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 Rough

Rider 6

Trailblazer’s Run Opera-

tions

CNS Troop Store

Assassin Soldiers Recog-

nized

Black Knights Box for Fit-

ness

Changes of Responsibility

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 9

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

Greetings Families and Friends of the Rough Riders, We have reached one of the major milestones during a deployment; the first 100 days of combat operations can bring it’s challenges and hardships. We in the 204th quickly approach the end of our first 100 days and I am truly grateful for all of the hard work and mission focus our Soldiers have displayed. Thankfully we have handled all missions and operations without any issues. Soldiers and lead-ers stress the basics everyday ensuring all equipment is checked and planning is carried out. Commanders and first sergeants continue to focus on safety and proper proce-dures for all missions. CSM Tuten and I are constantly sharing experiences with our Soldiers and are also learning everyday We are now partnering with both the police and the army units helping to build their capabilities and make them able to bring long term stability to this country. New Soldiers are arriving and the Rough Riders are experiencing changes in leadership. MAJ Frank Tobin and MAJ Eric Reid will be departing to provide their experience and knowledge to the Warhorse Brigade. We would like to welcome MAJ Matt Western who is taking on the position of the Battalion Executive Officer and MAJ Dave Guida, the incoming Support Operations Officer. Also in HHC is the new first sergeant, 1SG William Fisher who has already made noticeable changes in the Mayor Cell. Thank you for your continuous support as the Rough Riders continue to ―Make it Happen‖ throughout Kandahar Province, Afghanistan. Thank you for attending the video teleconference on August 16th and we hope to see you at our next Town Hall Meeting on November 3, 2011.

P A G E 2

HHC Trailblazers: The Hub of Rough Rider Operations By SFC Keith Sessom, Noncommissioned Officer in Charge, S-3 Operations

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

Brigade Support Battalion is the eyes and ears of the Warhorse Bri-gade as their convoys travel throughout the battle space and the convoys report what they see to the S-3 section who reports it to the bat-tle space owners and the Brigade. The S-3 Shop is operated by MAJ Eric Reid, CPT Sheila Moffett, SFC Keith Sessom, SFC Alejandro Jaramillio, SFC Daniel Hewett, SSG Carlos Huezo, SGT Philip Harasek, SGT Tramika Chatfield, PFC Aaron Kinnaman, and PFC Timothy Tal-ford. Everyone in the section pro-vides an important piece in the Rough Riders’ day-to-day opera-tions. One section of S-3 shop that de-serves recognition is tied into the whole picture from higher headquar-ters down to the company level: the radio telephone operators (RTOs), PFC Kinnaman and PFC Talford. These two Soldiers maintain the critical link between the companies and the battalion staff. They dis-seminate and track critical informa-tion in a timely and accurate manner

and record all actions on a DA Form 1594 or staff journal. They watch and listen to three different systems during the entirety of their 12-hour shift. The main sys-tem that they listen to is the radio; not just one, but three different radios at once. It can be a daunt-ing task at times. Along with the radio, phones and computers are also moni-tored and the have the capability of communicating with everyone from the Warhorse Brigade head-quarters down to the individual company at any location in Af-ghanistan. They receive all infor-mation and reports on these sys-tems from all that have the sys-tem available to them. There is a lot of responsibility placed on the shoulders of these two young men and they have performed exceptionally well. The S-3 Shop couldn’t be more proud of these Soldiers and are pleased with their motivation and efforts to learn have learned and continue to learn more each day.

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan—The S-3 Shop is the center of all op-erations that go on within the Rough Rider Battalion. They track all of the convoys that move throughout Combined Task Force Warhorse’s area of operations. They coordinate all passenger transportation on convoys and flights for each unit to include

civilians that reside on FOB Walton. The

section oversees the training re-quirements that come down from Brigade with daily mission sup-port orders (MSOs). They are also charged with tracking the Battalion’s equipment and per-sonnel as they are transported across the battlefield. The 204th

PFC Talford (standing) and PFC Kinnaman monitor the many tracking and communi-cations systems for the battalion.

partner is CPL Jordan King of Headquarters and Headquarters Troop (HHT), 2nd Special Troops Battalion (STB). The manager of the troop store burdens many responsibilities. One major issue is money, as in actual currency. This is one of the biggest obstacles they must contend with. Sometimes it’s a minor issue such as the Eagle Cash card charging machine – it only allows a certain number of transactions and once it is maxed out, it can hold no more data and no other transactions can take place using Eagle Cash cards. This is a major issue because on a small camp with no finance person-

nel, Soldiers have a hard time purchasing anything without an Eagle Cash Card. Whenever the Eagle Cash Card reader goes down, Soldiers and civil-ians get angry. They worked hard to find a partial solution to this issue by obtaining another Eagle Cash reader so when one is full, they simply switch to an-other machine. A more difficult situation is getting smaller denominations of money. When Soldiers come in and pay for goods with twenty dollar bills from finance or ATM machines at places like KAF, they expect smaller denomi-

Cobras Run the CNS Troop Store

KANDAHAR, Af-ghanistan—Camp Nathan Smith (CNS) is the land of dreams and opportunities. The Soldiers there may not have much, but they do what they can with what they have. On CNS, there isn’t just any ordinary Post Ex-change (PX), they have a genuine

troop store. Their version of the PX is managed and operated by SPC Alex Farias of Charlie Com-pany, 204

th BSB. His tag team

By SPC Alex Farias, Medical Supply Specialist, Charlie Company

PFC Llamas (right) purchases items from the troop store. SPC Farias (left) and CPL King work the counter.

P A G E 3 V O L U M E I , I S S U E 9

for being 204th BSB’s NCO of the

Quarter. SGT Payton, an Ammuni-tion Specialist (89B), has impressed leaders throughout the Battalion with his dedication to the mission, care for his Soldiers and overall professionalism. Currently working outside of his normal military occu-pational specialty (MOS), he man-ages all incoming and outgoing Class I for FOB Walton as well as the Warhorse Brigade’s many other FOBs and COPs across Kandahar Province. BG Dahl also was able to pro-mote SSG Josue Vallejo, an NCO from Alpha Company’s Convoy Es-cort Team (CET) Platoon. SSG Vallejo, a Calvary Scout, is a vehi-cle commander for CET Platoon and has participated in countless successful convoys while in Af-ghanistan. As an NCO, he provides guidance and training for the Sol-diers in his platoon and has willingly taken on more responsibilities since being promoted from Sergeant to Staff Sergeant. Previously SSG Vallejo was a member of Alpha Company’s Distribution Platoon where he was a Fuel Specialist (92F). Recently however, SSG Vallejo re-classified his MOS to

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan—On August 3, 2011 Brigadier General (BG) Kenneth R. Dahl, the Deputy Commanding General of Support (DCG-S) of Regional Command-South recently visited FOB Walton. During his visit, BG Dahl presented two Assassins with Awards and promoted one of their noncommis-sioned officers (NCOs) from the rank of Sergeant to Staff Sergeant. The general officer proved that these Soldiers’ exceptional work never goes unnoticed at any level of the Army. PV2 Matthew Burgan was awarded a coin from BG Dahl for his outstanding work ethic and demonstration of the warrior ethos. Just a few months into deploy-ment, PV2 Burgan has participated in over 50 missions as a Motor Transport Operator (88M). PV2 Burgan is a member of the Trans-portation Platoon and continually assists his senior NCOs and pla-toon in successfully pushing cargo across the battle space. SGT Jesse Payton was also awarded for his exceptional leader-ship as the NCOIC of the Class I (food and water) yard on FOB Walton. He was also recognized

Cavalry Scout and was placed in the CET Platoon where he uses his com-bat arms training to maneuver con-voys across the battlefield. While these three exceptional Sol-diers were personally recognized for their contribution to mission success, they represent a larger group of dedi-cated Soldiers. It is the collaborative effort of each individual Soldier that keeps the Rough Riders prepared and an ultimately successful organization.

PV2 Matthew Burgan

receives a coin for

excellence from BG

Dahl.

Assassin Soldiers Recognized by BG Dahl By 1LT Christine Breckenridge, Alpha Company Public Affairs Representative

Left: BG Dahl tosses

aside the SGT rank

that SSG Josue

Vallejo recently

wore.

A b o v e : S G T Jesse Payton is awarded the Army Commenda t i on Medal.

King adds, ―Damn, pleasing people is hard!‖ A random customer came in one day and asked CPL King if he needed a hug, and with a sigh and a huge smile he said, ―super sweet!‖ Another bump in the road is that shipments of goods tend to be ex-tremely late based on estimated delivery dates. It can be so long since the store received goods and the shelves were so bare that peo-ple think they are going out of busi-ness. SPC Farias’ response was that he was putting up a ―For Sale‖ sign and moving on with his life. Hopefully one day purchasing items such as shampoo and razors

will be easier for the Sol-diers and c i v i l i ans on CNS with the u l t im a t e goal of transition-ing the troop store to an actual Army Air Force Exchange-ran PX. This way, the store could better supply the camp and outlying areas with hygiene and morale items. Until then, CPL King and SPC Farias will do their best to provide goods to CNS and all the outlying posts they support on a daily basis.

From CNS Troop Store—nations in return. In Afghanistan banks aren’t on every corner. Lucky for the troop store, the local Afghan vendors tend to have smaller bills which help greatly. There are times in which vendors do not have smaller bills to exchange or other reasons they are unable to make transactions. In these instances, they simply do their best to work with the customer. They often rec-ommend using Eagle Cash if pos-sible or encouraging the customer to purchase all the goods he or she might need in one large transaction so that there is less change to try to dispense. Sometimes it’s rough, but Sol-diers do what they have to. CPL

Customers browse the CNS Troop Store.

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

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan—A number one priority of being a Soldier in the United States Army is physical fitness. All Soldiers must maintain their health and fitness not only to ensure they pass the Army Physical Fitness Test, but also for overall combat readiness. A few of the Soldiers in Bravo Company have found an interesting way to keep up with their physical fitness, and that is to train in boxing. Every morning around 0500 you will see a few of the Bravo Company Soldiers boxing, prac-ticing their form, stance and phy-sique. ―Boxing is a good way to get toned while also doing cardio, because you definitely will sweat,‖ says SSG Courtney Gaston, 91B, 30H8, of S&R (Support and Re-covery) section of Bravo Com-pany. Boxing is a creative way to keep your arms, legs and torso in shape while also training self de-fense. Boxing is not only a way to stay in shape, it is also a great way to relieve an abundance of stress. ―Being deployed can be very stressful on a Soldier, not

Black Knights Box for Fitness

only physically, but mentally, box-ing helps relieve that stress,‖ says CW1 Travis Ogletree of Bravo Company. During an average workout, the Soldiers usually begin with about 20-30 minutes of cardio. Then three sets of fifty crunches for abs, after that it is footwork; working on coordination so that you have the correct balance dur-ing practice. Then they practice the different types of punches, punch 1 is a left jab, punch 2 is a strait, 3 and 4 are left and right hooks. A hook is when you bring your fist in a horizontal movement towards your target, as if you were about to elbow them. 5 and 6 are body shots. A body shot is when you move your fist upwards towards their ribs. 7 and 8 are upper cuts. An upper cut is when you thrust your fist upwards to-ward the target’s chin. Then the Bravo Company Soldiers practice those numbers in combos. ―It’s all about having good coordination and being quick on your feet,‖ says CPL Lakisha Thomas, who is a 92Y and the Supply Sergeant

of Unit Supply for Bravo Com-pany. CPL Lakisha Thomas has found a way to stay fashionable while boxing. She has purchased pink boxing gloves. ―With my pink gloves I am able to remain femi-nine, while also showing everyone I’m tough and won’t take any mess.‖ CPL Thomas laughs. Many Soldiers get bored with the daily workouts and soon begin to dread working out. However some Black Knights have found a fun way to stay in shape while keep-ing the workout entertaining and interesting.

Left: CPL Thomas trains in her pink boxing gloves with CW2 Ogletree. Right: SFC Gaston strengthens his punches with dumbbells.

By SPC Natasha Gaskins, Bravo Company Public Affairs Representative

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan—On August 8, 2011 the Trailblazers said farewell to 1SG Maria Denzine and hailed a new First Ser-geant, 1SG William Fisher who came to the Trailblazers from Echo Company, 204th Brigade Support Battalion which is a forward

support company (FSC) with 2-8 Infantry Battalion. SFC Gilbert Navarro, previously of Alpha Com-pany was frocked to 1SG and took responsibility from 1SG Fisher a week prior.

HHC and Echo Company Change Responsibility

Above: CW3 Abel Vega-Leon pins the rank of 1SG on 1SG Navarro.

Below: 1SG Fisher (left) changes re-sponsibility with 1SG Navarro (right). C P T M i c h a e l Pachucki (center) is the commander of Echo FSC.