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2ND BATTALION 147TH FIELD ARTILLERY FAMILY NEWSLETTER
NEWS FROM THE BATTERIES HEADQUARTERS BATTERY CPT Charles Hauck and 1SG Bruce Brekke Article by SSG Joel Brekke
Hi from Iraq, I am SSG Joel Brekke (Fargo, ND) and work in the communication section. SPC Derrick Keffeler (Brookings, SD) and I have spent the last six months with Alpha Battery working at remote ammunition cash sites. We started out with A-Battery spread out over four different sites living in Babylon, Cedar, Scania, and the Najaf CAHA. Our job is to ensure communication both short and long range. We stayed in Najaf most of the first two months. The platoons would travel between locations and escorting trucks loaded with ammunition back to Najaf to be destroyed. Everyday the civilian EOD would destroy between one hundred to three hundred tons. In April they changed our mission to an on site demolition. We lived on an ammunition supply point (ASP) near Ad Diwaniyah in tents and provided security twenty four hours a day. In Diwaniyah we did daily maintenance on radio equipment and set up and maintained the Segovia internet system, SGT Mike Rath (Sioux Falls, SD) has done a great job maintaining the internet system. In June we moved to the Karbala area where we secured an ASP till we switched with Bravo Battery in Cedar taking over their KBR convoy missions and to give us a change of lifestyle. During the first six months A-Battery has had a hand in getting rid of close to ten thousand tons of captured enemy ammunition. Iraq is a changing place there are so many good things going on, but so many times it is over shadowed by violence caused by a few. I just had my R&R brief and was amazed by information Chaplin Wilson handed out. In Iraq there are now 1500 elementary schools, 64000 teachers, and 5000 principals. More that 240 hospitals and 1200 clinics have been reopened and 22 million vaccinations been given to Iraqi children. There are so many good things that are happening in Iraq and it is a great time to be a part of the rebuilding of a nation. The country of Iraq has a long way to go but we have seen many very positive steps towards being a free.
ALPHA BATTERY CPT Lucas Lentsch and 1SG Michael (Red) Jensen To all our friends, family, and neighbors: The intent of this writing is to convey back to the home front the experiences of these South Dakota Citizen Soldiers who have been called to serve. Battery A, 2nd BN 147th Field Artillery is headquartered out of Sisseton with a detachment in Watertown. Soldiers are from several North Eastern South Dakota communities. Article by SGT Michael MehlbrechA 2/147th FA UPAR My first memory of Alpha Battery comes from almost a year ago when I was attached to the unit. Upon meeting CPT Lentsch and 1SG Jensen, I remember them extending their hands and saying "Welcome to the family." Now after spending 11 months with my unit I understand what they meant, although we have all left many loved ones at home, we also have a family here. We can never fully explain how much we appreciate the support we have received from home, and can not pretend to understand how hard it must be for our loved ones, this month though we want to let you know that although we miss you more than words, we have a family here. We have found a family in each other. That being said, we would like to announce a few new members to our Alpha family. SGT Clay Rees is the proud father of a new son, Myles Oif (Operation Iraqi Freedom), and SPC Chris Long the proud father of a new daughter, Addison Kathleen. It is also important to mention that both fathers feel fortunate that they were able to be home for their child’s first day. In country we also have a few new improvements in our family. 2LT Damien Fisher from Sioux Falls who transferred from Charlie Battery 1/147th FA and Nick Redday of Sisseton, who was recently released from active duty Army, joined us this month after volunteering to help fill a few gaps until the end of our tour. Although they arrived only a few weeks ago, they are already an appreciated part of the unit, and it seems that they have been here all along. Along with adding a few new members to our group, we have also had a few important promotions that should be recognized. Derrick Redwing, James Graf, and Steven (Luscious) Lewis were all promoted to SPC E-4, each of these soldiers were promoted at the earliest possible time since they have proven to be exceptional assets to the unit and our mission.
(To the left) James Graf gets promoted to Specialist. (SPC) Pinning SPC Graf is SSG Chip Premus and 1LT Brian Fox. (Photo taken in Cedar II Iraq 09 Sept 2004 by SGT Mike Mehlbrech) We all feel fortunate that we have been able to find our niche within Alpha, and have found a sense of family, which might make you wonder what it would be like to have your actual brother in country with you. Luckily we now have two sets of brothers with us, so I had the opportunity to talk to the Biel and Redday brothers. SSG Jaret (on the left) and SPC Jameson Biel (on the right) were in the tent that they share when we spoke, both in their PT uniforms, with Jameson sitting on a cooler and Jaret lying on his bed. Both Biel brothers agree that it has been a positive experience to have one other here. Earlier in the tour Jaret was with a platoon staying at a base in Scania, and Jameson in Babylon, and they both expressed this as a difficult time just because they were not able to keep in touch as much as they would have liked. It was hard not being sure that their brother was safe. Now that they are together, they enjoy the fact that they always have someone to talk to and watch their back.
SPC Nick Redday recently arrived over the pond and completed our second set of brothers by joining SPC Chris Redday. I found them one night sitting at a picnic table under a light generator visiting. Anyone who knows the Reddays will know that they were both smiling and, as with everything, more than happy to help. Nick recently was released from an active duty Army unit and upon returning home joined the SD Army National Guard. When it came to the question of volunteering to come over and join Alpha, it was a lot easier to decide since his brother was already here. For Chris it is nice to have Nick here after being away from his family for so long. He states, "It’s just nice to be around family again." Although Chris is glad to have his brother in country with him, he is quick to give him a hard time for "being late", to which Nick responds with a smile "I’m still here aren’t I?" I guess even over here brothers need to pick on each other a little. Although their smiles never left their face, the Redday brothers had pride in their eyes when they talked of their proud family heritage of military service. Their uncle served in Germany, their father in Germany and Vietnam, Chris has been in Cuba, and Nick in Korea. When asked the best part of having a brother here, Chris was quick to answer "My family has served all over the world, now there is one place that the Reddays have served together." We could never even try to replace the love that we have waiting for us at home. We long to return to our jobs, friends, and especially family. As you, our family and friends continue to patiently wait for our homecoming, know that we miss you dearly, and don’t worry about us, we have family here too. We give each other strength.
BRAVO BATTERY CPT Steven Siemonsma and 1SG Wayne Labelle Article by CPT Steven Siemonsma Hello from sunny and warm Iraq. As the summer quickly comes to an end, we look forward to the beginning of long awaited new season. We have all noticed and welcomed the much needed change in the temperature as we are no longer seeing temperatures reach into the 110’s or 120’s but rather reaching a much more bearable 105 degrees. However, with the decrease in temperatures we have seen an increase in the fly population and now our main battle is no longer the heat, it is the vastly annoying flies. I will attempt to discuss some very extraordinary efforts made by members of our Battery and the civilians that we work with.
great discovery just a few days ago. We went outside the wire to find an astonishing 30,000 plus 57MM HE Anti-Aircraft projectiles, 90 155MM HE South African projectiles. We were able to get together as a group, develop a plan and execute that plan flawlessly. The final result at the end of the day was the collection of over 32,000 total rounds which are now in our possession ready to be destroyed. This was a fantastic day for everyone involved. We were able to keep a large number of IED (Improvised Explosive Device) making materials out of reach from the anti Iraqi forces. This is what our mission here in Iraq is all about, securing ammunition sites in order for explosives and ordinance destruction teams to rid this country of munitions that can and will be used against all coalition forces and the great people of Iraq. With this being said, as a commander I could not be happier with the motivation and willingness of the soldiers of B Btry to do the right thing
As some of you may or may not know, Quenten Johnson was recently promoted to First Lieutenant. He has done an outstanding job with Btry B as our trusted Support Platoon leader and he has agreed to write us a little bit about himself. Article by 1LT Quenten Johnson
Outside of the guards I am currently employed at Tyco Plastics as a maintenance technician. I am also working on my Bachelors of Applied Technical Science (BATS) with emphasis in personnel management at USDSU in Sioux Falls. I was recently married to a wonderful woman, Wendy, on 29 November 2004 just before the unit left for our deployment.
Our Platoon is made up of three major sections: Supply, Mess, and Maintenance. These three sections are all very important and usually receive little recognition. SFC Mike Becker is in charge of the Maintenance section. Mike and his guys have put in long hours and countless parts to keep our vehicles and A/C’s units running. SFC Houghtaling has been a big help with the A/C’s too. SGT Vern Mathis is in charge of Mess. Vern and his guys do all of the cooking. Amazingly, the Class A rations or groceries as you would know them, are prepared better by our cooks than anything we have been served in the Dinning Facilities in either Fort Sill or Iraq. The final section is Supply, run by SSG Phil Johnson. SSG Johnson has one of the hardest jobs in the platoon because he is not located with the battery. He has to communicate with us via e-mail. SPC John Miller has been Phil’s main point of contact in the battery. Between the two of them, they make sure there is enough food, water, fuel, and all of the other operating supplies that are absolutely necessary and make life a little easier. Without these three sections, the battery would not function. Support platoon is the life support for the unit. Overall, I have enjoyed working with each of your soldiers. We continue to teach each other new things all the time. They are doing a great job and miss you all very much! Thank you for your support of your soldier. It really does make life easier knowing your loved ones support you. Best wishes,
CHARLIE BATTERY CPT Troy Ness and 1SG Myron Simons Article by SPC Richard Lewis and SGT. Todd Harty – Supply Section Greetings to everyone at home from the supply section. As another month passes by, we are anxiously looking forward to getting home. It has been cooling down a little bit and it looks like we will be breaking the 100 degree threshold soon plus the rainy season is on the way. There is always something to be done in supply. We are responsible for issuing soldiers supplies and weapons and maintaining those weapons which in the desert can be quite difficult. Lately we have been moving our supply office from the frame tent it was originally in and into our custom made trailer house on the back of one of our ammo trailers. This move will keep all of our supplies up off the ground and out of the mud when the rainy season comes and will make everything a lot easier when the time comes to move again since all of our equipment will already be loaded. The biggest thing that has happened since the last newsletter has been first platoon’s move back down to Cedar which once again has left our battery split up, but that is nothing new for us as we will keep driving on. The rest of the battery is still pulling security ammo sites to help Tetra Tech get more and more ammo sites cleared. We have also been able to get more people home on leave and we still have a few more months to try to get everyone on leave who wants to go. As far as other battery news goes we have now received our armed forces network (AFN) cable box. This gives us access to all of the armed forces network channels including the sports channel which is very important on Sundays during the football season. This has given us another comfort of home to help make life here at Al Marah a little bit easier. Once again on behalf of the battery we’d like thank everyone at home for their continued love and support. That’s all for now, we will see you in the next newsletter. GO BRONCOS!
A New Arrival…. Congratulations to CPT Scott Rounds (HHS) his wife Kara and daughter Jasmine on the arrival of their new baby girl, Kendra Joyce! She was born on September 16, at 10:00 a.m. and weighed in 8lb 4oz and was 19 inches long. Scott was able to be home for the delivery. MAJ Somsen had some words for CPT Rounds, reminding him, "It takes a Man to Make a Man and he still isn’t there!"
CHAPLAINS CORNER MAJ Lynn Wilson Iraq in the Bible Today we finish a three part series on the biblical site of Ur, located close to Cedar II. We have talked about the large ziggurat structure and walking through the "Tombs of the Common People" and those of royalty. Today we talk about that part of the tour that includes seeing the house where the prophet Abraham was born. This and the structures nearby, date back from 2,025 to 1,763 B.C. The house where Abraham was born belonged to his father Terah, and consisted of 27 rooms, 5 courtyards, and 3 stairs, complete with 3 drainage systems. Abraham is called, "The Father of the Prophets," because the Islamic, Jewish, and Christian religions all trace their faith back to Abraham. Terah sold idols, and was a wealthy man. Abraham, the Bible says, also was very wealthy. Genesis 14 describes Abraham as having 318 trained men, not counting the numerous children and women in his group which must have totaled at least a 1,000. When Terah's house was rebuilt, they didn't put a roof on it. There are new plans to excavate it in the next 5 years (2004-2009). From Terah/Abraham's home the tour concludes by going by the "Willie Pit" or "Flood Pit". Willy was the one who the genealogical evidence was found, evidence that goes back to two floods, 4000 B.C. and 2900 B.C., which was Noah's flood. It has a drainage system with pieces and mud around the pipe in order for water to seep, called French drainage. We soldiers are fortunate to have the biblical site of Ur nearby. But again, I repeat the site we long to see most of all . . . is the sight of YOU when our mission here is done! May God bless you and your loved ones. Please feel free to email me at lynn.wilson1@us.army.mil if you have any questions or comments for me. Chaplain Lynn Wilson
Deadlines for Holiday Mail Here are some excerpts from the Associated Press in the Star and Stripes Newspaper September 19, 2004 Parcel post addressed to military APO and FPO addresses worldwide should be sent by November 13, 2004. First-class letters and priority mail to APO and FPO addresses with ZIP codes beginning with "093" should be sent by December 6 and the deadline for other military ZIP codes is December 11. FREE MAILING STUFF FROM THE US POST OFFICE…. We are not sure if this is true or not as we have not heard of anyone trying this, but we thought we would mention it to you. You can call a US Post Office (USPS) number 1-800-610-8734, press 1 for English or select your language preference, and then press 3 to place an order, the USPS will send you free boxes, packing materials, customs forms, tape and mailing labels. The intent is that families of deployed soldiers can use these items to mail care packages to their soldiers. It is only supposed to be for the families of deployed soldiers. Once again, we have not tried it, but it sounds like a good deal that our soldiers and their families should hear about.
Contacts:
MAIL NOTICE: We will make our move to Tallil, AFB in the very near future. You can continue to use the same mail address, since that is where we currently pick up the mail. Mail can be sent to your soldier at the address below. You can expect it to take 7-14 days for your mail to get picked up by the battalion. Then we must deliver it to the units in their various locations when we deliver other supplies. The mail address for each unit is listed below:
Web Sites: 2-147th FA BN: Our web site is: www.DakotaSteelRain.com at this site you will be able to find links to other battery web sites and pictures. HHB 2-147FA: www.homepages.dsu.edu/2147fabn/ C 2-147FA: www.147th.com 197th FA BDE web site: ( http://www.nharmy.guard.com/family_services/units.htm ) General Military Information: www.military.com Trip to Disney World: www.shadesofgreeen.org |
Webmaster: Holly Hauck
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"PRIDE OF THE DAKOTA’S DISPATCH"
Although they admit that it is difficult for their mother to have two sons at
war, they feel that she also feels reassured knowing that they are together and
have each other to lean on. When asked if there were any special challenges that
they face when having a brother over here, SSG Jaret Biel expressed " It can be
hard having your little brother here, you want to look after him and sometimes
have to remember that he is not just your little brother, he is also a fellow
soldier." When asked about the advantages to having Jameson here, Jaret stated
"I think it is great that we are able to experience this together, not many
brothers have that opportunity."
The members of B Btry, Tetra-Tech, SOC and the Bulgarian army
were part of a 
On a more personal note, just recently my home in Watertown,
SD was overwhelmed with water from a torrential down pour. My wife being home
with my two daughters did not know where to turn so she made a few calls to
fellow, past and present guardsmen. SSG Marty Harmel, Don Smith and Joe Hauer
(retired), showed up to assist Heidi in getting the water stopped and definitely
diverted an imminent disaster. Without their dedication and devotion to our
families back home, possible disasters such as mine would not be averted. I
would like to say thank you to these individuals who helped Heidi and my girls
ensure the damage to my house was negligible. I truly do appreciate the efforts
made by those who are back in the states looking after our families. Events like
this make me realize that people like this are the true hero’s! We as citizen
soldiers need to know that when our families are in trouble they can always
count on our military families. Thank you very much for everything you do to
ensure our families are well taken care of while we are deployed. 
Hi, this is LT Quenten Johnson. I was excited when I was told
I got to talk about my platoon in this month’s newsletter. Before I go into the
platoon, I will give you just a little of my history. I was raised mostly in
Mitchell, SD were I graduated high school in December 1995. I enlisted in to the
South Dakota Army National Guard on 29 December 1995, which was with in a couple
days of CPT. Siemonsma. I was first assigned to A 1/147th as a Self
Propelled Howitzer mechanic or 63D. In November 2003 I was transferred up to B
2/147th as their Support Platoon Leader. I was just recently promoted
to the rank of 1LT.
Well, that is enough about me, here is the good stuff.
Support Platoon’s main driving force is SFC Leonhardt. He has been a huge part
of making sure that all the position improvements around the camp get done. He
built berms, helped make the dining facility, and relocated the shower trailer.
Besides the physical work, he acts as a mentor to all his troops. 
