Dear Friends and Family of PRT Paktya,

We’ve made it to August, and for those of you marking the days until your loved ones re-turn, we now have more time behind us than ahead of us in this deployment. As usual, your friends and family members have been setting the bar even higher in making a difference for the people of Paktya prov-ince.

I’m sure many of you have heard the rumors of a vehicle accident we had in July. To alleviate everyone’s fears, no one was seriously injured on the team and everyone involved is back to duty. We have had extensive training in reacting to a vehicle rollover, and our safety precautions are pretty extensive – this is a key reason no one was seriously hurt, and the potential for major injuries was great. As in most of these instances, training and proper equipment were supplemented by sheer good luck, and hope-fully we won’t have another scare in the mountain passes. Although the truck was totaled, we did still have to recover it from a ravine. This was the most difficult recovery opera-tion executed in our Brigade thus far and it took five days of effort to get it out. Special ap-preciation and thanks go to the Engineering team (Mr. Mike Mihalfy, Mr. Marty Stanislaus, 1Lt Cory Knick, and MSgt Dave

Austin), SGT Ryan Whitacre, and our four squad leaders (SSG Juan Macias, SSG Joe Snyder, SSG Aldert Gailey, and SGT John Page).

Also in this month’s newslet-ter, you’ll see the spotlight put on our communications special-ists and our medics. Our med-ics are always with the soldiers and airmen on every mission, and stay on the job to run the PRT clinic back here on FOB Gardez. Our communications specialists work behind the scenes to provide IT support as well as maintain all of the complicated navi-gation, command & control, and radio systems on our tactical vehi-cles. Without these two small teams, the work of the PRT would come to an abrupt, screeching halt. These profes-sionals don’t just work on the FOB; they are crucial parts of the team out on the missions into the province.

Keep those cards and letters coming and thanks for all the love and support. We see the result of your compassion and concern for the team every day in the care packages that arrive relentlessly, and the happy team members who return from R&R refreshed, reconnected, and ready to come back to work.

Until next time,

Chuck Douglass

Commander’s Corner

PRT Paktya

July/August 2010

Volume 2, Issue 4

The Double Tap

Lt Col Chuck Douglass Commander, PRT Paktya

Inside this issue:

Commander’s Corner 1

Life on the FOB 2

Spotlight : S6 Commo 3

Spotlight: Medics 4

Mid Tour Leave 5

“Mr. Natural” 6

TOP: Nearby mountain peak as seen from FOB Gardez in winter

BOTTOM: Some of the many gor-geous sunflowers in bloom in the qalat courtyard this summer.

Page 2 Newsletter Title

Lt Col Douglass celebrates the BIG 4-0 with friends and (near) beer!

SPC Joshua Clark works hard to prepare a truck for the next day’s mission

TSgt Kaye is our resident grill master!

ABOVE: Enjoying the food and festivities FOB Gardez has to offer!

RIGHT: The “girls” lookin’ for trouble: TSgt Mainard, SSgt Borja, SrA Olexa and SrA Haugstad

Page 3 Volume 1, Issue 1

“You can talk about us, but you can’t talk without us!”

ABOVE: SrA Daniel Boggs troubleshoots a communication prob-lem with one of the tac-tical vehicles.

BELOW: Always on duty, SSgt Phil Fussell works on the radio sys-tems in an MRAP.

LEFT: SSgt Brandon Ellis works on the Blue Force Tracker so the convoy com-mander can stay in touch with the FOB while out on missions.

ABOVE: S6 Shop Chief TSgt Melissa Elkins gets coined by distinguished visitor USAF Brig Gen Lyons for outstanding per-formance during a recent visit.

CENTER: Getting the S6 team together for a group photo proved too challenging logistically. A comm team member provided a solution. Art by SSgt Brandon Ellis

Page 4 The Double Tap

“Treating one boo - boo at a time since 2003”

RIGHT: SrA Laura Brayfield heads out to an-other mission in “full battle rattle.”

BELOW: Capt Tanya Manning treats a local woman as part of one of the PRT’s Village Medical Outreaches

SrA Bethany Haugstad gives Maj Sean Sulli-van an immunization shot at the clinic here on

FOB Gardez

Capt Manning and TSgt Mainard teach the local doctors how to prepare the strong foods paste that will be given to infant pa-tients suffering from malnutrition. The program gives Afghan doctors the tools to get vital nutrients to disadvantaged children.

Page 5 Volume 2, Issue 4

“Providing fun in the sun

for all PRT personnel”

SGT Anthony Reed takes his first set of family pictures with his son Brayden and

wife Catie

SPC Benjamin Weyandt pets an alligator while on leave with his fiancé in Florida

Capt Kelley Jeter hangs out with a “drunken local” at Hampton Court in London

No beverage was safe and no female went unappreciated when

SrA Joshua Governal and SSgt Phillipe Fussell visited Germany

PRT Paktya FOB Gardez APO AE 09354

Note: As of 10 July 2010, our zip code has changed to 09364. Take note of the change when mailing your friends and family!

We’re on the web!

Facebook.com/PRTPaktya Our Address:

Marine Corps Infantry School I got the chance to try out for 2nd Force Reconnaissance Company and after a grueling physical endurance test I was fortunate enough to be se-lected.”

Once his enlistment in the Marine Corps was complete, Spc. Serafino worked in the nu-clear security industry and con-tinued to keep himself in top physical condition. He partici-pated in several state and na-tional bodybuilding events and eventually won the title of Mr. Natural Pennsylvania in 1989. “When I was in my early 30s I was approached by someone in the professional wrestling in-dustry,” Spc. Serafino said. “I spent nine tough weeks in pro wrestling school learning the tricks of the trade. The hardest part was taking the bumps and learning how to fall.”

Participating in singles, tag-team and battle royal matches in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, Spc. Serafino used the moniker of Mr. Natu-ral. “In addition to wrestling I tried to put out a positive mes-sage of keeping off steroids, exercising, eating right and gen-erally staying healthy.” Of the 25 professional matches Spc.

Shooting toward his oppo-nent like a bullet from an M4 rifle, Mr. Natural, also known as Army Specialist Kim Serafino, delivered his signature wres-tling move. Catching the evil Dr. Johnny Wildside in his devas-tating “flying clothesline” off the top rope, Mr. Natural read-ied himself for the counter-strike that was sure to come. As a professional wrestler in the early 1990s with Interna-tional World Class Champion-ship Wrestling, Spc. Serafino thought his military career was behind him. Having served in the Marine Corps from 1979 to 1983 he never imagined he would be a member of an Army Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) helping to rebuild Af-ghanistan in 2010.

While a member of PRT Pak-tya in Afghanistan’s Gardez Dis-trict, Spc. Serafino saw action in four Troops in Contact (TIC) incidents. Though the enemy has fired rocket-propelled gre-nades, mortars, machine guns and small arms at him, he has come through each TIC un-scathed.

“My brother was in the Ma-rines and my dad was in the Army,” said Spc. Serafino, a na-tive of York, Pa. “When I was in

Serafino wrestled, six bouts ap-peared on television in a three-state-area.

“My most memorable moment took place during a battle royal, which involves 10 or more wrestlers in the ring at the same time,” Spc. Serafino said. “A guy named Cactus Jack Manson, who later went on to win the World Wrestling Entertain-ment (WWE) heavyweight champion-ship, hit me over the head with a chair. I didn’t bleed, but it sure hurt like hell.”

Spc. Serafino did not quit his day job during his wresting career and continued to work in sales. Years af-ter his pro wrestling days ended, he joined the Army in July 2007. “I felt it was my patriotic duty to re-enlist in the military and I wanted to use the skills I learned in Marine Corps Force Recon,” he said. “Though I came back in the military at age 47, I al-ways kept myself in good shape.”

Planning to marry his fiancé, who has a 14-year-old daughter, in December 2010, Spc. Serafino has a 16-year-old son. “Like me, my boy is into physical fitness,” he said. “His dream is to follow in my footsteps by lacing up the wrestling boots and getting in the ring some day. I guess I’ll have to teach him how to execute a flying clothesline.”

Army Specialist a Natural By SGT Tom Bourke

SGT Tom Bourke, SPC Kim Serafino, and SPC Benjamin Weydant in the mountains of Af-ghanistan in Pak-tya province.