1st Battalion 22nd Infantry Updates October 2008 Page 3

Dealer 6

Dealer 7

Family and friends of Team Dealer and Dealer Company, Greetings from Iraq.
The past month has seen the defeat of an al-Qaeda in Iraq cell, the restoration of essential services,
and increasing Iraqi Police and National Police control with increasingly limited Coalition Force support
throughout the operational environment.

In late September and early October, local residents of the Kafayat area began to secretly talk
to Coalition Forces about a latent al-Qaeda presence that had been using the area to stage attacks into
neighboring areas. Locals provided Team Dealer with critical pieces of information, that when
combined with previous targeting gave the company a more complete picture of the enemy structure
and activities despite the fact that this cell did not conduct attacks in our area of operations.
Blue Platoon was able to use this information to detain two al-Qaeda terrorists exiting a meeting at a
local mosque. One of the detainees had been involved in VBIEDs, IEDs, and sectarian killings,
while the other had been involved in sectarian killings. Following these detentions, an al-Qaeda high value target
began to search the area for the informants. White Platoon detained the high value target
who was responsible for weapons trafficking, extortion, and sectarian killings. The next day Blue Platoon
detained an al-Qaeda counterintelligence agent sent to identify the informants. The remnants of the al-Qaeda cell
subsequently fled the area and have not returned.

Blue Platoon with the Bilat Iraqi Police have conducted loudspeaker operations and distributed flyers
and posters to deny al-Qaeda elements the ability to return. Team Dealer kept the pressure up on the Iranian-backed
Special Group Criminals. Blue platoon detained two Special Groups Criminals who were attempting
to reconstitute the militia in the Saha Apartments. One of the Special Groups Criminals
was involved in weapons trafficking from Iran, sectarian killings, and attacks on Iraqi Security Forces.
The other was responsible for IED attacks, sectarian killings, and intimidation. White platoon seized a 500 gallon
black market fuel cache that was intended to help returning Special Groups Criminal reconstitute
financial networks. Blue Platoon seized a 60mm mortar tube.

The neutralization of both Sunni and Shia armed extremist groups in Dealer operational environment
has resulted in an environment where Sunni and Shia neighborhoods have been able to compete
peacefully in soccer matches organized by the National Police. On 10 OCT 08, a VBIED attack
occurred in Abu T’Shir, Baghdad. This VBIED occurred in a crowded market. Team Dealer
responded to follow and support C/ 7-10 CAV. The attack had been well planned, and the C/7-10
CAV patrol was quickly isolated from follow on forces by a series of burning tire barricades over watched
by Iranian-backed Special Groups Criminals with small arms weapons and an armed mob.
The Beast Platoon established a blocking position to prevent the spread of the riot.
The White Platoon established a blocking position to support National Police positions
and came into small arms fire contact. The Blue Platoon with a tank and a dismounted element
under small arms fire contact, cleared the flaming barricades and the mob, reestablishing a line of communication
with Coalition Forces at the VBIED site. What had been a well planned enemy attack had been minimized
by the quick and decisive actions of Team Dealer soldiers.

The Beast Platoon will be leaving Team Dealer soon as they prepare to redeploy with the 3rd Infantry Division.
In the past month the Beast Platoon supported a variety of humanitarian assistance missions.
The neighborhood council, National Police, Iraqi Police, and a local businessman held an event to provide
meat for poor families during the Eid-al-Fitr feast at the conclusion of Ramadan. As school starts,
Beast Platoon has been working with the National Police to deliver school supplies to local primary
schools. Finally, Beast secured the opening ceremony for three micro-generation stations that will provide
electricity for over 500 families in Kafayat and North Saha under the supervision of the Neighborhood
Council. The company was also able to transition 406 “Sons of Iraq” security volunteers to National
Police control and begin paying $680,250 in micro grants and economic stimulus.

It is with a heavy heart that I will have to bid the soldiers of Team Dealer and Dealer Company farewell.
I will be changing command in early November. Having taken command immediately following
the last deployment, I was granted the privilege of training the unit, bringing them over to Iraq, and
bringing them all through to this point. To command these men in combat has been the greatest honor of
my life. What these men have accomplished in a short period of time has been beyond my expectations.
The men of Dealer have performed and will continue to perform remarkably in every way. Dealer will
be returning to the Regular Battalion following change of command.

Continue to keep us in your thoughts and prayers, and God Bless.
DEALER 6, signing off the net. (For real this time.)

Killer 6

Killer 7

Hello All,
The end of October will be the Killers final days here at JSS Jihad.
As they say all good things must come to an end. We are passing the torch and our luxurious accommodations
to Charlie Company. 1SG Sparger and SSG Wells have been hard at work preparing the grounds for the
new occupants. It is my intent to leave them a clean and functional JSS. I want to hear their Soldiers say;
thank god the Engineers were here.

The Killers are going to shift focus from patrolling Muhallas to patrolling the roads. We are going to go
back to the familiar mission of Route Clearance out of FOB Falcon. The good news is the company will reassimilate
the Dog Pound Platoon to make us whole again. Just because we are shifting to a new mission doesn’t mean
we’ve slowed down in our AO. We have three generator projects going on right now in three muhallas.
We have been keeping busy monitoring the progress of the construction. Once complete the generators will power
over 20,000 homes. The residents are very excited, this means more hours of power for them.

We also have been monitoring the completion of restoring the Wharlan School. It was gutted and
rebuilt for the students. We hoped to have it done before school started, but were not so lucky.
The contractors were accommodating and worked around the kids. With the completion of these four projects
it is just one more step to bringing normalcy to Jihad.

On 17 October the Killers sponsored a big contest at the local NAC Hall. We put information out
through the local leaders that we were having a Banner Contest promoting the creation of signs stating
the people will turn in criminals to receive rewards for getting bad guys off the street.
The event was bigger than I had thought. In attendance was myself, General Baha of the 5-2 NP BDE,
COL Ali of the Iraqi Army BN, Sid Wasil of the NC, and Abu Ali the local SoI leader. The event opened with
a girl singing a prayer from the Koran. Then a group of girls stood up and sang songs of peace and how beautiful
Iraq is. One girl read a poem about her parents being killed by terrorists, there wasn’t a dry eye in the house.
The recital ended with a play. Two religious groups were having a gun battle. In the middle of the fight a
terrorist snuck up and planted an IED, the two groups stopped fighting and called the IA together.
Two girls representing the IA rushed on the scene, hand cuffed the bad guy, and hauled him away.
After the play General Baha and I judged the banners. First prize was $250, second was $175, and third
prize was $100. As I was handing out prize money, Black Sheep was busy handing out soccer balls,
soccer jerseys, and beanie babies. The event was a huge success.

The Killers have seen a lot of media over the past two months. Last month we had Stars and Stripes
and this month MSNBC sent a camera crew to interview us. MSNBC was very interested in the SoI transition
to government control. They got lucky and visited us on a SoI payday. They had the opportunity to interview myself,
1LT Staker, Sheik Jabar, and a SoI. Their piece was part of a larger story on the subject but that didn’t stop them
from getting over three hours of filming.

If you remember last month I challenged each platoon to conduct traffic control points (TCPs) to catch bad guys.
We didn’t catch anyone transporting weapons but we sure made them think twice about coming through Killer territory.
I think the platoons tied as far as the contest goes. The other positive is the Iraqi Army and Iraqi Police received
a lot of hands on training from the platoons.

With our transition to Route Clearance we must say good bye to the Black Sheep Platoon. They will rejoin
Charlie Company and continue to patrol Jihad. As far as Tankers go, these guys were among the best. It has been a
pleasure and honor to serve with them and we wish them the best of luck in their future missions. I think as they
leave us they have a better understanding of what it means to wear the castle on your collar.

Another busy month is coming to its end. In addition to patrols and the normal tasks, both line platoons
took a day to do refresher training at FOB Falcon. This training allowed them to enjoy the vehicle-roll-over trainer,
shoot their weapons, play in a simulator, and hear some words of wisdom from the Command
Sergeant Major. Sapper and Black Sheep had a chance to refresh and hone perishable individual skills
and collective tasks, which will pay dividends on missions.

Congratulations this month go to SGT Self, SPC Robinson, SPC Miller and SPC Tinsley for Re-Enlisting
and to PFC Ballard, SPC Soto, SPC Tinsley, SGT Hoover and SGT Stithem for being promoted.
I would also like to congratulate SFC Sutton for being selected for Master Sergeant; he is going to make a great
1SG in the near future.

I addressed the rumor mill last month on the future of the company. I am certain by now your Soldiers
have already informed you of their PCS availability or their required movement to FT Carson. As it stands,
most of us will be moving north with the unit. The easiest way not to move, if you’re on the list,
is to immediately re-enlist for choice of duty station, if it is available.

Please continue to provide outstanding support to your loved ones. They appreciate and need your devotion.
I would also like to wish Black Sheep well as they move from our team back to their parent company,
and we look forward to seeing Dog Pound. God Bless!
Engineers lead the way!
KILLER 7

Eliminator 6

Eliminator 7

Greetings again to our families and friends from Baghdad, Iraq.
Another month has come and gone and as usual I thank you for all your support and prayers.

October has been a whirl wind of a month and Halloween is upon us. Many of the Eliminators have
had the opportunity to take leave and spend some much needed time with loved ones. This past
month we focused our attention on re-certifying our soldiers on basic combat skills and daily procedures
to ensure they continue to operate like a well oiled machine. As always they continue to do a
fantastic job supporting the Battalion and all who ask for our help and advice. Last but not least the
leadership of this unit is fully engaged conducting all missions with safety first and foremost in
mind 24 hours a day.

Again we will highlight reflections from each platoon on how your Soldiers are making the
West Rashid District better each and every day. God bless you all and hope to see you soon.

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE FOLLOWING SOLDIERS WHO WERE RECENTLY PROMOTED:
SSG Ellison
SGT Dorough
SGT Mixon

Our Soldiers continue to do a wonderful job in support of our Battalion. Be it ordering the supplies,
making sure the radios work, or cooking the food we eat, our soldiers work many hours. During
their time off, these great Americans find ways to deal with the separation from their families and
being in a hostile zone. Some Soldiers work out at the gym, increasing not only their physical fitness,
but relieving stress as well. Others turn to other means to take their mind off the separation. Some soldiers
use video games, such as Madden 09, as a stress relief. Others turn to their talents, drawing is a
good example. We have some very artistic Soldiers in this unit. They have been asked to draw things for
the Battalion Commander and their peers as well. As the holidays approach, our Soldiers will continue
to use their skills and talents to relieve stress and continue to soldier on through the rest of the deployment

Hello once again from South Baghdad! We here in the Maintenance Platoon have been kicking butt as usual
supporting our Combat Arms comrades. In case you’re wondering, we smoked the ‘Raider Bayonet’ course
earlier this month. Your Soldiers did an outstanding job in all of the events they were presented with.
We have had a few Soldiers reenlist as well this past month.

SPC Jankow, SGT Ferguson, and SPC Wolf have all committed to staying Army Strong by continuing
to support their country in a time of war. SPC Mixon is now SGT Mixon. He was promoted a
couple of weeks ago and is doing a terrific job as a new NCO.

We have received a new fitness center here in our motor pool. Our Team Chief SFC Jackson was really excited
to get that up and running for his Soldiers. It’s a great stress reliever and it will help maintain fitness within our platoon.
Well that’s it for now fellow Eliminators! We will have some more good news next month when we talk again!

The month of October has been yet another successful month in this current deployment for Distro
Platoon, E FSC 1-22 Infantry Battalion. E FSC has seen a steady stream of motivated Soldiers from Distro
Platoon re-enlisting based off of a healthy influence from working within the platoon. Recent reenlistments
include SFC Garcia, SSG Norton, SPC Dietrich, SPC Clark, SPC Wienk, SPC Mata, and the
newly promoted SPC Santana. Day in and day out, Distro Platoon has quickly and efficiently loaded
cargo trucks, which are frequently subjected to thorough maintenance checks, in order to properly supply
the infantry companies of 1-22 positioned at various Combat Out Posts with multiple classes of supplies,
food, water, laundry, and mail.

The morale has recently received an additional boost from the team oriented encouragement of meeting
and exceeding the P.T. standards, which is exercised several mornings during platoon physical training.
“Same team, same fight”, the company motto, is more than just that in Distro Platoon. It is an attitude
displayed daily in the continual teamwork, in order to rise above the standard and get the mission completed.
With the high level of motivation, morale, and team work, Distro Platoon continues the deployment
with yet another victorious month.

Riddle of the Month:
What’s the only word in the English language with three consecutive double letters?
Answer in next month’s issue:
Last month’s riddle:
Think of words ending in -GRY. Angry and hungry are two of them. There are only three words in the
English language. What is the third word? The word is something that everyone uses every day. If you
have listened carefully, I have already told you what it is.
Answer: Language (Ignore the first two sentences. They are only present to distract you.)

Leadership Quote of the Month:
“The only disability in life is a bad attitude.” - Scott Hamilton
As always, please continue to pray for us and show your support and we will do the same.
“SAME TEAM, SAME FIGHT”…..Eliminator 6 out!