FRG NEWSLETTER – MARCH2010 COP MICHIGAN, AFGHANISTAN

DAGGER COMPANY’S NEWEST ADDITION 2LT JOE DE YOUNG PREPARES TO TAKE A PICTURE OUT IN SECTOR

COVER STORY:

2LT De Young arrived at Combat Outpost Michigan a few weeks ago

and has fit in quite well. A difficult task this late in the game, LT De

Young is soaking up all he can to pass on the intricacies of full

spectrum operations to the unit that will be replacing us very shortly.

Welcome to the Dagger Team Joe, Alisha and Taylor!

FRG NEWSLETTER – FEBRUARY 2010 COP MICHIGAN, AFGHANISTAN

CPT EASTMAN“DAGGER 6”

Family, friends, and supporters of Dagger Company,

We have finally arrived at Spring here at COP Michigan, with the temperatures back in the 70s and 80s. With the warmer weather, everything has again shifted back into high gear, the villages are again bustling and the work keeps coming for the Soldiers of Dagger Company. This month has seen several company operations, several new projects, and the early stages of packing to get ready for the new unit to arrive this summer. Your Soldiers have an incredible work ethic and morale is high as we push through this final stage of the deployment. Your support has been amazing, and please feel proud of not only your husbands and sons, but also yourselves for the incredible job you have done. As a reminder, the mail cutoff will be the 1st of April, so if you have any last minute items you would like to send, please do so before then to make sure your Soldier receives it. The next few months will be challenging as we not only continue our operations, but also add packing and preparing for the new unit to our plate. It may even be difficult for all the Soldiers to make contact as consistently as they would like, just due to the tempo at which we are operating. Like I said last month, we are not done here until every Dagger Company Soldier is safely back at Fort Carson. Thanks again, and please keep us all in your thoughts until the deployment is complete!

TIMOTHY EASTMANCPT, IN

Commanding

FRG NEWSLETTER – FEBRUARY 2010 COP MICHIGAN, AFGHANISTAN

Dear family and friends of Dagger,

The weather in Kunar province feels like it has gone from fall to summer and skipped winter all together. The days are in the high eighties and the nights barely get below fifty. Between getting our equipment ready for redeployment and conducting continuous operations the Soldiers of Dagger Company continue to accomplish difficult tasks on a daily basis and influence its area of operation in a positive manner. The platoons are still working diligently at making life better for the Afghan population in the AO. I am sure that they will keep this operational tempo up through RIP/TOA so that the incoming unit won’t miss a beat as they take over.

I am sure that everyone is ready to be reunited with their Soldiers just as they are ready to see you. We have a few things to do here before that is possible. So, bear with us if we seem a little distracted. That is a good thing; it means that they are not getting complacent.

As always thank you for your understanding and support.

Edward Vaars1SG,USA

First Sergeant

1SG VAARS“DAGGER 7”

FRG NEWSLETTER – FEBRUARY 2010 COP MICHIGAN, AFGHANISTAN

One month down, just a few more to go. Progress still continues at COP Michigan and our surrounding area of operations. This past month we started the construction of a new brick and mortar latrine, as well as beefed up our base defense with the completion of a new parameter wall and the construction of new towers. Combat Outpost Michigan is starting to resemble a medieval castle rather than an Army outpost.Headquarters Platoon continues their hard work and dedication in support of Operation Enduring Freedom X. While we continue packing up for redeployment, our eye is on the continuous improvement of our home away from home. One of our main goals is to hand off a much more sufficient and self-sustaining outpost to the incoming unit. Our joint US/ANA Tactical Operating Center (TOC) is now complete. The latest addition to Dagger Company, SGT Tapia, has taken over duties as the Joint Toc Non-Commissioned Officer in charge (NCOIC). With the departure of our Marine Corps comrades, the Joint TOC will serve as a direct line of communication between Dagger Company and the Afghan National Army chain of commands here on Michigan. Additionally, the upcoming weeks will see the installation of a water purification system that will benefit both US and Afghan forces here on COP Michigan.Your Soldiers are proving themselves every day out here in the Pech River Valley. Be proud of them, and continue to send your love and support. We all look forward to being home soon. It will be a great summer of sharing stories from the past year over BBQ with friends and family.

Timothy Burton1LT,USAExecutive Officer

1LT BURTON“DAGGER 5”

FRG NEWSLETTER – FEBRUARY 2010 COP MICHIGAN, AFGHANISTAN

SGT Garcia giving SSG Denning a spot in the gym.

FRG NEWSLETTER – FEBRUARY 2010 COP MICHIGAN, AFGHANISTAN

Hello to all the family and friends of 1st Platoon again. I have just returned off of leave and SFC Emmons and SPC Simmons are now the last to venture home before our redeployment. This means that we are starting our redeployment activities such as packing connexes and soon we’ll be preparing our counterparts for the next year ahead.

This month I’m proud to say we had a very successful promotion board for SPC Wilson and SGT Ziemer. They studied constantly and it showed when the time came. They scored very well showing their superior knowledge and calmness under pressure. These two dedicated Soldiers should move up to the next rank very shortly and continue to excel by leading Soldiers in combat. Congratulations are also in order to the newly promoted SSG Kase our EOD team leader.

Spring is all around us here. The temperature is rising, the terraces are full of green and yellow, the snow is melting, and the rivers are full. 1st

platoon is coming out of the winter doldrums; the men are getting out and running, playing basketball, and even some hiking up to our highest observation post. I am very proud of the level of physical fitness I’m seeing. This is paramount to our operations and I think you will see some very different looking loved ones when they come home. As it gets hotter I think one of our biggest issues is going to be the heat, and the men getting out in their off-time and acclimatizing is very important.

This month I would like to showcase PFC Johnson as our stand out Soldier. I can’t think of a more stressful time for a new Soldier to come into a platoon than in the middle of combat operations. That is what PFC Joshua Johnson of Grand Haven Michigan did on 31 December 2010. I haven’t had a new Soldier come to the platoon since August, but PFC Johnson has met and raised the bar for learning how to be an effective warrior in combat in a short period of time. He is a very versatile Soldier who has gunned, driven, and been a dismount on missions. He recently trained and qualified on the CROW system (Common Remotely Operated Weapon- station). The CROW system is a safer way to gun which is changing the way we fight, and is very important in our day to day operations. This Soldier never complains and keeps impressing me daily which is why PFC Joshua Johnson is this month’s Soldier of the Month.

Only two more newsletters to go and we’ll see you all at home!

Thank you,

1LT Alex Armstrong,1ST Platoon Leader

SSG Kase’s promotion ceremony.

SPC Guarnieri broadening his cultural experience with some of the interpreters.

FRG NEWSLETTER – FEBRUARY 2010 COP MICHIGAN, AFGHANISTAN

FRG NEWSLETTER – FEBRUARY 2010 COP MICHIGAN, AFGHANISTAN

PFC Sherleck jokes with the locals

PFC Hernandez plays Demi with local children

SSG Famisan showing the kids a radio

FRG NEWSLETTER – FEBRUARY 2010 COP MICHIGAN, AFGHANISTAN

The month of March is now upon us at that means one thing, we are now at less than 90 days away from coming home. All of the Soldiers of 2nd Platoon have now had the opportunity to go home for some much needed R&R and for the first time since the deployment started, the whole Platoon is together here at COP Michigan. This is just another mile-stone that this Platoon has reached during our deployment. We have had lots of ups and downs this year and we have tried to share them all with you through these newsletters. This month is no different from the rest of the months when it comes to changes in the Platoon. There have been three major changes this month the first of which is that Sergeant Jones no longer works with us here in 2nd Platoon, he now works at Battalion headquarters. SGT Jones will be leaving the Army once we return home so these last few months he will have a bit of a break. We have a new Soldier in the Platoon, PFC Quintero, and we have been trying to make him part of our family here at COP Michigan. He is fitting in well and learning quite quickly. The other big change that has happened in the Platoon is Lieutenant Cumbie has been reassigned to work at Battalion Headquarters as well, he’s now the BN engineer and we wish him well in his new assignment. LT Cumbie has been replaced by Lieutenant De Young and this will be his first newsletter to the families of our Soldiers. I will leave a portion available to him in order to introduce his self to all of the faithful readers. I ask that the families still at Ft. Carson and who are able to try to take some time to meet the De Young family since they are now part of our Army family.

SSG (P) Doug Middleton

Platoon Sergeant

SGT Williams and PFC Rios enjoy lunch with an elder

Tactical river crossing

SPC King visits Sundray School

FRG NEWSLETTER – FEBRUARY 2010 COP MICHIGAN, AFGHANISTAN

Greetings Family Members of the 2nd Platoon Team! My name is LT Robert “Joe” De Young and it is an honor to take the helm of this prestigious platoon. Thank you for the opportunity to be with your loved ones here at Michigan, as this is a great privilege. I would like to take this opportunity to briefly tell you about me. I was born in Heidelberg Germany, but I call Atlanta, GA my home. I come from a military background as my grandfather and father have served in the Army and my brother currently is active duty in the Air Force. I joined the Marine Corps at 18 years old in Atlanta and served 12 years (nine active, three reserves) before I decided to switch branches to the Army. My previous duty stations in the Marine Corps were Pensacola, FL and Cherry Point, NC. While at Cherry Point, I deployed with VMAQ-1 to Saudi Arabia twice (Operation Southern Watch) and Incirlik, Turkey (Operation Northern Watch) once. In 2002, I transferred to VMA-542 and deployed with them on the USS Bataan for Operation Enduring Freedom/Iraqi Freedom. I was attached to 3rd MEB (Marine Expeditionary Brigade) which was with the battle group nicknamed “The Magnificent Seven”. In 2004, I volunteered for a second tour to Iraq in which I was attached to 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing and worked air operations at FOB Al Qaim in the Al Anbar province. After my second tour, I returned home and volunteered to help with the humanitarian effort in New Orleans. The destruction that Hurricane Katrina caused was massive and devastating to the people of that city. It was an experience of a lifetime. I have a wife and daughter whose names are Alisha and Taylor. My wife and I have been married for a short time, but we have known each other since high school. We (Alisha and I) actually graduated Marine Corps boot camp together back on November 21, 1996. She is no longer in the Marines and takes care of our four year old Taylor.Thank you once again for your time and my family and I look forward to meeting each of you upon our return to Ft Carson. We wish each of you the best and you will see your soldiers before you know it.

Take care.2LT Robert “Joe” De Young

2nd Platoon Leader

FRG NEWSLETTER – FEBRUARY 2010 COP MICHIGAN, AFGHANISTAN

FRG NEWSLETTER – FEBRUARY 2010 COP MICHIGAN, AFGHANISTAN

Friends and Family of 3/Dagger-

As we near the end of March it is hard for us to believe that we only have two months remaining to our deployment. While at times it has gone by painfully slow, it seems that just the other day we had arrived in country and were becoming familiar to our new surroundings.

Quite a bit has happened since the February letter and your Soldier’s have been hard at work. Even though we can truly see the light at the end of the tunnel as we have already packed some connexes for shipping back to the states, trust that your loved ones’ are remaining diligent and will continue to do so until the day we come home. The weather here pretty much changed overnight as it was generally cold, raining and miserable. It’s now hot, dry and miserable.

Their hard work has been noticed as we have recently been awarded for accomplishments during some of our missions. SSG Hinton, SPC Wilson and I recently received an Army Commendation Medal with Valor Device. Also, while our new IRT Soldier’s earned their Combat Infantryman’s Badges shortly after they arrived in country (November and December) they were just recently recognized for their accomplishments and had the official ‘pinning’ of this coveted badge, this included PFC Mader, PFC Dorroughand PFC Evans.

Since the previous letter, PFC Cofflinand SPC Diamante have returned from leave. SPC Price is still on leave and is definitely missed, however he is enjoying some well-deserved time off. Now that all the Soldier’s have taken leave (excluding IRT) and are returning we are able to adjust our missions accordingly so that they are able to enjoy a “day off” here and there.

Generally, I encourage the families back home to keep up the mail and care packages as this is a tremendous morale booster. However, with us coming home soon I would recommend not sending anything as it may not get here before we leave, which is a good sign. However, emails from home can still brighten our day until the very end.

Respectfully-1LT Taylor C. Gillespie

FRG NEWSLETTER – FEBRUARY 2010 COP MICHIGAN, AFGHANISTAN

FRG NEWSLETTER – FEBRUARY 2010 COP MICHIGAN, AFGHANISTAN

Another month bites the dust and we are two months away from coming back home! March was a very interesting for our platoon and company. We saw the end of the few cold nights, the re-appearance of the rain and major anti truck mud puddles, to the welcome of the wonderful heat. With that I have to admit to I believe spring in this country only exist between the hours of 0600 to 0900. With PFC Mendiola being the last soldier to go on leave for our platoon, this reminds the soldiers that our time in Afghanistan is quickly coming to an end. But with the end so close, the NCO’s are doing an outstanding job reminding their soldiers about the daily risks we still face and that complacency is simply not in our vocabulary.This month consisted of different joint patrols with the Afghan National Army and the Afghan National police. Our goal was to continue improving relations between the two organizations, to demonstrate to the local nationals that their government was in terms doing its best to protect and support them. We conducted a few companywide missions, as well as support missions to other platoons around the AO. All in all it’s been a good month for our platoon, maybe the tide is finally turning.I wanted to congratulate a few individuals this month for their excellent work and recognition. SPC Dement, SPC Warner, SPC Rojas, SPC Stacey, SPC Jones and PFC Mendiola were awarded the Army Achievement medal for their actions on August 20th 2009. Though all these soldiers were grateful for this recognition, I must personally admit that in my eyes these guys are nothing less than extraordinary and heroes. But as the days and missions went on this past month, the guys continued to find ways to entertain themselves. This month, courtesy of SGT Richardson, we learned how to lasso a fake cow. Though to some it might sound quite boring, we found it really entertaining and sort of a new test of manhood (who would have known that in war, to prove yourself you have to accurately lasso a stick of wood). In closing we miss our loves back home, but we are a family out here too and to make sure we all come back to you in one piece, we are taking care of each other. Lastly, I’ve been told to tell family and friends to stop sending packages due to our future redeployment back to the States. But hey I’m still telling my mother to send me a package!

2LT Groberg, Florent4/D/2-12 PL

FRG NEWSLETTER – FEBRUARY 2010 COP MICHIGAN, AFGHANISTAN

FRG NEWSLETTER – FEBRUARY 2010 COP MICHIGAN, AFGHANISTAN

FRG NEWSLETTER – FEBRUARY 2010 COP MICHIGAN, AFGHANISTAN

SGT Ramirez gives a thumbs up…2 for the Afghan

PV2 Wheeler looks on providing security

Family and friends of 3rd Platoon, Gator Company,

March brings with it the end of winter as well as the tenth month of our deployment. By the next time you are reading this newsletter, we will be beginning the transfer of our battle space over to the new units arriving into the Pech river valley. Additionally, this month all of our Soldiers will have completed their mid-tour leave, which provides just another tangible reminder that our time here is winding down. Soon our Soldiers will be boarding helicopters to take them out of the valley, and taking their last looks at COP Michigan as a final reminder of all the incredible work they have done.The weather is warming and it really is beginning to feel like this year has come full circle. Much of the scenery is returning to green, and all the familiar sights and, for better or worse, smells are much like they were when we first arrived. Children have also returned to school, after their three month winter break, so the streets are lined daily with parades of students on their way to class. Several of the projects we had focused on during the winter were with the goal in mind of providing students with improvements to their classrooms, everything from structural repairs and new windows to improved bathrooms to facilitate the constantly increasing number of children going to school each year.Every day I see the men in my Platoon step up to the challenges they are faced with, and it is always rewarding to watch as we, as a team, overcome incredible obstacles to complete the mission. One Soldier in this Platoon who has stepped up and provides an excellent example of what it means to be tough, adaptive, and intelligent is PVT Wheeler. While relatively new to the Platoon, he has adapted incredibly well, and can always be relied on for difficult missions. He has demonstrated both his physical and mental toughness in a wide variety of situations, and for this I select him as the Platoon Soldier of the Month.

As time ticks away and we prepare to reunite with our families, we need all your support now more than ever to keep up our motivation and will to succeed. I appreciate everything you all do to sustain our efforts out here in Afghanistan. Without the strong base this Platoon has back home, we would never be to do those things we are asked to do daily.

Mark Zambarda,1LT, Platoon Leader

Prepare to joust!!!

FRG NEWSLETTER – FEBRUARY 2010 COP MICHIGAN, AFGHANISTAN

FRG NEWSLETTER – FEBRUARY 2010 COP MICHIGAN, AFGHANISTAN