HHSB FRG OFFICIAL and UNOFFICIAL INFORMATION

Hello Everyone,

Just emailing ya to catch you up on somethings that are taking place soon that you might be interested in. Here they go.

1. April 19, 2008 is the Monthly FRG MEETING at 1:00 pm in the Bloomington Armory located on 3380 S Walnut St, Bloomington. Everyone is welcome. Be there or be square...lol

2.Battalion Packing party Sat. May 3, 2008 at 10:30 am in Indianapolis at Stout Field Etab hanger. There is going to be a lot of fun that will be had. There will be food, packing, video emails to your soldiers, and much more so make plans to attend. Let’s show our Desert Wolf and Ruff Ryder pride.

3. April 12th Operation Myspace concert will be aired on FX at 11:00 pm for any of you families that do not have a myspace account. Some of our soldiers were there for this concert so you might want to check it out to see if you can spot your soldier.

4. Here is an update for the Ruff Ryders from LTC Westfall

HEADQUARTERS 76th INFANTRY BRIGADE COMBAT TEAM
Headquarters 1st Battalion 151st infantry
1481 BARTLEY STREET
JASPER, INDIANA 47546

6 April 2008

Indiana Army National Guard
Family Readiness Groups
Task Force 151

Dear Task Force 151 Families,

Hello from sunny and dusty Iraq. I apologize for taking so long to send all of you another update. We have had some challenges getting everyone here and then getting set up and operational. Our flights into Iraq were problematic at best and it took over a week to finally get all the soldiers on ground. I didn’t want to send my update until I finally had everyone on ground safely and ready to work. Our ability to communicate is rather limited as we only have a few computers and only one classified phone in the Battalion Headquarters. More of each, plus other items are on order and arriving every day so that should continue to improve. The weather is rather mild so far with highs in the 90s and lows in the 50s. The worst part has been the frequent sandstorms. We have endured several of them so far. You can see them rolling in just like a thunderstorm, except the sky turns an eerie orange color instead of black. Two of them have been so thick that you can’t see more than 50 feet in front of you and everything is covered in sand once it passes through.

The soldiers are doing great and are very surprised at the accommodations we fell in on here. Most of the soldiers here at Speicher live in large Company sized buildings with open bays. However, in an effort to give soldiers more privacy during their off-time, the garrison has installed room dividers throughout the open bays. This gives every group of 3 soldiers their own space, so in essence everyone has two roommates. The DFAC is even better than what we had in Kuwait and so are the gym and MWR facilities. Our PX is fairly small but it has the essentials. It will be up to personal preference as to what each soldier will ask for in care packages. The accommodations at Q-West are very similar except the soldiers live in “CHU’s”, which are container sized trailers that house 3-6 soldiers. The other accommodations such as the DFAC, gym, PX are all similar.

All of the companies are conducting missions and learning all the ins and outs of the mission as they drive the various routes we have to negotiate as we escort convoys all over Theatre. As I have told all of you, this is a dangerous mission and our soldiers will encounter many incidents during the course of their daily work, however, you must remember that we will not be talking about the details of what happens. We have to keep OPSEC (Operational Security) in mind whenever we talk of anything to do with missions. Even more importantly for all of the families back home, we have to keep in mind the unintended trauma that can be caused by inadvertently sharing some of these details. We had an incident of this the other night where one of our companies encountered an incident along the road. Somehow details of that incident made its way back home and as the word began to spread it raised questions as to “Was my soldier involved?” “What happened, was anyone hurt?” “Why hasn’t the FRG or Rear Det put anything out about this?” The bottom line here is that there was nothing to tell. As I already stated, we will encounter something on a continual basis while we are conducting this mission. But that does not mean that we will have someone injured. We are conducting this mission in heavily armored vehicles with the best weapon systems and Counter-IED devices the Army has in its inventory and our soldiers are highly trained to safely do their job. So……what I ask of each and every one of you is to keep all of this in mind and if your soldier tries to tell you details about an incident they encountered, or someone else encountered, that you are to remind them they are not supposed to talk about it. And please do not pass along anything you hear to someone else. We all know the party game where you put 10 people in a line and whisper a story in the first one’s ear and they whisper it in the second one’s ear and so on until you get to the last person and by the time you finish the story it is nowhere near what you started with. The only way to control the rumor mill is to not feed it. It has a voracious appetite and as long as you feed it informatio n it will cause undo panic and heartache, but if you shut it down then we will all sleep better at night. If there is truly an incident where we have someone hurt then you will be notified immediately by the proper personnel.

We are past the first of April and the mail is starting to flood in. That is great! The soldiers always look forward to getting a card, letter or package from home. I have urged all of them to remember to communicate with you as well. They should be sending you cards, letters or calling you from time to time to let you know how they are doing. They should also be on the Internet sending emails. If they are not doing so, then beat them up and remind them. If that doesn’t work, then I’ll sick the Command Sergeant Major on them!

I know that all of you are asking about Leave and whether we will be taking it or not. I am working to get that plan together as soon as possible. The Brigade Commander that we are now assigned to has been out of the country and just returned. His Deputy Commander has that question from me and I should get that answered soon. I told all of you when we were in Georgia to not expect anyone to take Ordinary Leave and that if we do it will be a bonus. Our mission set here is not that long and with the constraints in place, we cannot get everyone on Leave even if we tried. The regulation states that units are not allowed to take Ordinary Leave the first 60 days you are in Theatre or the last 30 days you are in Theatre. So that only gives us about 5 months in which to exercise Ordinary Leave. We are also not allowed to have more than a certain percentage of our Tasks Force gone at any one time to include Ordinary Leave, Emergency Leave, Illness and REFRAD. So unless the Brigade Commander waives the constraints and sets new policy, we will not be taking Leave. There are some options that I am exploring to see if we can work around the constraints and still make it happen, but until I can meet with the Commander I just don’t know if that is possible. So I need each of you to exercise some tactical patienc e and bear with me just a little longer until we can get this sorted out. I will let you know as soon as I can.

I did check on VTC capability and they do have that available. So I will see about getting that set up for each of the units and set a schedule where we can do these with each armory that has the capability. I will work this schedule with your FRG Chairpersons and Rear Det personnel, so watch for more information in near future.

Thank you all again for all of the great work you are doing back home while we are away and for all of the love and support you have for our soldiers and the unit. We couldn’t do what we do without you. Our soldiers are doing a great job and you should be very proud of them. Again I want to thank our FRG Chairs and our Rear Det Team as I am hearing great things about how well they are keeping all of you informed and are working the problems as they arise. Please ensure that when you do encounter an issue that you notify both your FRG Chair and your Rear Detachment member as soon as possible so we can begin to work the problem. Remember – we are one team, one family an d together we will stand strong and finish this deployment successfully on both fronts.

Sincerely,
Ronald A. Westfall
Lieutenant Colonel,
US Army Commanding

5. Official Correspondence Regarding media coverage of the 76th Infantry Brigade Combat Team while deployed in support of counterinsurgency operations of Operation Iraqi Freedom

A recent story in the Indianapolis Star and accompanying photograph of Col. Carr seeking cover has given rise to some concern about media coverage of the 76th IBCT. Occasionally sensors at base camps in Iraq will detect airborne missiles entering the airspace above installations. An alarm will sound and in accordance with training, personnel seek cover in numerous hardened bunkers around the base. The shelters are designed to minimize the risk of injury when a significant attack occurs.

In the case of personnel inside buildings, training dictates that personnel take protective measures and follow established procedures in response to base warnings. Col. Carr reacted in the exact manner that his training prescribed, and he expects no less from all his Soldiers. Training keeps Soldiers safe. Most often, an all-clear announcement is made within moments of the alarm, and personnel return to their routine without incident. This is a reality of living on LSA Anaconda or any other installation in affected areas.

Throughout this deployment, there will be stories that capture a moment, a snapshot of the IBCT’s experience while supporting counterinsurgency operations in Iraq. These stories may depict a seemingly dramatic moment in vivid detail. The stories are the perception of the reporter, and those writers are certainly entitled to that. Freedom of the press is one of the most important ideals that Soldiers serve to protect. It is no coincidence that dictators most often target newspapers and televisions stations in an offensive against liberty.

The reason the 76th IBCT is so open to the press is because it allows not only families and friends back home to have regular information about the brigade’s progress, but also gives the world a better idea of who they are and what they are working towards. There are scores of talented military writers and photographers documenting the progress in Iraq, but the reality is that the public rarely visits DoD websites or subscribes to DoD publications. They receive their news from commercial publications and broadcasts. Unless the 76th IBCT speaks to those commercial journalists, then very few will know the Soldiers as they deserve to be known, as concerned citizens willing to serve in a time of great need.

The 76th will continue to accommodate the media throughout this deployment in an effort to let the people of the world know who they are and why they serve. It is as important as any mission they have. From experience, the journalists they have worked with have been fair and accurate. Journalists also repeatedly express their admiration and appreciation for their willingness to serve. The 76th appreciates that kind of support and can expect no more.

What the 76th asks of families and friends, and the public, is to process the information with critical and sophisticated judgment. Share what you know to be accurate with those who have an imperfect knowledge of the Nighthawk Brigade. This is the most valuable support you can provide as the 76th works to earn their way safely home while shoring the foundation for a free and secure future for the deserving people of Iraq.

76th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, Public Affairs Office

For more information regarding the BCT in Iraq visit our website: www.76bct.org

and last but not least......... we want to give a BIG thank you to the following people that were at the packing party on March 29th.

Linda Hubbard,
Tiffany Ridge
Courtney Walker
Stephanie Ayers
Sherry Gummer
Karen Gummer
Vicki Bates
Anita Ibison
Tonia Matthew
Mary Kent
Kelly Davis
Sabrina Carter
Jenny Tracy
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JUST A REMINDER IF YOU HAVE MOVED, CHANGED PHONE NUMBERS, OR YOU HAVE CHANGED ANY INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT A FRG REP. IMMEDIATELY SO THAT WE CAN CHANGE OUR RECORDS AND MAKE SURE THAT YOU GET INFORMATION ABOUT UPCOMING EVENTS AND ANY OTHER ANNOUNCMENTS.