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2ND BATTALION 147TH FIELD ARTILLERY FAMILY NEWSLETTER
Headquarters Battery: CPT Charles Hauck/1SG Bruce Brekke Note from the Commander: This newsletter finds everyone here in HHS well. We are currently enjoying a nice break from the heat as evening lows have dipped to the high 60’s. It is a really odd feeling to step into the tent in the late evening and have it be warmer in the tent than it is outside. On a side note, after further thought about the contest…. Last month I challenged you to guess the first day that the high temperature will be less than 100 degrees. If there happens to be a tie, the winner will be selected in a random drawing from all those who correctly guessed the day. Soldiers Highlight; Third Edition. Every month I will highlight soldiers so you can get familiar with the members of the HHS family. The brief informational excerpt about each soldier will include what position they are slotted in, what they are doing here in Iraq, and what they do on the civilian side. I hope you are able to find the familiar faces and get to know some new ones!
CHARLIE BATTERY: CPT Troy Ness 1SG Myron Simons Friends and Family, Well September is finally here, and from what the guys tell me we are almost two-thirds of the way done with our deployment. In the last month we were finally able to bring the whole battery back together, a feat we haven’t been able to accomplish for nearly our entire deployment thus far (this is in fact the longest I think we have all been together). I am sure most of you are familiar with our current situation, but I’ll run through it quickly for you anyway. We are living with the British, and you would think that if we had to live with a foreign force, the British would be an excellent choice since they speak our language (or rather we speak there’s). None-the-less, their English and our English are totally different and many times I feel it may as well be a foreign language. On the positive side, they are very nice, the food thus far has been excellent (at least I think so, some soldiers would beg to differ), and we are able to work at our own level (not giving soldiers out for tasks like we have had to in the past). The Camp we live at is known as Abu Naji which in Arabic means "The Father of Naji"; not really sure who Naji is. At any rate, the camp has several amenities that we are able to enjoy, some not as good as what are afforded soldiers on an American Camp, but still it’s something. There is a local gym that we are able to use 24 hours a day (which helps since we have a PT test coming up), a small PX known as an EFI (expeditionary forces institute), and an MWR tent with TV. They play football on the TV all the time, but unfortunately football takes on a different meaning for the British (soccer). Speaking of football, the season got underway yesterday and most everyone here is pretty excited about it. We are trying to get a dish up here so the guys can at least watch one game a week. Not sure if that will happen, but at least we have a reliable internet system now, as I’m sure many of you already know. It offers soldiers the ability to contact loved ones on a daily basis, or nearly a daily basis. Finally, the mail here isn’t great. We do the best we can, but the British don’t have mail men (mostly just carrier pigeons and messages in bottles launched out to sea I think). No actually they have a different mail system so our mail is brought once every 7-10 days from Cedar. It’s like Xmas every time that Log Pac shows up. All we’re missing is a tree. So keep he mail coming, your soldiers definitely appreciate it, even just a short letter is a welcomed treat. Take care all, we hope to see everyone very soon. LTD PS- Go Steelers!!
Bravo Battery Happenings By CPT Steve Siemonsma, 1SG Wayne Labelle From the Commander: Hello to all the family, friends, neighbors and fellow guardsmen and women from central Iraq! It has been over a month since my last installment of this newsletter and I will attempt to cover everything that has happened during that time span. On the 3rd of August I left the Battery in kind of a quandary and in the middle of a mission change. As I left the Battery I had numerous thoughts going through my head, but I did not have any worries. We had the right people in leadership positions which made me feel comfortable and confident that I could indeed leave. When I left the ASP, we had around half the Battery at the ASP and the other half still at Cedar. The soldiers had a lot of questions and were somewhat nervous about what was going to happen next. I talked to 1Lt Dooley and 1SG Labelle and told them that they were in charge of the Battery. 1Lt Dooley and 1SG Labelle did just that, they took charge made intelligent decisions and completed the relief in place (RIP) of A Btry and things continued to run extremely smooth. Since my leaving in August and until my return just a few weeks ago we now have the entire Battery located at the ASP and numerous improvements to our location have been made by solid decision making by the Battery leadership to get ready for the rainy season. Numerous soldiers that work during the day, have moved into an ammunition bunker that was cleared by the civilian explosives and ordinance destruction team (EOD). The bunker now has AC, lights and is home to 44 of our soldiers. The night crew is also living in a bunker that provides them a space that is both cool and dark which allows them to sleep during the heat of the day. I couldn’t have been more impressed with the leadership under the direction of 1LT Dooley and 1SG Labelle. They did indeed do an outstanding job and I am very impressed with the outcome. We now have 1SG Labelle enjoying time at home with his lovely wife Shirley and I am sure he is enjoying every moment of his R&R as I did. SFC Houghtaling was willing to step up and replace 1SG Labelle as acting First Sergeant, which opened up a Platoon Sergeant slot that was taken over by SSG Zok. I have been thoroughly impressed with the performance of both SFC Houghtaling and SSG Zok; they have not missed a step and are doing great things in these positions. In this edition of the newsletter we would like to feature SPC Brandon Wolf and let him tell you about himself.
Special Profile: SPC Brandon Dean Wolf By Brandon Wolf and SSG Burton Glover My name is SPC Brandon Wolf. I was born June 4, 1984 in Aberdeen, SD to Don and Cindy Wolf. I am the oldest of three children. I have two younger brothers Matt 16 and Landon 14. I attended the Aberdeen school system where I graduated in 2003. My hobbies include: hunting, fishing, playing soccer, and my newly acquired 1969 Camaro. I decided to join the military in the fall of 2002. I signed on as a member of the Battery B 2nd 147th Field Artillery, South Dakota Army National Guard in November. I then attended Basic Training and Advanced Individual Training from August 2003 – December 2003. I was notified thru my parents that the battery had been activated while I was still in Ft Sill, OK attending AIT. Needless to say this had not been part of my immediate future plans. I returned home from AIT on the 18th of December and had the unit activation ceremony on the 19th. I had missed about two weeks of the units mobilization work but I quickly made up for lost time to prepare my equipment and myself for deployment. Since the unit was given the opportunity to stay at home over the Christmas holiday it gave me the only chance I would have to spend anytime with my family between my initial training and moving into a one-year deployment. Though I didn’t have much time with my family, we had a fantastic Christmas together and made the best of the time we did have together. I joined as part of the Headquarters platoon. I already knew some of the guys and had been to a couple of drills and had at least met the others. We quickly got to know each other and have become a close group. We have been in country for about 8 months. I have seen a lot in that short time, from the destruction of the initial attacks here in Iraq, to the rebuilding of schools and business’s. I have served as a Machine Gunner and also as a Driver on Team 2, during our convoy escort missions. During the CEA security missions I have worked Front Gate Security and Ammunition Security. Upon returning home I plan to attend Presentation College and major in Biology. I am enjoying the tour, as much as that is possible, but am still look forward to going back home to my family and friends. I miss and love you all. SPC Brandon Wolf
SPC Wolf Bunker Living In closing, I would like to say how impressed I am with the leadership of this Battery and how happy I am to be a part of Bravo Battery 2D BN 147th Field Artillery. The Battery continues to move forward in this mobilization and from my view is ready and willing to tackle any challenge put in front of them. I would also like to say thank you to the family support, they have been absolutely great thus far in our mobilization and we are sure they will continue to do just that. Sincerely,
Alpha Battery: Captain Lucas Lentsch, 1SG Mike Jensen It’s hard to sort through all of the good times, and memorable experiences to come up with just one story to tell. We have been all over the southern part of Iraq, and we have seen some of the sights that most of us only dreamed of seeing. Babylon city and the ancient ruins, the religious city of Najaf are all well known attractions. But even though I have seen all of that and more, the best part of this trip has to be R and R. When I entered the airport in Sioux Falls, at around 10:00pm, I saw my 7 year old son, Taylor for the first time since December. The happiness of his smile and the strength of his hugs were reminders of things that were only memories a few minutes before. My brother got married on the 17th of July. I made it home for that. Congratulations go out to them. Just seeing all of the family was great. I’ve been getting letters and packages, but it just doesn’t replace the time not spent with them. But, like they keep saying, I knew that this was a possibility when I signed the line. And being here with my friends doing my job, that’s what it’s all about. SPC Travis Peterson Contacts:
Mail: ATTENTION Charlie Battery is no longer located at Camp AzZubayr. Please do not send any more mail to the Camp Navistar address. All Charlie Battery mail, along with all 2nd Battalion mail should be sent to the CSC Cedar II address. Thank You! 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
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Webmaster: Holly Hauck
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