Highlander Family, Sincerely, Ruddie Ibanez Captain, Field Artillery Company Commander

2ND BRIGADE SPECIAL

TROOPS BATTALION,

2ND BRIGADE

COMBAT TEAM,

10TH MTN DIV

(LIGHT INFANTRY) 27 April 2012 BATTALION NEWS

Helpful Phone

Numbers: HHC Company Commander

CPT McCall

HHC Company 1SG 1SG Ward

772-4509

A. Company Commander

CPT Boyles

Alpha Company 1SG 1SG Volz

772-7410

B. Company Commander

CPT Keay

Bravo Company 1SG

1SG Pasol 772-7412

C. Company Commander

CPT Remillard

Charlie Company 1SG

SFC Gruby 772-7429

HHC BDE Company

Commander

CPT Freeburg

HHC BDE Company 1SG

1SG Maciag 772-2492

Battalion Staff Duty:

772-5100

Brigade Staff Duty:

774-2199

FRSA:

Decima Chiasson 772-9166

Who’s Who

In the FRG

Advisors

Amy Cox

HHC FRG Leaders

Lori Bogutskie

Alpha FRG Leaders

Kim Boyles

Bravo FRG Leaders

Jennifer Limerick

Charlie FRG Leader

Teri Remillard HHC 2BCT FRG

Leader

Sarah Freeburg

You can make a difference in your

FRG! Call your FRG Leader

to volunteer or for

more information.

Please let the FRG know if you have

moved or changed phone numbers so we

can keep our records up to date!

Thank You!

Headquarters, 2nd Brigade Special Troops Battalion 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry)

10120 North Riva Ridge Loop Fort Drum NY 13602

24 April 2012

Letter to the 2

nd Brigade Special Troops Battalion Family and Friends:

I would like to thank everyone for their support during our Joint Readiness Training Center (JRTC) Rotation in March. Our Soldiers performed better than any Brigade Special Troops Battalion in recent past. They could not have done it without the support of their Families and friends. Additionally, thank you to everyone that came out to support our Annual Spring Gladiator Games on 5 April. Although the weather did not cooperate, it was a great reward for the hard work accomplished at JRTC and a chance to spend some time with Family and friends. If you haven’t already done so please take some time to look at the photos of the event on our facebook page. Thanks to all of the Family members that donated food items for the FRG breakfast and for the kids’ games. May is right around the corner and the Battalion will be “Red Cycle” during the month. The focus is to execute tasks in support of the Brigade and Division. Some of these tasks include color guards and parades for community events; support to on post schools; and a large list of supporting tasks that rotate to units assigned to red cycle. Our red cycle period ends at the conclusion of Memorial Day weekend. May is the start of many transitions in the Battalion. Our first transition is the company change of command for Charlie Company on 18 May. CPT Remillard is departing our formation after two outstanding years in command. The Battalion will miss Frank and Terri Remillard–Thank you for everything you have done to take care of the Cobras and their Families. We will welcome CPT Andres Tapia and his wife Kimberlee to the team. Our transitions will continue in the month of June with Bravo, HHC/2BSTB, and HHC/2BCT all changing command by the month’s end. Riverfest is scheduled for June 21

st and at the end of

June, Fort Drum will host its annual Mountain Fest Activities. The Commando Brigade will follow suit and augment this event with Commando Fest on the 25

th and 26

th June – more details as the

events for both of these activities are forthcoming. Please mark the dates on your calendar so you can join us. The Battalion will take a much needed break with our Block Leave starting on 30 June and ending on 15 July. The Battalion Change of Command Ceremony is tentatively scheduled for 18 July. Immediately following this, we will participate in the 10

th Mountain Division’s Mountain Peak exercise from the

middle of June to the middle of August. After this exercise, the Battalion prepares and deploys in September to Fort Irwin, California for the National Training Center (NTC). As always thank you to all the Family members for your steadfast support of our Soldiers, your dedication is appreciated! Strength and Honor! RHETT R. COX LTC, MI Commanding

25 April 2012 Dear Sapper Families and Friends, First of all, it is good to be home. Since our last newsletter the Soldiers and Families of Alpha Company have accomplished a great deal, beginning with a month long JRTC rotation at Fort Polk, Louisiana, and culminating in a company small arms weapons range here at Fort Drum. Of course, none of this could have been possible without the tremendous support from our families and friends back home. We are truly grateful for your encouragement and understanding during our time deployed. During JRTC Alpha Company Soldiers received several accolades for their outstanding achievements, most notably, SPC Mark Blackwell. He was recognized by the Brigade Commander, COL Dennis Sullivan, and the JRTC Operations Group as one of the Brigade’s “Heroes of the Battle.” SPC Blackwell served as a Team Leader in 1

st Platoon and was

responsible for finding two Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) during training. Overall, the entire company helped reduce the number of IED casualties by over 50% through their efforts during route clearance missions.

In addition to JRTC, Soldiers from Alpha Company also represented the

unit with distinction at the Advanced Leader’s Course (ALC) and the

2012 Best Sapper Competition, in Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri. SSG

Trevin Sparks was recognized as the Honor Graduate for ALC Class

003-12 for maintaining the highest average test score in his class.

Additionally, two teams from Alpha Company, Lieutenants Doug Mize

and Ian Ensley and SFC

Josh Moffit and SSG Matt

Goduco competed in the

Best Sapper Competition with

37 other teams from across

the Engineer Regiment.

CHESTER D. BOYLES CPT, EN Commanding

Page 2

ALPHA COMPANY

20 April 2012 To the Badger’s and their families, JRTC rotation 12-05 was, as predicted, a truly great, distraction free training opportunity for our unit. The Soldiers within the Company who attended JRTC learned a significant amount in a short span of time. Since we have been back, recovery has been under way as well as leaders relooking where we left off training wise. In addition to all this, our Company received numerous new Soldiers while we were away. We currently reside at 112 Soldiers in our organization. So there is still much that we have to do in order to get these Soldiers caught up on our training glide path as a Company. Getting all these Soldiers integrated into the Company properly has been difficult at best thus far and so I ask any of you that see something that doesn’t seem right or doesn’t make much sense to just please mention to the appropriate individual or chain of command so we can welcome and integrate all new Soldiers as efficiently as possible. Most of them showed up to this unit while we were away at JRTC so they are starting out behind the power curve but they will learn quickly. While the focus for the Company continues to revolve around 100% inventories and recovery we still have a good amount of our formation that has already started training. We currently have several Soldiers scattered across the country – FT Huachuca, FT Bragg and Texarkana, Texas to name a few – training on imagery, new Army vehicles, and many of the linguist, increasing their proficiency in their respective languages. The Company as a whole continues recovering what’s left soon we will become consumed once again with training. Congratulations to all the Soldiers accomplishing great things lately, to name a few SPC Jered Dominey and SGT Chase Downey were the BDE Soldier of the month and NCO of the month 1LT Baxter received her first officer promotion SPC Ryan Yoeman re-enlisted Mr. Limerick was selected to attend ASOC (Advanced Source Operations Course) from 27APR-28JUL. To help understand how difficult/rare this is only two Army Soldiers from FORSCOM (United States Army Forces Command) are attending this class. FORSCOM is comprised of right around 750,000 Service members. Great thanks goes out to the five Service members from 1st BSTB MICO and DIV HQ BN who contributed to our successes at JRTC. It was a good experience for both us and them to help connect the linkages between the units here at FT Drum. We currently have our next Company FRG meeting planned for 9MAY. I know Jen Limerick is planning another location other than the Company classroom. I look forward to seeing most of you then and seeing a lot of new faces as well. Until next write up. V/R, CPT Keay, Barclay Commanding B Co/2 BSTB

Page 3 BRAVO COMPANY

Page 4

CHARLIE COMPANY

25 April 2012 Hello Families and Friends, April was a great month not only for the Gladiator Battalion, but also for the Charlie Company Cobras. Since the last newsletter, the Cobras have deployed to the Joint Readiness Training Center for an excellent rotation and recently have been conducting inventories in preparation for the company change of command next month. Lastly, Charlie Company participated in the Gladiator Spring Games and it was a great event that lifted the morale of everyone involved. Thank you to all of the spouses who came to enjoy our day with us. In the upcoming weeks you can expect your Soldier to be gainfully employed conducting even more inventories as well as Brigade’s Signal Low Density Training during the first two weeks of June. It is here where they will continue to hone their skills and continue to produce exciting results. Thank you for your continued support. I would like to take this time to thank each and every one of you for all of the hard work you have done since returning from deployment. The time has come for me to hand over the company to the very capable CPT Andres Tapia. I only hope you continue to support him as you have me over the last two years. Thank you for everything you do. Thank you again,

Frank Remillard CPT, SC Commanding

24 February 2012 Hello All, Over the last few weeks the importance of mothers has been the subject of political firestorm in the media. It just so happens that during that same period my wife had surgery and I took leave to take care of my family. I am not writing this to gain sympathy for her, rather, selfishly to gain sympathy for me. After providing lame meals, not doing the laundry, allowing the house to become a disaster, and basically just barely keeping my family alive (My daughter set the microwave on fire while I was taking a nap), I want to share my heartfelt appreciation for those who do it everyday. My dad, when I was growing up, was a single father for a number of years. He worked full-time and raised me. I couldn’t imagine. Many women who work outside of the home and have children find themselves with the lion’s share of the work to do at home. I say this now from a place of condemnation myself: MEN STEP IT UP! I know you are tired when you get home, and you need a break, some down time. Do not allow your down time to dominate the home. You can take five minutes to vacuum a room or twenty minutes to do the dishes. Fathers, you can change diapers and wipe down counters. We are counseled in scripture to treat our wives even as Jesus treated the church. If you recall, he gave everything for the church and we need to be willing and prepared to give everything for our wives. Now, women should not use housework as a bartering tool for intimacy because it breeds resentment and hard feelings. However, I have found a direct correlation to the amount of love’n a man receives and the amount of work he does around the house. It is just natural to be more affectionate in a clean environment with someone that your heart goes out to because they have treated you so well. Now a word for the women who stay home with the children. When your husband comes home from work and he sees a thousand things to be done, it can be overwhelming and he won’t know where to direct his main effort because he has not been in the battle over the course of the day. He will need some loving direction and understanding guidance after he regroups from the day. He is likely not going to want a massive list of things to do the minute he walks in the door. I have found an approach that can work for many is greeting each other with a hug and a kiss no matter the chaos. Then, when the time is right, let him know a few things that you would like him to over the course of the evening. Many men like to plan out their evening and have no problem fitting in housework as long as they know what is expected of them in advance. Men, do not wait until you are going to bed to do those few things. Your wives want to enjoy the quiet clean house before they go to bed. God bless you mothers and may God help us all. Godspeed,

Chaplain James Willis

A Word from the Chaplain

27 April 2012 Hello Again to Avenger Family and Friends, It’s great to be back from a great month of training at the Joint Readiness Training Center! The Avengers stayed extremely busy during this month supporting the battalion and brigade. Avengers worked in the dining facility, manned the gates, fixed trucks, ran the mayor’s cell, ran the detention center for captured “Geronimo,” and a host of other critical tasks. We learned a lot from our successes and mistakes, and carefully reviewed our actions to ensure we continue to improve. Since we’ve returned, we’ve spent this month cleaning weapons and equipment, inventorying personal gear, receiving our vehicles back, and getting back to training here at Fort Drum. We’ve conducted a rifle range, M320 grenade launcher range, and a pistol range. The MP Platoon is currently in training to get ready for their time working the roads of Fort Drum next month. The CBRNE platoon is preparing for next month’s FTX, and the infantry security section is preparing for the Expert Infantryman’s Badge testing and training in May. Maintenance continues to ensure the readiness of our equipment, and the support platoon continues to support training across the battalion. Next month the unit is in “Red Cycle,” our rotation to provide Soldiers to support various requirements such as parades, range cleaning details, etc. It’s not very glamorous but it’s part of sustaining the force, and a short break from training and ranges. Also, the Avengers movie is released on May 4, and the trailers make it look amazing. Unfortunately, no members of the HHC/2BSTB Avengers appear in the movie. Very Respectfully, CPT McCall Commanding HHC 2BSTB

27 April 2012

HHC/2BCT Soldiers and Families, As April comes to a close, we continue to recover from our rotation to the Joint Readiness Training Center (JRTC). Your soldiers conducted themselves phenomenally down in Louisiana! The motivation and discipline they exhibited made me proud, and should make all of you proud as well. Thanks in part to the hard work and dedication of your Havoc Soldiers, our Brigade rotation was hailed by the JRTC Cadre as one of the most successful they’d seen in years. I’d also like to thank everyone who contributed to the distribution of the goodie bags to our Soldiers as they headed to JRTC. The bags were much appreciated by our Havoc Soldiers. Also, thanks to all who supported the Gladiator Spring Games. The event was quiet a success. The Company took home the win in the Football Tournament. My hat’s off to our team. In addition to JRTC recovery, we are also preparing for my Change of Command in June. Captain Byler will be my replacement. More to follow on that as the time draws closer. That’s it for this month. V/R, MATTHEW W. FREEBURG CPT, AD Commanding

Page 5

HHC 2BSTB

HHC BRIGADE COMPANY

WHAT IS HAPPENING: