News from Angela Pickett on 3/23/08

Hello Ruff Ryder & Desert Wolves Families,

We have received word from Cpt. Goettler and Cpt. Padgett. Please make sure to remember that the unit's may have separate policies so remember to apply to your soldier what comes from his or her command.

The first update is for the Ruff Ryders and the second update is for Desert Wolves.

A little Ruff Ryder update from the other side of the pond....

As I am sure most of you are aware, we all arrived safely up to Q-West. We were welcomed with open arms by the unit that we are replacing, and they are very eager and willing to ensure we get the best training here possible. I have to say that outside of our unit, I have not seen a more professional group of soldiers. We have some very good stuff lined up before we assume the mission.

First things first, though, everyone is in great spirits and we all want to just get started. We have everything we need here on the FOB, the chow hall is amazing. I know you may have heard people talk about the food over here, but we have everything you could imagine, even an international food bar! I haven't tried that one yet though.

We have a very large gym and MWR area, where they play movies several times a day, hold pool tournaments, and even card games. There are numerous phones, kiosks, and it's a little pricey, but we will put a cell phone policy in place. This will need to be regulated at times due to OPSEC. As I said though, everyone is really excited about getting started. We are well trained, we have a little more specific stuff to work on, but all in all we are confident, especially in our equipment. We are getting state of the art stuff, some new, so there's a little learning curve. But we'll be masters in no time.

Well, the weather isn't too warm here....yet, but we are preparing for it and we know that it's coming soon. Hopefully the weather hasn't been to bad back home. I hope this email was enlightening and that you all have a blessed day.

Thank you,
CPT Charles Goettler
A/2-150 FA BN (Task Force 151)
Company Commander

Message from Cpt Padgett

Hello all, Just wanted to touch bases and let you all know that we had made it to Kuwait. Our days here are much slower compared to Fort Stewart. The soldiers are doing well in their training here and feel a much better sense of relief from our previous trainers at Fort Stewart. I can't really go into the training specifics here, but they are very similar with what we did in Ft. Stewart, but again repetition is not a bad thing. The training helps reinforce the skills they have learned and will continue to hone.

We have been talking with our unit that will be training us once we go North, this is very positive as they have already began allocating equipment for when we arrive there. There is an adjustment to the time once you get here, watching sporting events on ESPN that occurred "yesterday" since we are 7 hours ahead. I know that many of the soldiers get the opportunity to email and phone home every day and that some even call both in the morning and night. A little about the cell phone policy once we get in country. They will be allowed, so be thankful for that, however there will be very strict policies and procedures with those cell phones. They will only be allowed to use the cell phones in their individual living space, while off-duty. There will be "civilian" internet available as well, but a main focus will be for the soldiers to adhere to strict user agreement policies as well, ensuring they do not compromise any information via web-blogs, WebPages, pictures etc.

We have put out a good address to our soldiers for Q-West, but again I would advise not to ship anything until we get there and are able to confirm it 100%. If you would like to chance it here is the address, it should work fine.

Rank, Name
Unit
Q-West Base Complex
AL-QAYYARAH, IRAQ
APO AE 09351

For the soldiers in our command, the unit is 3-139th FA. Again we may lose some communications as we start to move North, but we will re-establish that link as quickly as possible so you know that your soldier is safe and sound.

God Bless and God Speed!

CPT Rex Padgett
HHSB 3-139th FA
"Desert Wolves"
Commander