1st Battalion 22nd Infantry Update Mar 2010 Page 2

1st Battalion 22nd Infantry

1st Battalion Newsletter

March 2010

A Company, B Company, C Company

In the coming months Alpha Company must continue to strengthen and build resiliency in our Soldiers and Families.
Our great Family Readiness Group (FRG) is dedicated to accomplishing this goal through upcoming events
focused on deployment preparation and support to Families.
Alpha Company Soldiers participated in the Soldier Readiness Program (SRP) in preparation for training
at the Joint Readiness Training Center in Ft. Polk, LA, in April. The SRP included medical, dental, personnel, financial,
and Army Community Service (ACS) related stations to ensure both Soldier and Family readiness.
Soldiers are required, and FRG members are invited to attend a Battalion Town Hall Meeting on 29 March.
This meeting will also serve as our company's monthly FRG meeting and a company training calendar update will be given.
The purpose of the Town Hall Meeting will be to familiarize Families with the battalion's mission in Afghanistan,
review the role of the FRSA and FRG leaders, confirm locations of Family members during deployment,
give information about the battalion's Facebook page, and address any Family questions or concerns.
The Gators are training hard and becoming a truly cohesive fighting force. I see Alpha Company Soldiers
exceeding my expectations daily and I thank both them and their Families for the dedication
shown to the Army and our country.

IAN C. PITKIN CPT, IN Commanding

Hello Gator family,
We have been very busy over the past few weeks. In the first week of March we completed Raider Blitz,
our Brigade Field Training exercise, where our company continued to hone our warfighting skills.
Some tasks proved more difficult than others, but on the whole the company put forth a tremendous effort
and improved greatly.

I am seeing a change in some of our Soldiers; that they realize the time is soon approaching for our deployment.
The training is being taken more seriously as we also plan for our training at Fort Polk, LA. I know that the Soldiers
are doing their best and learning with every new training event.

I would like to welcome some new personnel that we have received since my last posting to the newsletter-
SGT Holt and SGT Valdez. The Gator Family welcomes them, and knows that they will fit in just right.
As Alpha Company continues its training I want to ensure that the Soldiers are definitely thinking of their Families
as they are spending some time away from them. Don’t think that you are forgotten.

DAVID J. STOEN 1SG, USA First Sergeant

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Hello Blackhawk Family,

Since the last newsletter, we’ve conducted a lot of dynamic training including base defense, squad live fire,
HMMWV Gunnery, and platoon live fire. Our field time has been equal to our peers since Christmas
and we are steadily advancing towards making your Soldiers part of the best trained and most prepared organization
heading into Afghanistan. We are only able to do this with your loving support for our Soldiers, without your support
they will not succeed, and neither will Blackhawk Company.

As many of you have read in the news, the deployment is to help the people of Afghanistan. The training we are doing now
is designed to train the men to simultaneously defend themselves against the Taliban and protect the Afghanistan people.
We are graduating from the basics of defending ourselves and attacking the enemy to the advanced studies
of counter insurgency operations. Despite the tactical proficiency Blackhawk has earned, the most effective way to stay safe
in that country is to build a positive relationship with the local populace.

Thank you for attending the most recent FRG meeting. Dawn was very eager to lead the FRG meeting
as 1SG and I had to be in the field. The speaker was our battalion financial counselor SSG Woodyard.
His job is to support you in times of financial hardship by directing you to helpful resources or assisting with
the develop a budget. In addition to his assistance, you always have access to the chain of command
beginning with the platoon leader and platoon sergeant, and then if that doesn’t work you always have access to myself
and the First Sergeant.

The next big event is JRTC. This event will certify the company is ready to deploy to Afghanistan. Like in everything else,
we will perform well. However, your Soldier will be pushing his mental and physical limits in a completely different climate
in Louisiana. While the company is going to be gone approximately 4 weeks, the training is necessary in order to prepare
for what we will face together in the upcoming deployment.

Since the last newsletter the Families of Blackhawk have been busy making babies! Congratulations to the following families
for a job well done. Soldiers of Blackhawk will change no less than 1 diaper a day; mother permitting of course.
Ashley and Kyle Rossi had a son named Landon Thomas Rossi at 0142 on 11 MAR 2010
Tiffany and Greg Dobbins had a daughter named Emma Kathryn Dobbins at 2000 on 17 MAR 2010
Agnes and Jermaine Asberry had their third son named Jacob Alvin Asberry at 1204 on 19 MAR 2010
Sara and Armando Clark had a daughter named Pressley Dare Clark at 1757 on 20 March 2010

Please encourage your Soldiers to take pictures showing what they do at work, and if they bring good ones to me
I'll put them in the newsletter! Or, if you send pictures of B CO Soldiers doing great things on their time off
you can send them to Dawn and they will be in the newsletter. Thanks for all your continued support to B CO,
the Regular battalion and most of all, for your Soldier.

Sincerely,
Bradley D. Rudy
CPT, IN
“FEAR NO MAN”

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Hello Copperhead Families!

It has been a fast start to the new year for all those involved with the Regular Battalion, as I’m sure you all have noticed.
I wanted to take this chance to highlight some of the things that we have accomplished so far, where we are heading,
and some truly great moments for the Copperhead Family.

The major event for the Copperheads has been Raider Blitz. We spent the beginning of the year training for this event
through gunneries language, regional and cultural training, as well as working on our ability to be efficient
at the basic fighting battle drills. Raider Blitz began on February 18th, ending on March 5th. During this time,
every Platoon within Copperhead Company transformed into a more developed and cohesive, as well as lethal,
fighting element. This exercise greatly prepared us for our deployment, pointing out areas to focus on, as well as
where we are doing well. The following pictures and articles are from the Platoon Leaders describing the different lanes
we successfully completed during Raider Blitz.

The addition of our Infantry Soldiers into the Copperhead family has only helped our overall readiness.
Now we have the best of both worlds; Tankers and Infantry fighting side by side for one mission. We are very fortunate
for all the Soldiers in our Company. They are dedicated to their job and each other. This is a great family to be a part of.

So from here, we go to JRTC at Fort Polk, Louisiana, in April. This will help us ensure that we are ready for our deployment
to Afghanistan. After that, we come back for May and June to touch up on areas that need more work, and ensure
we don’t lose any perishable skills. Block leave before the deployment begins on June 19th and lasts until July 11th.
That will be a wonderful time for all of us to spend with families, so start planning now.

1SG Hise and I appreciate all the support given to us and our Soldiers from you, our families. Thank you for all that you do.

Isaac J. Hedtke
Copperhead Company Commander

The live fire exercise lane ran by 1st Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment was by far the best lane of Raider Blitz.
During this lane we were tested on how to enter a town that is friendly towards American forces and conduct
a key leader engagement with the village elder. While entering the village our Soldiers provided security,
encountering several hostile targets in which they engaged and destroyed with live 5.56mm rounds.
Using the information gathered during the key leader engagement, we were given a change of mission
and began a movement to contact.

“I learned how to clear a road for improvised explosive devices,” said Private Jacob Combs of Atlanta, Illinois.
“I was also taught how to properly pull security during a key leader engagement.”

During the movement to contact, our Soldiers encountered multiple dismounts at the top of a large hill.
We quickly established a support by fire position with the crack of live .50 caliber and 7.62mm machine gun fire.
Our dismount squad on the ground flanked to the right and assaulted up the hill. Star clusters, flares, and smoke
filled the air as the support by fire position shifted, then lifted fire and the dismounts bounded across the objective.
After reaching the limit of advance more enemy targets appeared on the horizon including trucks and tracked vehicles.
The blast of two live AT-4 rockets and 120 mm mortars shook the ground as our Soldiers began engaging the targets
with direct and indirect fires.

“Raider Blitz was a good learning experience,” said Private Waylon Stone of Marysville, Ohio. “I got to drive a HMMWV
for the first time, which was a little stressful at first but I got better as time went on.”

During this lane and the rest of Raider Blitz, Soldiers were able to test their training and leaders were able to evaluate
how their teams, squads, and platoons reacted in realistic scenarios. It was a great event that built cohesion and comradery
within units. We were able to identify many strengths and weaknesses in the unit and in the individuals and will now train
to improve for our upcoming deployment.

The 7-10 training lane was a straight 10 mile upward climb through a haze of rugged, mountainous, Colorado terrain.
Before we even talked to village elders or fought through ambushes, we had to rough through the hurdles of cactuses
stabbing through our uniforms, and slush of mud that made our uphill movement even more painful.
As my team leader, SPC Keller, said, “It was intense.” Intense it was, but it wasn’t anything we couldn’t handle.
Our mission was to talk to the village elder in the friendly village of Jambaran. When we arrived, we found
a full complement of features to make the event realistic. We had a real Afghan language translator, a live Afghan village elder,
and even authentic chai tea. It was a great learning experience for the platoon leaders to talk through a translator
and a live elder to discuss the local issues that would realistically be discussed in Afghanistan.

Just like in the real world, information from talks with locals led to a follow on mission. After we left Jambaran
we treaded through 8 miles of slush to the “enemy village” of Azizabad. With this village, we practiced our fighting skills
and used our fire power to assault the village and capture the Taliban insurgents.

All and all, Soldiers like the Forward Observer, SPC Whitehurst, thought it was a “physical” event, but we conquered it,
and every Soldier got something out of it. As PVT Walker put it, “it was really good to prepare us for the upcoming deployment.”

On 28 February 2010 Charlie Company executed training at Camp Red Devil during Raider Blitz.
The mission was to conduct a Key Leader Engagement in a friendly village to gather intelligence on recent attacks
on Coalition Forces and the nearby town to the north. Attached to 1st Platoon were 3 Afghan National Army (ANA) soldiers
and one interpreter. The platoon entered the village using the ANA to go into the village and ask permission to meet
with the village elder. Once in the village, the platoon set security around the village, and the PL met with the village leader.
During the course of their discussion, the village leader revealed that a Taliban leader was training 12-20 IED makers
in the village to the north and that the platoon could go to the village and talk to his cousin, the chief of police.
After the meeting was over, 1st platoon moved north to the neighboring village. In route to the village, the platoon had to react
to an IED and call for a MEDEVAC. On arrival the ANA once again led the way into the village and asked the chief of police
to come out of the village and talk. The chief of police gave some information up, but said the village leader would be
the best one to talk to. The platoon moved around the village so that the PL could talk to the village leader.
As soon as the meeting started, shots were fired from the building across the street. Fire continued to come from the building
and several smaller buildings surrounding it. Using the trucks, 2nd squad provided support for 1st squad and the ANA
to move into the building and neutralize the enemy forces. Also during the course of the firefight, a weapons cache
was discovered. After the firefight was over the village leader thanked the Soldiers for ridding his village
of the Taliban and bringing peace to his village.

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