2 0 4 T H B R I G A D E

S U P P O R T B A T T A L I O N

S P E C I A L P O I N T S O F

I N T E R E S T :

A Message from the Com-

mand Sergeant Major

Charlie Company’s Mis-

sions Outside of the Aid

Station

Character in the S2 Intel-

ligence Shop

Alpha Company’s Clean

Sweep Operations

The Infamous “2”

Bravo Company Commu-

nications

NEWSLETTER STAFF:

CPT Ashlea Cleveland

1LT Betsy Arndt

Rough Rider Connection A U G U S T 2 0 1 1 V O L U M E I , I S S U E 7

This newsletter contains official and unofficial information. The inclusion of some unofficial information in this

newsletter has not increased the cost to the Government, in accordance with DOD 4525.8-M

Hello Families and Friends of Task Force Rough Rider, I would like to take this opportunity to introduce myself. I am Command Sergeant Major Troy Tuten and as many of you already know, I arrived to the team just days before the last flight out of Fort Carson, Colorado and we have been going full speed ever since. Being the “new” guy I had the pleasure of not only learning the new mission in theater, but also learning what our Soldiers do on a day to day basis. I‟m also learning about the Soldiers themselves which is a tall order considering how busy we are. If there has ever been a battalion that has hit the ground running it has been the Rough Riders. It amazes me every day how much this unit accomplishes. You have every right to be proud of our Soldiers and know that their contributions are making a difference. I have spent the majority of my 20 years in the Army in light infantry units. I came into this job literally ignorant of the hard work and determination it takes to sustain a brigade combat team. Our Soldiers have opened my eyes to the reality that it takes a nose to the grindstone, blue collar mind set and a work ethic that says I will not quit and I will not fail. Soldiers are the very fabric that makes our nation the greatest in the world. They serve our country day in and day out. They don‟t do it for the fame, the fortune, or superficial reasons why other people get up and go to work each day. They do it for you, for their fellow Sol-diers, and for the United States of America. They are the greatest asset the Army has and I promise to work each day to earn their respect. Early in my tenure, Rough Rider 6 sat down with me and gave me a few priorities that he wanted me to focus on while deployed. Some of these were Force Protection and Soldier welfare. I take this mission seriously and set out to do all I can to make sure the Soldiers of the Rough Rider Battalion have every-thing they need to accomplish the mission and that they can do it as safely as possible. In closing I would like to tell you how extremely proud I am of each and every Soldier of the Rough Rider Battalion as well as the families and friends at home. We are a team and together we will not only survive but thrive as we complete our mission. Please understand that your support at home is critical to the success of this Battalion and ultimately the War-horse Brigade. I thank you for your sacrifices.

P A G E 2 V O L U M E I , I S S U E 7

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan—Charlie Company‟s mission on FOB Walton is not only to run the aid station, but it is also to act as resources for units who conduct convoys to and from the forward operating base. Cobra Medics diligently carry their medical aid bags to missions with other companies and units to provide medical coverage in the event of a medical emergency while conducting operations. SPC Steven Giles has the distinct honor of being a medic that has the opportunity to work “outside the wire”, as he is tasked to the convoy escort team (CET). Leaving at vari-ous times on almost a daily basis keeps SPC Giles on his toes, but the ability to have priceless experi-ences while deployed makes the

Charlie Company’s Missions Outside the Aid Station

hectic schedule worth it. “Being a CET medic has given me the unique opportunity to leave the FOB and interact with other units and I love working with these guys,” says SPC Giles about the 656 Transportation Company, a unit of which he regularly sup-ported until their recent redeploy-ment. Other medics currently attached to teams outside of Charlie Com-pany for convoy support are SPC Jason Lowery and PFC Joshua Lynch. PFC Lynch has expressed that he enjoys being a medic on these teams because of the respect oth-ers show him and how willing they are to learn the basic medical skills in order to help each other out. SPC Lowery has conveyed a simi-

lar message, adding that the change of scenery makes time go by faster. Each day brings new challenges for the Cobra Medics on FOB Walton, and they all stand ready and willing to accept the challenges in support of the Battalion‟s daily operations.

C o m b a t Medic, SPC Steven Giles before a con-voy with his medical aid bag that he meticulously inventor ies , checking for e x p i r a t i o n dates and serviceability.

By PV2 Daniel Baker, Charlie Company Unit Public Affairs Representative

Whatcha Talkin Bout Willis?!

shorter, the one thought on the mind of the Rough Rider CoIST team is W HATCHA TALKING ABOUT WILLIS?! CoIST (Company Intelligence Sup-port Team) is comprised of SPC Je-sus Ruvalcaba, SPC Gregory Miles, PFC Ryan Zanni, and PFC Michael Johnson. They work together to give the most accurate, coherent, and judi-cious view of the battlefield. From long hours of data gathering and even longer hours of painstakingly meticu-lous reporting, these gentlemen pro-duce in-depth and assertive observa-tions for our men and women travers-ing throughout our area of operations. These countless hours on the road and innumerable amounts of lingering nights trekking from base to base calls on one very special person in the Rough Rider Battalion to extract the very best information for examination in which the CoIST will then use for dissemination. PV2 Cheryl Willis is recognized throughout the battalion as a little… peculiar. Whether it is her affinity for Japanese Anime, a „Dr. Who‟ Sonic

Screwdriver that flashes and makes a laser beam noise, or a 1 foot by 2 foot towel that has the number 42 embed-ded in the cloth, which she contests, is “the answer to life, the universe, and everything”, PV2 Willis clearly has a unique personality. However, it is this specific kind of quality and character possessed by PV2 Willis that gives her the ability to instantly provide the CoIST team with superior insight into the most confusing of Gor-dian Knots. In one of the oldest places on Earth known to be civilized by man and in a culture distraught with im-mense devastation, PV2 Willis helps our Soldiers summon joy. As she corrals her mind around the minute details of an ever-changing battle space, she quirkily brings happiness and laughter to those around her. PV2 Willis may, at times, speak in a manner that is difficult to translate without a thesaurus handy. She may even speak in Japanese! Neverthe-less, every Soldier of the 204

th Rough

Rider Battalion knows exactly what Willis is talkin „bout!

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan—The Rough Rider Battalion works dili-gently to keep an entire Brigade sup-plied with essential materials needed to subsist in an altogether coarse and inhospitable environment. As the days get hotter and the nights get

Story by an Anonymous Soldier in the 204th Brigade Support Battalion

Top from left to right: Members of 204th‟s CoIST, PFC Michael Johnson, PFC Ryan Zanni and SPC Jesus Ruval-caba show that they mean business. Below: PV2 Cheryl Willis explains what she‟s “talkin „bout” to SPC Jesus Ruval-caba.

P A G E 3

R O U G H R I D E R C O N N E C T I O N

The Coveted “2”

Alpha Company’s Clean Sweep Operations

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan—On June 26, 2011 a new mission was given to the Alpha Company As-sassins. The Supply Support Activ-ity (SSA) will assist Combined Task Force Warhorse in rightsizing the Brigade Combat Team‟s foot-print for future operations by con-ducting Clean Sweep Operations. The concept of the operation consists of units relinquishing non-essential equipment to the SSA in

order to fix it, issue it to the right unit or turn it back to the national level inventory. After analyzing the mis-sion, the first step was choos-ing a team and a strategic location to conduct the opera-tion of sorting, inspecting and producing documentation for the incoming equipment. The SSA chose a team of five Sol-diers to conduct the mission at Forward Operating Base (FOB) Walton. They set up an area to stage incoming supplies, parts awaiting re-search, parts awaiting docu-mentation and one area for processing all this equipment. The SSA immediately started receiving supplies from the surrounding FOBs and were able to receive and stage all incoming equipment thanks to the initiative of set-ting up an area for the opera-tions. The first week they re-ceived over two thousand items and were able to proc-ess and recover 1,170 items in less than a week. The sec-ond week the team grew to 12 Soldiers, with a volume of over 3,000 items processed.

The third week the team grew to 20 Soldiers, which proc-essed an average of 1,500 items. Currently there are over 3,000 items that the team is researching in order to find the correct disposition instructions. Thanks to this operation the Clean Sweep Team is moving forward and improving their research ca-pabilities. In less than a month since

the mission started they have

reached over one million dol-

lars worth of equipment

turned back into the Army

supply system. The Alpha

Company Assassins are set-

ting the example for future

units by maintaining supply

discipline and by implement-

ing a system to allow for the

turn-in of excess equipment,

thus allowing the war fighter

to focus on the enemy. Clean

Sweep will be the wave of the

future in Afghanistan and we

are the ones that got it

started. Roll Hard!

sents the 2nd Brigade Com-

bat Team and is build with

diamond plating that has been

fabricated into the number “2”

by the Brigade‟s Master

Welder, SGT Robert White

from Bravo Company, 204th

BSB, 2BCT, 4ID.

FOB WALTON, Afghani-

stan—The “1” has recently

been replaced with a “2” on the

4th Infantry Division‟s Patch at

the gate securing the 204th

Brigade Support Battalion‟s

Tactical Operations Center on

FOB Walton. The “2” repre-

By SPC Yurany Salinas, Supply Specialist, Supply Support Activity, Alpha Company

Above: SPC Jennifer Adkisson and SPC Yurany Salinas from the Supply Support Activity in the Clean Sweep Yard. Below: The Clean Sweep Team sorts through items received from other units in Afghanistan.

Photo by SGT Ty Tanner, a Human Resources

NCO in the S-1, Task Force Rough Rider.

P A G E 4

R O U G H R I D E R C O N N E C T I O N

V O L U M E I , I S S U E 7

are now located in a new, larger motor pool, after trading in their old motor pool due to lack of space. The only concern that

the Soldiers of Bravo Com-pany had when they moved to the new motor pool was the lack of communication such as telephone and inter-net connection. The new mo-tor pool is not located closely to the rest of Bravo Com-pany, so communication is imperative. SPC Oakley and PFC Valle were chosen to

take on the task of installing internet and phone connectivity for Bravo Company due to their MOS (Military Occupation Spe-cialty) being 25U‟s (Signal Sup-port Systems Specialist), they supervise, install, maintain and troubleshoot Signal support systems and terminal devices, to include radio, wire, and bat-tlefield automated systems. SPC Oakley has been working as a 25U for a few years and is able to mentor PFC Valle, who is still learning. “Valle is ready and willing to learn, which makes it a lot easier to work with her,“ says SPC Oakley. As of right now SPC Oakley and PFC Valle must find a tem-porary fix to the problem until they receive the required parts to make the internet and phone connection permanent. The temporary fix is placing fiber optics around the new motor pool. In order to place the fiber optics around the motor pool, they must work long hours in the heat, digging trenches, lay-ing down pipe and running wire. They have just recently started

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan— “Just Deal with It,” is the slogan of the Bravo Company Black Knights and that is exactly what they have been doing. The Black Knights have been deal-ing with the lack of technologi-cal communication in the new motor pool that they have re-cently moved to. However, there are two hard working Sol-diers, SPC Joshua Oakley of Bravo Company and PFC Emily Valle of the Headquarters and Headquarters Company S-6 (Computer/Automation) who intend to put an end to the lack of communication. SPC Oakley and PFC Valle are installing fiber optics around the new ex-pansion so that Bravo Company can have connectivity; they plan on having permanent connec-tivity within the next 3-5 months, however hooking up the fiber optics around the motor pool is not going to be an easy task, it is going to take a lot of hard work and many hours to get internet and telephone con-nected. Sections in Bravo Company

working with the local nationals in running the fiber optics from the SSA (Supply Support Ac-tivity) to the HLZ (Helicopter Landing Zone). According to PFC Valle, “Even though it is a lot of effort and hard work put into it, this is only a temporary fix until we receive mass fiber ring.” Bravo Company will be the first Company in 204

th to

receive connectivity in the new motor pool, then once the mass fiber ring is installed the rest of the Companies will re-ceive internet and phone con-nectivity. All the Soldiers in Bravo Company are very grateful for the hard work that SPC Oakley and PFC Valle are putting in. Bravo Company has been in the new motor pool for about three weeks and has found out how challenging it has been to communicate with anyone who is not located in the motor pool. SFC Lyle Hobbs is SPC Oakley‟s Platoon Sergeant. He says, “SPC Oakley is very diverse in the communications field.” If there are any prob-lems in the future with the con-nectivity SPC Oakley and PFC Valle will be there to fix them, if need be. Not only is the ad-vancement of connectivity im-portant to the current Soldiers residing in the motor pool, it will also be very beneficial for the incoming Units, because it gives them more options of where they would like to set up their operations. SPC Oakley and PFC Valle are setting the ground work for FOB Walton for many years to come.

Soldier and Commo Development in Bravo Company By SPC Natasha Gaskins, Bravo Company Unit Public Affairs Representative

SPC Joshua Oak-

ley and PFC Emily

Valle direct the

backhoe in prop-

erly placing pipe

around the motor-

pool.