Graduation Announcement

May 20, 2006

Friends and Family of Delta Battery (Rock Hard!), This will be my final email, as the next time you hear from me it will be at the Family Day brief on Thursday. Your Soldiers did an amazing job out at the Week 8 FTX, and we could not be prouder of them. They persevered through the toughest training we could throw at them, and have come out dedicated, professional, and strong. During the Week 8 FTX they were on the move constantly, getting minimal sleep and a whole lot of excitement. They engaged "the enemy" at night and in daytime, in thick vegetation and on open plains, and simulated urban environments. They also participated in a Convoy Live Fire, engaging targets from a moving vehicle. We closed out the Week 8 FTX with a 10K road march and the Rights of Passage ceremony where we announced the Louis Birtz recipient (overall most outstanding Soldier, voted on by all Drill Sergeants and Cadre). He will be announced separately at Graduation. 10 of your Soldiers were also selected to be the FT Sill representatives at a lunch with the Under Secretary of the Army, the Commanding General, the Brigade Commander, and the Battalion Commander. They were an outstanding example of the terrific Soldiers that they have become. We finished our Week 8 by running in a 5 Kilometer run celebrating Armed Forces Day. It was a highly motivating event, and our Soldiers proudly showed off their stuff. At the Family Day lunch, we will recognize both the Battery Combatives champions and also the 5 Soldiers who will receive Meritorious Promotions to E-2 (they do not know this, and will be a surprise for all). As always, we truly appreciate the opportunity to train the finest Soldiers in the United States Army, and wish you all a safe trip to graduation. Please feel free to call the numbers below with any questions.

May 13, 2006

Good Evening Friends and Families of Delta Battery (Rock Hard)! I will be sending out one more email after this one, and want to again thank you for the support you are showing our Nation's finest Soldiers. Your letters, care packages (yes, they are allowed to eat the cookies!), and kind words when they call home are a big part of them being the best Soldiers in FT Sill, bar none. We could not be any prouder of them, and know that you are as well. This week your Soldiers participated in a Post Retirement Ceremony honoring one of our former 1SG's, as well as a lot of other phenominal Patriot's. We feel that it is important for your Soldiers to be part of these events as it ties the present and past together. That they did it on the Old Post Quadrangle of FT Sill was even more inspiring, as the OPQ has seen ceremonies of all types for 137 years. On Saturday, we started our Week 8 FTX with a 15 Kilometer (9.3 mile) Road March. Your Soldiers displayed the toughness that has become synonymous with BCT Class 16-06. We will finish our training here on Thursday 18 May with a 10 Kilometer (6.2 mile) Road March and our Rights of Passage Ceremony. For photos this week, I am only sending out 12 pictures. They are pictures of all your Soldiers with the members of their Squads. Take care of yourselves, and I look forward to seeing you in 12 days.

May 6, 2006

Good Afternoon Friends and Family of Delta Battery (Rock Hard)! It is now getting to be the time that your Soldiers are preparing for their last two weeks of Basic Combat Training. They are now in Blue Phase, the final phase of BCT. It has been an exciting adventure thus far, and we will ensure that the next two weeks stay at the same high tempo. The Cadre here could not be more proud of the efforts of your Soldiers. This week was a physically demanding one, and your Soldiers were up to the challenge. We started the week with the Combat Ocstacle Course (COC), which was a rigorous day of training to say the least as your Soldiers negotiated some tough pieces of equipment. At the COC they learned to manuever their bodies up ladders, up and down towers, and over and around log obstacles. Physically, it is one of the more challenging days of training. Your Soldiers were also filmed by the Discover Channel during this day as part of a documentary on Basic Training. If I find out an air-time, I will let everyone know even if it is after graduation. On Tuesday this week your Soldiers received Rifle Bayonet Training (RBT), in which they learned how to use their M16A2 as a weapon...without the benefit of ammunition. The training included both a static portion, where they learned to engage a target, as well as the RBT Assault course. During the course, one of the Soldiers, PVT Matthew Nix, was so motivated he broke the shoulder stock of not one, but 2 M16A2s! After having seen over 500 Soldiers in the last year, it was a first for us. Your Soldiers concluded RBT by fighting each other with Pugel Sticks, padded sticks that allowed them the opportunity to test their skills on each other. Wednesday was arguably the hardest day of training that your Soldiers have yet experienced. We started with a 12 kilometer road march at 5 a.m. and concluded our last group on the firing line at 11:30 p.m. During the day and into the night, your Soldiers received familiarization training at US Weapons. It is where they learn to use some of the heavier weapons in the arsenal of the US Soldier such as the M18A1 Claymore Mine, the M203 40mm Grenade Launcher, the M136 AT-4 (a shoulder launched anti-tank rocket), and the M249 and M240B machine guns. Your Soldiers also fired the M249 and M240B machine guns at night, which was a first at FT Sill. On Thursday, your Soldiers took part in the Re-Enlistment Ceremony of SFC (Drill Sergeant) Prince from 1st Platoon "Mad Dogs". DS Prince requested that he re-enlist in front of the whole Battery, as your Soldiers are the reason we are here, and the reason that he has chosen to Serve the last 15 years of his life. On Saturday we spent the entire day on Combatives. The conclusion of the training will be a battery competition where the platoons pick their champions. The winners of the weight classes will be announced on Family Day. The upcoming weeks will see the completion of your Soldiers' training. On Thursday, your Soldiers will take their final Physical Training test (PT), which they have been preparing for the last 7 weeks of training. Next Saturday, we will be starting the Week 8 Field Training Exercise (FTX) with a 15km road march. During this time they will be putting together all the tactical knowledge they have gained into a week long training event. One of these events we will be conducting is the last of our live fire exercises...the Convoy Live Fire Exercise. The Week 8 FTX events mark the culmination of BCT, at least as far as training goes, and will end with a Rights of Passage Ceremony upon which your Soldiers will be formally welcomed into this profession of arms. Graduation week will be a flurry of activity, as we prepare your Soldiers for Family Day, Graduation, and shipping to AIT. Family Day (25 May) will consist of activities from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and will close with most of the Soldiers being able to take a pass with their families and loved ones. Graduation (26 May) will start at 2:30 p.m. Your Soldiers will be given the opportunity to reserve and/or pay for tickets to the lunch that will follow the Family Day activities at the Battery. Next weeks email will have a lot more details on graduation, as well as a digital copy of the Graduation Letter.

Take care, and we look forward to seeing you on 25 May!

April 29, 2006

Good Afternoon Friends and Family of Delta Battery (Rock Hard)! In the last newsletter I sent we were in the middle of our second straight week of training with no break. I am proud to say that your soldiers really perservered through some tough training/challenges and we are finally about to enjoy our first light day of training before we pick it back up hard for Week 6 on Monday, the 1st of May. Last week you heard about your soldiers' first experiences shooting and qualifying with the M16A2 Rifle during Basic Rifle Marksmanship (BRM). At the start of this week we took it one step further with Advanced Rifle Marksmanship (ARM). During this training your soldiers used some of the Army's newest gear to improve on the skills they learned duing BRM and allowed them to build confidence and awareness of how effective they can really be while shooting at a small target on small paper. Mid way through the week your soldiers learned and performed the actions for Reflexive Fire Training. This is the first time your soldiers fired their rifle while in the standing position. They learned the proper firing techniques from this position as well as how to quickly identify and fire on their target. They repeated this same exercise that night, receiving their first experience with Night Optics and learning that we are just as dangerous in the dark of the night as we are during the day. We then went on to teach your soldiers how to move in 3-5 second Buddy Rushes as well as move and operate tactically as a squad sized element. Yesterday your soldiers had the distinct pleasure and fun of throwing two live M67 Fragmentation Grenades, as well as completing a 7 station course which instructed them on different positions and situations in which they would throw a Grenade. This morning we concluded this long stretch of training with their second Basic Physical Fitness Test (BPFT). I am very excited to say that we saw significant increases in all the soldiers performances compared to their scores on the first BPFT. They continue to push themselves to the max every morning during physical training (PT) and it is shows. The soldiers that finished on top of their platoons were - First Platoon : PVT Ronald Dawson scoring a 247/300, Second Platoon : PVT Anthony Williams scoring a 286/300 and Third Platoon : PVT Jeremie Vanek scoring a 283/300. PVT Anthony Williams' score of 286 gives him the high score for our Battery. Those soldiers that were able to score above a 60 percent in all three events (push-ups, sit-ups and the 2 mile run) have the added bonus of earning themselves a 6 hour pass tomorrow in which they are free from us for that time and are allowed to travel anywhere within the confines of Ft. Sill. This upcoming week will hold a variety of different training events for your soldiers. They will start the week with a Confidence Obstacle Course, as well as continue to increase their knowledge of some of the different weapon systems the Army has to offer for the remainder of the week. On behalf our your soldiers, I would like to thank you for your continued support and dedication to our mission and as always keep the mail coming for this great young men. Thank you for your time and have a terrific week!

April 23, 2006

Good Afternoon Friends and Family of Delta Battery (Rock Hard)! I am sending you this in the middle of a 2 straight week training cycle...Easter Sunday was our last day "off" and we will not have another until next Sunday. Of course, your Soldiers continue to impress the Cadre here with their perseverance, professionalism, and dedication to their sense of duty. We are now at the half-way point of Basic Training, and your Soldiers are definitely coming into their own. Graduation is starting to loom, and will be here before you know it. Our Family Day/Graduation schedule has not changed...10 a.m. for Family Day on the 25th of May (in the Battery area, BLDG 5970 here at FT Sill, followed by the Family Day lunch at the FT Sill Patriot Club), and Graduation on the 26th of May at FT Sill's Sheridan Theatre at 2:30 p.m. You should be receiving a packet with much more detailed info in about 2 weeks via regular mail, and I will be sending out the same packet directly via email. This week, we concluded Basic Rifle Marksmanship, with over 96% of the Soldiers qualifying on their M16A2. We had two Soldiers qualify Expert, PV2 Zachary Baker from 3rd Platoon (Nightstalkers) was our High BRM with 38 out of a possible 40, and PV2 Ryan Clerkin from 2nd Platoon (Wolf Pack) with a 36. Nightstalkers were also awarded the BRM streamer for having the highest overall BRM score. We also conducted a 4 day FTX, where your Soldiers slept in the field for the first time, perfecting their fieldcraft and learning how to conduct themselves for long periods in a tactical environment. Saturday, we also had 8 Soldiers compete in the Field Artillery Training Center combatives "Smoker". Combatives, simply put, is what we teach the Soldiers to do if they ever have to engage the enemy in hand to hand combat. Although our Soldiers were only in their 4th week of training, and they were competing against Soldiers who were a minimum of 4 weeks (and in some cases 4 months) ahead of ours in training, we still had 3 Soldiers make it to the Semi-finals and one Soldier, PVT Anthony Williams (won 2nd place in his weight class), make it to the finals. In order to compete, they were personally trained by our best combatives instructor, DS Christopher Tharp. We are enormously proud of them. Our team was: PFC Christopher Beard, PVT Ronald Dawson, PV2 Kenneth Haskey, PFC Michael Jenkins, PFC Casey Keltner, PFC William Scott, SPC Carlos Trujillo, and PVT Anthony Williams. The upcoming week will be extremely busy, as we transition to Advanced Rifle Marksmanship (ARM), where your Soldiers learn to use some of the newest gear the Army has, as well as build on the skills they learned during BRM. We will conclude the training week with Hand Grenades, where your Soldiers will not only earn their 2nd qualification badge, they will also get to throw 2 live M67 Fragmentation Grenades. On Saturday, your Soldiers will take another PT test, and for those that score at least 60% in each event, they will be allowed a 6 hour pass on Sunday. Continue to send your Soldiers mail, as it makes the time pass more quickly and keeps them focused on the task at hand. We look forward to meeting all of you in May.

April 15, 2006

Hello Friends and Family of Delta (Rock Hard)! I would first of all like to say thank you for the continued support you show your Soldiers through mail. Receiving those positive letters at the end of a long day of training is a terrific boost in your Soldiers' morale. Continue sending them! This week was a great week for training. The warm weather has finally arrived, and we are now regularly in the 90's. Prevention of Heat injuries is one of our top priorites, and we attack the problem from many angles. Hydration is important, and regularly stressed, but we also focus on nutrition, adequate rest (we aim for 8 hours of sleep per day), and the importance of the Battle Buddy system. We started out the week with classes on how to use the SINCGARS (Single Channel Ground and Airborne Radio System) radio and proper radio procedures. Our next training event was Land Navigation, where they applied the knowledge that they had gained in the classroom. Your Soldiers did well, and were able to meet or exceed the standards consistently...they also assisted when one of the Battery's vehicles became mired in the mud! On Wednesday, your Soldiers participated in the CCC (Combat Confidence Course), where they spent the better part of the day crossing rivers, climbing ropes, and negotiating obstacles. It was also the first of the Platoon competition events, where the winning Platoon gets "bragging rights" and is also awarded the first streamer on their phase banner. 1st Platoon (Mad Dogs), represented by PFC Ervin Williams and PV2 Joseph Tortorici, took the event with a winning time of 4:31 (27 seconds faster than the next competitor). 1st Platoon went on that day to compete in and win the Distinguished Marching Unit streamer for their outstanding D&C (Drill and Ceremony) skills. 2nd and 3rd Platoons now have their work cut out for them to start getting some streamers! Regardless of who won the streamers, you can be proud of the efforts that your Soldiers are putting into Basic Training...I know that we are. Thursday and Friday were spent out on the range, where your Soldiers began applying the Fundamentals of Marksmanship (steady position, aiming, breath control, and trigger squeeze) that they have been learning in their time here at FT Sill. They will continue doing BRM (Basic Rifle Marksmanship) and ARM (Advanced Rifle Marksmanship) for the next two weeks, culminating with qualifying on their M16A2 rifle. In the next week, we will be spending some time at the FOB (Forward Operating Base) while we conduct BRM. We will spend several days and nights in the field, teaching your Soldiers fieldcraft. We will also be taking part in a Combatives "Smoker" in which several of our Soldiers will compete with Soldiers from other units utilizing the hand to hand combat skills that they have learned. We expect to place in each weight class, and have no doubt that our presence will be known. I will be sending out highlights and pictures out with next weeks email. A lot of folks have been requesting information on local airports, hotels, etc. The two closest airports to FT Sill is Lawton Municipal Airport (airport code LAW) and Will Rogers World Airport (airport code OKC). If you fly in to Lawton, FT Sill is about 8 miles away, whereas if you fly into Oklahoma City, it is around a one hour trip. For local hotels, you can book through any of the internet services using Lawton Oklahoma as the city, or if you would like to try and stay on post, visit the FT Sill Lodging link at www.sillmwr.com/lodging.htm. I cannot make specific recommendations but know that Lawton has quite a bit of good lodging available. Take care and have a terrific week!

April 8, 2006

Good Morning Friends and Family of Delta Battery (Rock Hard)!

    Another great week of training has come and gone, and the Soldiers of BCT class 16-06 continue to do an outstanding job for their country.  We started out the week with a 5 Kilometer (3.1 mile) road march.  This was the first road march that your Soldiers did in full gear, and they accomplished it to the high standard that we are coming to realize is the norm for this terrific group of young Americans.  At the conclusion of the road march, your Soldiers went through Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear (CBRN) training where they learned how to use their protective equipment and operate tactically with it on.  The conclusion of this training is the "Gas Chamber", where your Soldiers gain confidence in the protective nature of their equipment by seeing how they feel with it on in a simulated contaminated enviornment...and then take it off to see how they feel without it.  The chemical that we use is 0-chlorobenzalmalononitrile, commonly referred to as CS.  It causes an immediate reaction, but wears off quickly and is otherwise not hazardous.

    The next major event your Soldiers accomplished this week was a small Field Training Exercise (FTX) where your Soldiers learned various First Aid skills...skills that may come in quite useful in the future, and may save someone's life.  Your Soldiers learned how to treat and transport a battle buddy if they were to become wounded or injured.  It was a challenging day, but knowing they may have to use these skills in a combat environment helped motivate and inspire them to completed it to standard. 

    Your Soldiers also participated in the Army Pride Demonstration, where they get to see the weapons that they will be training on as well as Soldiers demontrating many of the skills that they will learn in their time here at FT Sill.

    This morning, your Soldiers participated in their first Basic Physical Fitness Test (BPFT).  The BPFT consists of 2 minutes of push ups, 2 minutes of sit-ups, and concludes with a 2 mile run.  It was a nice day for PT, if a little windy, and your Soldiers did well.  Passing the BPFT with a minimum score of 150 (50 points in each event) is a graduation requirement.  The top performers this morning were PFC Chad Whiteneck (243 points) for 1st Platoon, SPC Thomas Smith & PVT Anthony Williams (228 points) for 2nd Platoon, and SPC Carlos Trujillo (263 points) for 3rd Platoon.  Congrats to these fine Soldiers.

    Next week, your Soldiers will be getting trained on Communications, Land Navigation, attend the Combat Confidence Course (and one platoon will get the first competition streamer), conduct an 8 Kilometer (5 mile) road march, and start Basic Rifle Marksmanship (BRM).
    Finally, thanks for your continued letters from home.  They are a real morale boost for the Soldiers, and help them get through the Soldierization process.  I wish all of you a great weekend and look forward to sending out more newsletters.