Deep Attack Holiday Newsletter

1. DEEP ATTACK
Newsletter
Volume 1, Issue 1 2 December 2011
DEEP ATTACK Family And Friends
the opportunity to compete in a similar
event (“Leader Gut Check”) in early De-
cember as each Battery will field a 4 x Inside this issue:
person team for the competition.
In early November, the Commanding Gen-
eral recognized five of our FRG volunteers Battalion Commander Greeting 1
for outstanding service. Congratulations
to these individuals! Headquarters Battery 2
We planned and resourced a Holiday Run/
Walk (23 November) with the purpose of
Alpha Battery Live Fire 2
raising money for charity and less fortu-
Much has happened since the publication nate Soldiers within our formation. In
of our last news letter this past summer. December, we will execute a Holiday Party Bravo Battery Deployment 3-4
Since then, we deployed elements of B/2- for the Battalion (9 Dec) and then enjoy a
4 FA and C/2-4 FA to Afghanistan and wel- well deserved ½ day and block leave pe-
Charlie Battery Deployment 5-6
comed home several B/2-4 FA elements riod. Coming out of the Holidays, we will
redeploying from both Iraq and Afghani- have a short period in Garrison and then
stan. I can tell you that CSM Poindexter roll to the field in mid January to execute a 696 Forward Support Company 7
and I are in close with the B/2-4 FA and two week Battalion FTX. In early February,
C/2-4 FA command teams and both units we will celebrate Saint Barbara’s Day and
then in late February, the majority of the Greetings from the new FRSA 7
continue to excel in theater. We should
all be extremely proud of what our de- Battalion will deploy to the National Train-
ployed units are doing in support of their ing Center located at Fort Irwin, California.FRSA Updates 8
nation. I am also happy to announce that we have
On the home front here at Fort Sill, we a new Family Readiness Support Assistant
National Training Center 8
conducted two Battalion FTXs and a Bat- (Ms Danika Florence) who is now on board
talion Range Week in the fall as we at- and doing great work for the Battalion.
tempt to hone our MLRS skills in order to In closing, I just want to wish all of you a Battalion Command Sergeant 9
remain ready to deploy if called to do so. Happy Holidays and I cannot emphasize Major Greeting
All officers got to go through the Brigade enough how proud we are to be serving
Commander’s “Leader Gauntlet” in Sep- with such an outstanding group of men
tember which was a test of individual and women who make up the Deep Attack
toughness and perseverance. I’m happy Battalion. They are a very special group of
to announce that Outlaw 6 (CPT Frank individuals who are committed to the lar-
Messina) took the Top Performer award ger Team.
(Go Outlaws!). Enlisted Soldiers will have

2. Volume 1, Issue 1 Page 2
Headquarter Battery
By: Cpt. Applebaum
The past few months were an exciting eral Soldiers found all their points in both voyed out to Quanah range and trained
and trying time for HHB. In September the day and night, while others realized on High Intensity Conflict tactics in
the Battery participated in Operation why their spouses make fun of them preparation for the NTC rotation in FEB/
Arracourt, a BN FTX designed to test out when they have a map! October also saw March. December promises one last Bat-
systems, procedures, and the abilities of the Hard Chargers qualify on both indi- tery FTX before the Holiday Block Leave
your Soldiers. The Battery was very suc- vidual and crew served weapons. Addi- period begins. Following the new year
cessful fulfilling the mission of ensuring tionally the Battery ran the M16 qualifi- the Hard Chargers can look forward to an
that the BN was able to C2 and certify cation range for the rest of the BN, facili- increased OP Tempo with another BN
the Alpha Battery live fire. October saw tating the rest of the Deep Attack BN’s FTX in January followed by the NTC rota-
the Hard Chargers exercise their land qualification. In November HHB rolled tion in late February early March.
navigation skills on a very challenging out as part of the BN’s in support of op-
course for the monthly Battery FTX. Sev- eration Daring Warrior. The Battery con-
Alpha Battery Live Fire
By: 1LT James Jenning
morning of the event personnel from Battery’s Launcher, Fire Direction Cen-
168 BSB saturated the firing point with ter and their respective crews during
water to reduce the risk of a brush fire. the event. TCU will display this media
The two launchers each shot an At My on the big screen during the halftime
Command, When Ready and Time on show when they face Colorado State on
Target mission. This Live Fire Shoot was November 19, 2011.
unique in that Alpha Battery’s Platoon
Operation Center was able to command
and control every aspect of the live fire.
On November 02, 2011 Alpha Battery
participated in another MLRS Live Fire
Shoot during Operation Daring Warrior.
Daring Warrior was a 214th Fires Brigade
After re-task organization and months of Operation that involved Members of the
reintegration reset, Alpha Battery trained, Singapore Armed Forces. This was the
certified and qualified two MLRS Launcher third year in a row that Fort Sill has
crews and one Fire Direction Center crew hosted Singapore to train on their HI-
which resulted in a successful completion MARS launchers. Alpha Battery also
of MLRS firing tables. This occurred during trained and certified a new launcher
the Battalion Live Fire Exercise in Septem- crew during this exercise led by SSG
ber. The Exercise occurred during the burn Dewitt who just redeployed from Af-
ban so special precautions took place. The ghanistan in Operation Enduring Free-
firing point was covered with gravel and dom on August 6, 2011. Members of
the Texas Christian University were with Al-
pha on the Firing Point videotaping the

3. Page 3 DEEP ATTACK Newsletter
Bravo Battery Deployment
CPT Barnett
Your Soldiers here in Afghanistan continue to do great things. We have just redeployed the last section from Iraq, who
made it just in time to celebrate Thanksgiving in Lawton. The HQ element is hitting the half way point and the radar sections are
getting close to their half way points. I visited with SSG Deaton’s section for Thanksgiving. His crew is doing great things. The Bat-
talion Commander at that camp told me they were amongst the most professional Soldiers on his camp. 1SG took care of the Sol-
diers on KAF for Thanksgiving, eating with a group in the dining facility, and attending SSG Soper’s section group dinner at their
radar site. We are entering the Holiday Season. We will have a Holiday Party here for all the Soldiers. Myself and 1SG will get out
to see the Soldiers on the other camps to share some holiday cheer. I would like to extend a congratulations to SGT Sachs, SGT
Towner and SGT Hill, SPC Garcia and their families. These four great leaders will be promoted on the 1 st of December. 1SG Ball and
myself continue to be here for all the battery’s families. CPT Frank Messina and SFC Alan Muilenburg continue to do an out-
standing job of taking care of Bravo in the rear and are also available if you have any concerns.
1SG Ball
The Bulldogs are at it again. The month of November was a huge success for our Charity runs. Between SFC Collazo’s
Breast Cancer Awareness and SGT Paul’s Run for the Fallen on Veteran’s Day, we raised just over $10,000. Numerous hours of vol-
unteering are involved in making these events successful and the Bulldog Soldiers are raking in the hours every month.
SGT Black’s hard work and dedication to excellence will pay off on 9 December as he will be inducted into the prestigious Sergeant
Audie Murphy Club. When he started studying with other candidates, there were over twenty-five NCOs competing with him. One
by one they either dropped because of the mental strain or eliminated at one of the three board appearances. He did not falter
and he did not fail. We are all proud to call him a Bulldog!
The push for education and knowledge are finally starting to show the positive outcomes. SPC Whalen was promoted to Sergeant
effective 1 November and now we hear that SGT Hill, SGT Towner, and SGT Sachs just made the points cut off and selected for the
rank of Staff Sergeant effective 1 December. To add to that, SPC Garcia made the Bulldog presence known at the promotion board
earlier this month and received huge props from the 82 nd Airborne CSM for crushing every other attendee. SPC Garcia also made
the points cut off and will be promoted to Sergeant effective 1 December.

4. Page 4 Newsletter Title
Bravo Deployment
Continue
Section 1 Section 2 Section 3 Section 4
Section 5 Section 6 Section 7 Section 8
This month is has been another busy one. We are have lost a valuable mem-
ber of the team SSG Soto, and welcome another one SGT Carney. Everyone
passed their APFT and met the challenge of the leadership with flying colors.
SPC Johnson and SPC Bullock will be attending the DEC promotion board, SGT
Pineau and SGT Carney are working hard to ensure they do well. CW2 (P) Car-
gill celebrated his 33rd birthday. SFC Escoffery “Esco”, SGT Pineau and SPC
Bullock were recognized by Research Development Engineer Command
(RDECOM) OIC and NCOIC with Certificates of Achievement for outstanding
support of their mission.

5. Volume 1, Issue 1 Page 5
Charlie Battery deployment
Since our touchdown in-country try. Improving detention and prison
at the end of the summer, we hit the facilities, implementing dialogue
ground running to complete our RSOI and courses furthering women’s
(Reception, Staging, Onward movement, rights through local universities, and
and Integration) requirements so we providing local police forces with
could push out to our respected locations better forensic technology were just
and begin our mission with ROLFF-A (Rule a few of the projects we were in-
of Law Field Force-Afghanistan). ROLFF- volved with. We also worked with
A’s primary mission is to help provide the chief of police at both the dis-
essential field capabilities and security to
trict and provincial levels teaching
partnered Afghan and coalition and mili- them how to track criminals and
tary rule of law project teams in order to keep proper records, and alongside
build Afghan criminal justice capacity, chief prosecutors and appellate
increase access to dispute resolution ser- court judges assessing their infra-
vices, fight corruption, and promote le- structure needs and following im-
gitimacy of the Afghan government. It portant trials and cases that could
Charlie Battery, 2-4 FAR (214 FiB) was our job to provide that invaluable set precedence for the future judi-
has represented Fort Sill/Team Sill, Okla- security piece so that together we could cial system in Afghanistan. Though
homa with great pride. Though proud Red establish a legitimate government in we were having an impact and had
Legs, and trained to be proficient in our some of the more remote parts of Af- begun to develop a battle rhythm,
METL task of shooting, moving, and com- ghanistan. With our RSOI training com- our flexibility was about to be put to
municating within the realms of MLRS, plete and our flights scheduled to sepa- the test once again.
“The Rock” as we call ourselves, relished rate our Battery of 141 men into seven The Green Machine called
the opportunity to prove that we are the separate locations, we were poised for us back to our starting point at Ba-
most versatile MOS in the entire army. In a success. gram Airfield for re-assignment.
remarkable amount of time we re-classed In a short period of time the pla-Arriving in stages and warn out from
and trained up as a mechanized infantry toons began to do what they were our journey, we maintained high
unit to deploy in support of OEF trained to do, accomplishing the mission morale, recognizing that it was our
(Operation Enduring Freedom- Afghani- across the country—as far as Kandahar in duty to accomplish the needs of the
stan). Becoming the first Battery at Fort the south, Herat and Badghis in the west, Army. We were tasked to replace
Sill to train on MRAPS and MATVS; Charlie Khowst in the east, and Mazar-I-Sharif in our Navy and Army MP counter-
Battery proved that an artillery man can the North; while small in numbers we parts with the assignment of Force
become as fine an infantry man as any in were having a big impact. Each platoon Protection and Base Defense for a
the United States Army— executing Battle operated autonomously under the lead- LSA (Life Support Area) with over
Drill 1A (Infantry Squad Battle Lane) and ership of their platoon leader and pla- 7000 personnel. More specifically
Battle Drill 6A (Entering and Clearing a toon sergeant always maintaining “The safe-guarding the perimeter with
building) flawlessly. Rock” standard. We reported daily to our QRF (Quick Reaction Force) ele-
It was a rigorous train up, with Commander to give him a full-spectrum ments, controlling the ECP (Entry
many hours spent in the field building con- operational view and to provide essential Control Point) that provides access
fidence in our junior enlisted soldiers, intelligence to further the success of the to thousands of Local Nationals and
NCO’s, and officers-- becoming a cohesive mission. ANA (Afghan National Army) per-
team of leaders that could accomplish any sonnel on a daily basis, and main-
mission. With the mindset that “hard is Although our mission was pri- taining security within the perime-
the road and pain is the way” we surged marily the security piece, our undertak- ter at all times.
forward to be the hardest most physically ings were none the less rewarding.
and mentally tough fighting force on the Working alongside Department of State
battlefield, one that the enemy would con- personnel and Afghan national leaders--
sider to be an ardent foe. both military and civilian, we toiled to
better the justice system across the coun-

6. Page 6 DEEP ATTACK Newsletter
Charlie Battery deployment Continue:
Afghan National Army) per- Though we are far from home and
sonnel on a daily basis, and main- are fulfilling a very dynamic mission;
taining security within the perime- we want it to be known that Charlie
ter at all times. Battery, as Artillerymen or not, can
Working alongside our new counter- accomplish any mission. “Rock
parts we continue to set the stan- Steady”.
dard, quickly winning over the trust
of our higher elements. Vigilantly
we look for ways to maximize our
capabilities and add to the fight.
Most recently we were given con-
trol of “Operation Pencil” whose
purpose is to provide local schools
with supplies. We are also in the
process of becoming the security
element that escorts key players
and VIPs throughout Parwan prov-
ince. Though we are far from home
and are fulfilling a very dynamic mis-
sion; we want it to be known that
Charlie Battery, as Artillerymen or
not, can accomplish any mission.

7. Volume 1, Issue 1 Page 7
696 Forward Support Company
By: Cpt. Reasoner
The 696 FSC FRG of 2-4 Field Artillery Battalion has been very busy
lately trying to make the holiday season extra special. We recently participated
in the post wide Haunted Trail event held on OCT 28 in order to raise money
and let others in the community know who we were and what the FRG program
is about. The FRG did a bake sale in conjunction with free activities for children
10 and under. 696 FSC FRG will also be participating in the upcoming Battalion
Christmas Party on Dec. 9 and we are also doing gift wrapping at the PX on post
during the holiday season in order to raise money for our program on 8 Dec.
The last event for the year will be an FRG meeting held on Dec. 13 at 1630 in
order to introduce the incoming commander CPT Jeremy Wulf and his family to
the company.
Greeting From the New FRSA
Hi, I am Ms. Florence, the new 2-4 BN FRSA. I am excited about being here and be-
coming a part of such a wonderful staff. I have been in the military for 11 years and recently
decided that although the army has been good to me, it was time for me to move onto my
next destination. I’ve accomplished so much during that time and ultimately have proven to
myself that I could in fact succeed as a Soldier and serve my country. Since then, I have
moved on to accomplish many other goals and dreams, to include being able to continue my
service by assisting and supporting the soldiers and their families. I truly care about what
families endure when their loved ones are deployed. The fact that I am a soldier at heart and
have traveled those roads myself helps me to do this job with passion. You can be confident
in the fact that our soldiers and their families are guided and provided with the tools and re-
sources they will need in order to manage these very difficult times. I look forward to meet-
ing all of you in the near future. In closing, I often hear that some people view the FRG Pro-
gram as unnecessary and try to steer clear of any involvement. However, I plan to be a criti-
cal piece as to why your opinion will change over time into a more positive outlook on the
program. The need for FRSA’s and the FRG Leadership is great in demand. It is critical that
your families have this support system in place. Therefore, I am here for you and together as
a team we can improve on how we can best communicate with each other and most impor-
tantly, how we can best serve our soldiers and their families.

8. Page 8 DEEP ATTACK Newsletter
FRSA Update
By: Danika Florence
2-4 Family Readiness Meeting HHB:
Alpha/Bravo BTRY:  14 Dec 11 (Gift wrapping) at the PX (9am-
 12 Dec 11 Barbecue Fundraiser @ Motorpool 1pm)
 14 Dec 11 (Gift Wrapping )at the PX (9am-1pm)
 14 Dec 11 FRG meeting/Family Fun Night Bowling
(Alpha/Bravo) 1800-2000 Birthdays: December
Charlie BTRY:
SFC Martinez
 No FRG meeting in Dec
 26 Nov 11 (Gift Wrapping) at the PX (5pm-9pm) 24 Dec
 23 Dec 11 (Gift Wrapping) at the PX (1pm-5pm)
696 FSC:
 8 Dec 11 (Gift Wrapping) at the PX (9am-1pm)
 13 Dec FRG meeting at 1600 (BDE FRG Rm)
National Training Center Deployment
By: 1LT Tyler Walls
The “Deep Attack” Battalion the challenges of the Battalion systems and test the endur-
will conduct operations in the a NTC rota- ance of each individual Soldier in a mock
Mojave Desert at the National tion.Since the fall NTC scenario.” Immediately following
Training Center (NTC) at Fort of 2011, the Bat- the January field exercise the Battalion
Irwin, CA between the 26th of talion has pre- will shift focus from training the unit to
February to the 27th of March pared for the up- preparing for operations and the move-
2012. During the NTC Rotation coming rotation ment of approximately 150 Soldiers to
12-05, the Battalion will rein- by conducting Fort Irwin. The Battalion is looking for-
force the 1st Battalion, 10th multiple field and ward to proving the competence and
Field Artillery Regiment of 3rd live fire exercises. commitment of our Soldiers with 3-3 ID
Brigade Combat Team, 3rd In- In January, the against the nation’s premier training cen-
fantry Division out of Fort Ben- Battalion will go ter.
ning, GA. Out of all the Battal- through a 10 day
ions in the 214th Fires Brigade, culminating train-
the “Deep Attack” Battalion was specifi- ing exercise at Fort Sill. According to the
cally chosen due to the Battalion’s high Battalion Assistant S3; Captain Stires, the
level of readiness and ability to handle goal of the field exercise is to “stress all of

9. Volume 1, Issue 1 Page 9
DEEP ATTACK Family And Friends
As the year closes out, I would like to wish all the “Deep Attack” Family a Happy Holiday. This year has been a busy year
for the battalion through training and preparing our Soldiers to deploy in support of Operation New Dawn and Operation Endur-
ing Freedom. Early this year the battalion executed a robust training plan which culminated in an off-post exercise at White
Sands, New Mexico which honed our skills as Artillerymen and prepared our Soldiers for any non-standard mission the Army may
ask of us. Upon receiving our missions of supporting Radar operations and a Motorized Rifle Company, the tempo of the training
accelerated to make sure that we certified and qualified in all tasks necessary for our Soldiers to be successful during their de-
ployment. It took the entire efforts of this battalion to make that happen. Shortly after the Soldiers from Bravo and Charlie de-
ployed, HHB, Alpha and FSC got after certifying and qualifying in their core competencies so that we could create combat power
with the Soldiers we had remaining in the battalion. It wasn’t easy, but your Soldiers did a phenomenal job of pulling it together,
assessing their units, employing their capabilities and accomplishing the mission.
In just the last few months, we have had over 60 Soldiers return from deployments. We were very happy that they all returned
home safe and are looking forward to getting them reintegrated so we can put them back to work. It is always good for us to
have newly deployed Soldiers return from combat so that we can use their knowledge and skills as we prepare our Soldiers for
future missions. The reintegration process assist in developing consistency and normal routines which really help Soldiers get
accustom to life back to normal. Most of these Soldiers have returned home to a new unit, so the reintegration process will be
good for them and the change will give them new challenges to look forward to. The key to their successful integration is devel-
oping relationships that have been placed on hold for a year as they move back into the normal functionality of their families.
As we close in on the end of the year, let’s all keep all of our deployed Soldiers and their Families in our thoughts and prayers.
Being away from family and friends during this time of the year is always difficult, but luckily enough for our Soldiers deployed,
they have each other to rely on. God bless you all, and may you have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Attack 7