top 2

Special Dates 2

Al Asad & Adder 3

Basrah 4

Delta 5

Echo 6

Mosul & Liberty 7

Balad 8

Speicher & Taji 9

Inside this issue:

QUOTE OF THE MONTH - So, how do you earn respect? There is no check-list to attain it, no study guide to learn it and certainly no supply NCO toissue it to you. Respect is earned through engaged leadership. Itsgained through hard, realistic training and by caring for Soldiers and

Families, and treating them with consideration and honor. SMA Raymond F. Chandler III

673R

D

DEN

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CO

M

PA

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(AS)

FO

RW

A

RD

PRO

VISIO

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2/10

Hello to all the Soldiers andFamily Members of the mighty

673rd. We havecompleted 90 days

and are workingtowards 120 days.

It seems like onlyyesterday we left

the cool wet JBLMarea but most of us

have forgotten whatcool and wet is anymore. While

it seems that most of the US is ina heat wave, we also have our

own heat wave here. When we

get up for PT in the morning, wehave cool and breezy temps inthe high 90s. and highs in the

afternoon around 130 degrees.

Several of our Soldiers have had

the opportunity to get a well de-served break by taking R&R and

they have all come back re-freshed and ready to continue the

mission. I continue to be im-pressed with the work that our

Soldiers do on a daily basis.

Most of them are working longhard days and then taking college

and/or correspondence courses atnight. I am proud to say that every-

one is doing an excep-

tional job regardless of thesituations that they are in.Every day we have new

experiences and the Sol-diers always take the mis-

sion to heart and carry on.All is going well as we

focus on our future missions and

moving toward coming home.

I hope that everyone is getting to talkto their Soldier and their family. It is

important to keep the lines of com-munication open with phone calls,

letters, and the all important carepackages. I know it is frustrating

sometimes when you get cut off orthere is a bad connection. Just talking

to my family for a few minutes com-pletely refreshes me. It is amazing to

see how a letter or package fromhome will make a Soldiers face light

up with a big smile. As this deploy-

ment goes on, the stresses will con-tinue to grow and it is important totalk to each other. If you cant talk to

each other, ensure that you are talkingto someone. It is not healthy to keep

your thoughts and emotions bottledup inside of you. Remember to take

taking care of yourself; spiritually,mentally, and physically. Everyone

is busy taking care of all your lovedones but you have to remember to

take some time to take care of

yourself.

I would really like to get some

photos or messages from the fami-lies back home to put in this news-

letter to the Soldiers. If you have

anything you want me to put inthis newsletter, please e-mail it tome at [email protected] or

[email protected].

Several Soldiers have birthdays

coming up in September so a B-Day message to your Soldier

would be great.

I want to take a moment to say

good luck to my baby girl as she

prepares to move to PA and startcollege at Penn State this month. Iwill be thinking about you and

hoping the move goes OK. I amsorry that daddy couldnt be home

to help you with this momentous

occasion.

I would like to close by thankingall the families for all the hard

work they continue to do on thehomefront. We are lucky to have

you at home holding down thefort. We know you have a tough

task and appreciate everything youdo. Before you know it, everyone

will be back home again and this

will be a distant memory.

1SG Mark E. Eavey

Sabertooth 7 - OND

Notes from Top

Self-care is

importantMost

people are so busy

knocking themselves out

trying to do everything

someone else wants

them to do, they never

get around to doing

what they want to do .

Page 2VOLUME 1, ISSUE 3

July

Birthdays

17 Jul - LTC Eke

19 Jul - SPC Holz

19 Aug - COL Apicella

25 Aug - SSG Barris

28 Aug - CPT Jarisch

22 Aug - Seth Barris B-Day (SSG Barris Son)

10 Aug - Chaya Keathley B-Day (SPC Keathleys Daughter)

26 Aug - Shannon Masons B-Day (SFC Masons Spouse)

14 Aug - COL & Mrs Reeses Anniversary

August

Birthdays

August

Family Member Birthdays & Anniversaries


3/10

Al Asad Dental Clinic


OIC: COL Douglas Wade

NCOIC: SSG James Whitehead

Adder Dental Clinic OIC: COL Gregory BlytheNCOIC: SPC Ria Keathley

lately, Friday night Chaka Khan

is scheduled to perform. It sounds

like quite a few people are excited

about it, myself included. Well

thats about it

for now, stay

safe everyone!!

We have a couple of new faces here

at COB Adder. COL Reese, 1SG

Eavey, and SPC Asaka have joined

us. They seem to be enjoying the

much hotter weather down here.

We also said good-bye to COL

McCarthy this past weekend. Im

sure hell be enjoying a cold beer

on the beaches of Florida here in a

week or so. COL Blythe and I are

still plugging along keeping our-

selves busy at the gym, treating pa-

tients, and trying to stay cool.

Weve had a few visitors put on

some concerts for the Soldiers here

its sands. SPC Bryant attended

the concert and said it was a great performance. That was sched-

uled to be the last con-

cert here at Al-Asad.

SPC Bryant is working

as a chairside assistantand as a Preventive

Dentistry Specialistpromoting better oral

hygiene while de-ployed. The Al-Asad

clinic mission will beincreasing over the

next weeks with thearrival of USF-I and

other units. The clinic contin-ues to stay busy providing the

best dental care in the desert :)

The Al-Asad Dental Clinic wel-

comed the arrival of SSG James C.Whitehead Jr. on 21 June 2011. SSG

Whitehead is from New Jersey and

leaves a wife and 4 children back inthe US. He will work as the NCOICand as a chairside assistant to COL

Wade.

AL-Asad recently welcomed themulti award winning Chaka Kahn to


4/10


5/10

Greetings to all from COB

Delta. Things are calming downbut we still have a lot of exciting

news to report. First of all, wehave a new group of medics. The

6/9 CAV replaced the 2/3 ACRwhich relocated to Camp Echo.

So along with a lot of new faces,we also got a lot of new patients.

Not much has changed in the den-tal clinic, except that SPC

Rodriquez departed for his R andR this month. PFC McCullough,

a 6/9 CAV medic, graciously cov-ered down in SPC Rodriquezs

absence. Unfortunately, he hasno dental

experi-ence at

all.Nonethe-

less, weare still

tracking.Not a lot

of dentalemergen-

cies,which is

good.However,

I am do-

ing so

many cleanings that my cavitronbroke. Still waiting for the re-

placement parts. I am hanging inthere and doing good and I am

sure SPC Rodriquez is doinggreat!

This month, we had a cou-

ple more acts come to perform for

us. First, we had the Broncos

Cheerleaders, which by far has

drawn the largest crowd. Besides

dancing, they perform skits that

were pretty

funny. Then

we had 6BMX guys

come and do

a show for

us. They

put up their

ramps in

one day and

performed

that night.

The tricks were awesome and they

gave away a lot of goodies.

One of the bikers had a rough

fall and sustained a broken rib,

but that was the least of our

worries that night. The most

interesting event this month

was having lunch with the Iraqi

Air Force General Azziz. He

personally invited me, COL

Ma, and 5 other officers to

have lunch at the DFAC in hiscompound. This was actually

my second time having lunch

there. The food was great.

Definitely a change from our

boring DFAC. Thats it for

now. COB Delta out!

Delta Dental ClinicOIC: CPT Khai Q. Le

NCOIC: SPC Phelan Rodriguez



6/10

Team Accomplishments as of 15 July

Delivered care to over 200 patients

Received our very first supply order, thanks toSPC Tye

THE MOLAR TIMES: Echo Edition

Welcome back! Thank you all for your prayers and continued support. As always,

praise the Lord for His faithfulness and protection. Were fast approaching our 3-

month mark, and what an experience it has been. Our patient count is steadily in-

creasing, with over 190 seen to date.

Though it wasnt easy, SGT Mitre has finally returned from leave. Her replacement,

SPC Ho, was outstanding, and will be missed (see below for the award ceremony).

SGT Mitre made every second count while she was away from COS Echo, vacationing

in Las Vegas with her husband, Angel, and zip lining across canyons. Aaeeyah!

Last week Dr. Barons brother, CPT A Baron, stopped by for a 4 -day visit. Hes gearing

up to leave Kalsu in a few weeks so it was the perfect time to hang with his twin

brother before redeploying to Ft. Benning. At the end of his short stay, CPT A Baron

had agreed, and everyone is aware of this, that COS Echo is the grandest place to

visit in all of Iraq.

Well, this will be all for this edition. Please continue to

pray for our deployed soldiers both here and in Afghani-

stan.

Important Dates:

07/05 SGT Mitre back from R&R

07/08 CPT Barons brother visits

15 July 2011

DENTALCLINIC


7/10


Mosul Dental ClinicOIC: LTC So Bong Choi

NCOIC: SPC Sara Newton

Another month has gone by here in

Mosul. Its getting hotter and hotter

by the day. This month we blew off

some steam with a pig roast hosted bythe 256th CSH. We had lots of fun

and had tons to eat. Weve been

really busy getting ready

to close our clinic. It

wont be long and we

will be moving on to ournext adventure.

Liberty Dental Clinic

.This month was an educational

one for us here at Liberty DC. It

started off with a

CE course by

COL Craddock

on Digital im-

pressions and

CEREC crowns.

COL Craddock

kept the audience

on the edge of

their seats with the possibility of afuture with no impression materi-

als, digital-only lab orders, and

crowns that start being fabricated

across the country before the pa-

tient has left the clinic. Not fast

enough for you? Well how about

a CEREC crown cemented that

same visit! The perfect climax to

a riveting lecture (CPT Jarisch

nearly stayed awake the entire

time!). Our educa-tion continued

when SSG

Crumedy held a

course on vehicle

safety and mainte-

nance, and of

course how to

change the tire on

the truck. Who knew these new

trucks still needed oil?

And finally, the officers

went on a training mission

to the U.S. Embassy in

Baghdads International

Zone (I.Z.). With great

stealth they boarded a

Blackhawk helicopter in

the middle of the night and

flew over Baghdad to the I.Z.

(those harnesses are tricky in

the dark!). Upon landing they

were rushed to a sleek, black,

up-armored Suburban and sped

to the compound, sometimes

exceeding the 30 kph speed

limit. While at the Embassy

the officers were briefed on for-mer and current Iraqi attitudes

toward American policies in

Iraq, which we cannot discuss

here, but lets just say things

could be better. (Disclaimer:

the training mission to the em-

bassy may or may not have

been as exciting or intense as

described.)

OIC: COL Michael Craddock

NCOIC: SSG Tommie Crumedy


8/10

During the 20th and final naturali-

zation ceremony to be held in AL

FAW Palace, Baghdad, forty five

service members earned their U.S.

citizenship. One of those soldiers

is SSG Orlando Torres who is

assigned to the 673rd Dental Com-

pany and is currently serving as

the Joint Base Balad Dental

Clinic NCOIC.

Many service members and civil-

ians from across Iraq filled the

rotunda, showing their support forthese new Americans.

Gen. Lloyd J. Austin III, com-

manding general of United States

Forces Iraq, spoke to the service

members before they recited the

oath of allegiance.

SSG Orlando Torres, a native of

Belize, said, Its a combination of

feelings. You have a mixture of

excitement and

nervousness be-

cause you know

this is your day

and its finallygoing to happen.

Being natural-

ized is more than

an honor, espe-

cially here in

Iraq.

Balad Dental Clinic


OIC: COL Michael Apicella

NCOIC: SSG Orlando Torres


9/10

recently paid a visit to our clinic.

Both are assigned to the 98thMedical Detachment Combat

StressControl Unit. Butch, a beautiful

black lab, has received obedience

training, and faithfully

carries outthe mission

of helpingalleviate

stress toSoldiers.

He is itin-

erant andstays busytraveling

around thetheater to

improve the quality oflife to all his clients.

Hello from COB Speicher. Inde-

pendence Day has just passed andthe dining facility celebrated with a

large (about two feet square) birth-day cake complete with illustrations

of fireworks and the Statue of Lib-erty. The July Fourth lunch menu

featured traditional holiday dishesincluding barbeque and water-

melon. CPT Lohman and Butch

His home base is here at Spei-

cher where CPT Lohman is hisfaithful companion and care-

giver.


Speicher Dental ClinicOIC: COL James Thompson

NCOIC: SPC Carlos Delgado

SPC. Cavaco

went home onleave and had a

great time withFriends and

family. Wewould like to

thank SPC.Beard For

coming overand making the

transitionsmoothly in

such short notice as he took overfor SPC. Cavaco while he was on

R&R. He did an outstanding job.

Greeting from Camp Taji Iraq. This

past month has been pretty good.

Patients were seen and treated.

Taji Dental ClinicOIC: LTC Alex Eke

NCOIC: SPC Sheldon Cavaco


10/10

Next month, I would like to

have photos from home

and/or messages from

home to the Soldiers.

Please send me a photo foryour Soldier or a short message to them.

If you have anything you want to add to the newsletter, pleas

send it to 1SG Eavey at [email protected] or

[email protected].

Sabertooth

Spotlight

HQ StaffSFC Mason, CPT Seay, SPC Asaka, & SPC Holzmoving into their new HQ.

The COB Adder swimming pool is currently closed.

The Gym on COB Adder.

Redstone Arsenal Reunion (SFC Wright, COLReese, & 1SG Eavey

Blake & Kirby Eavey go skydiving.

Documents

673rd OND Newsletter - 1107