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

2ND BRIGADE SPECIAL

TROOPS BATTALION,

2ND BRIGADE

COMBAT TEAM,

10TH MTN DIV

(LIGHT INFANTRY) 28 FEB 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 February 2012

Letter to the 2

nd Brigade Special Troops Battalion Family and Friends:

Thank you to everyone that took the time to attend the Joint Readiness Training Center (JRTC) pre-deployment brief. If you were unable to attend and did not receive the information please contact your FRG Leader or the FRSA to receive a copy of the slides and a handout with good resources and contact information. The Soldiers are in the final preparation stages for JRTC and will be fly-ing out soon. There may be limited contact due to training times and the lack of cell phone recep-tion at Fort Polk, Louisiana. The FRG is conducting a call out during the JRTC rotation and do not hesitate to contact your Key Caller or FRG Leader if you have any questions or concerns. Our Soldiers have been working hard, to include many late nights, preparing for this JRTC rotation. Everyone has been pulling their share of the load from those conducting maintenance and inspec-tions, packing shipping containers with supplies and baggage, loading equipment and vehicles, to those who have spent hours in the Mission Training Center (MTC) conducting the tactical planning for the exercise. I appreciate all of the hard work our Soldiers have done to get us ready to go and the support of the Family members through this process. After JRTC, we will host our annual Gladiator Spring Games. We plan on having a Family run or walk followed by a competition consisting of various sports/events. Additionally, the FRG will host children’s activities. We will barbeque hotdogs and hamburgers and Chaplain Willis will conduct a Good Friday service for those that wish to attend. The next week in April will consist of download-ing trains and equipment that is returning from JRTC. In April and May, some of our Soldiers will attend schools like Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) Driver’s training and other specialty courses. Best of luck to our two team participating in the Best Sapper Competition at Fort Leonard Wood, 1LT Mize/1LT Ensley and SFC Moffitt/SSG Goduco. April, May, and June will be a busy time with a lot of transition in leadership in the Battalion. Four of our Company Commanders change command with the Battalion Change of Command sched-uled for June. 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

28 February 2012 Dear Sapper Families and Friends, With February being the last month before our unit’s deployment to JRTC, it has been an extremely busy and productive period. Over the last four weeks the Company has conducted a heavy demolition range, prepared and shipped multiple pieces of equipment, and conducted route clearance training. All of these events took a tremendous amount of effort and dedication on the part of each and every member of the company. These Soldiers have done a great job and without them this deployment would not be possible. The Family Readiness Group is back into full swing again, providing baked goods to the Soldiers on Valentine’s Day and also conducting OPSEC training in preparation for the deployment. I can’t say enough about the outstanding support all of the spouses have shown and I am very grateful for all of you. The Company also had the opportunity to conduct its first organizational day, as we participated in training at Thompson’s Park in downtown Watertown. The event was a great success and gave the Soldiers a chance to work together in learning about basic engineer and warrior tasks, as well as enjoy a relaxed training environment. Finally, last month I was remiss in failing to mention that SSG Trevin Sparks and his wife Amanda welcomed a new baby girl to their family during the winter block leave period. Hailey Michelle Sparks was born December 22nd at 7 pounds and 10 ounces. Congratulations from all of us in Alpha Company. Next month is sure to be a very stressful but no doubt beneficial time for our battalion and this company. Thank you for your support as we have prepared to deploy and in the upcoming month. Until next time, Mountain Sappers! CHESTER D. BOYLES CPT, EN Commanding Sappers Training Photos at Demo Range

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ALPHA COMPANY

22 February 2012 To the Badger’s and their Families, An entire month has passed since the Commander’s last write up and I hadn’t thought about it until Decima reminded us the other day. This month has gone by remarkably fast, meaning we’ve been busy. The main focus has been centered, on JRTC out load and planning/preparation but we have also been continuing our training tempo towards the Soldiers core competencies and collective tasks that will need to be executed at JRTC. It’s much easier for us to cancel training as days get over come by events than to just simply not schedule training and run the risk of Soldiers not having anything to progress on throughout the days leading up to JRTC. Our HQ Platoon and the Company’s Executive Officer, 1LT Burke, have made the JRTC pack out as painless as possible allowing the Company to continue this training tempo. UAS got a couple more flights in this month supporting 2-14 Infantry Battalion’s field exercise before they packed up all their equipment to get inspected for out load.

In the picture PV2 Sabie loads his second Shadow since he has been with us while SPC Lovelace supervises and ensures PV2 Sabie is running through the sequence of events properly with his crew to launch the Shadow in the air. HUMINT finished their 2 week mobile training team course which was a general coverage of all topics HUMINT related. This past week covered source operations, meeting mechanics, and refining their report writing skills. The younger Soldiers conducted graded capabilities briefs to leaders across the Brigade formation and Mr. Limerick and SSG Pennell gave a capabilities brief to all the Platoon Leaders in 2-14. SIGINT had three Soldiers attend the three week long SGA 101 course at foundry (on post) to be properly equipped/trained on what

they will be doing at JRTC. The other SIGINT Soldiers stayed busy packing for JRTC and providing capabilities briefs to other commanders across the Brigade formation while ISR has had Soldiers training all over the country, but this has become somewhat normal to them. Three of the imagery analysts had the opportunity to attend the advanced GEOINT Production Course at the Washington Naval Yard from 7-24FEB. Two of the imagery analysts attended the Fundamentals of Thermal Infrared Exploitation and Analysis at Ft Belvoir and the remaining analysts stayed at Ft Drum and conducted a two week course at the Brigade SCIF on their DCGS-A software. Additionally, there are still some FRG events planned before we will leave (most of us between 4-6MAR timeframe). As I write this we currently have an FRG meeting planned for this evening 23 FEB and 24FEB will be our Company Lunch. Soldiers, and whichever Family members would like, are bringing in sides to contribute to a turkey pot luck type meal. On the 25th Jen Limerick has a single Soldiers meal planned for the Soldiers living in the barracks. This is going to take involvement of others as well. If you feel you can contribute to an event like this, you can. Anything helps contribute to making a more successful event. These FRG events are most important because they help take care of Soldiers and families. General Odierno said it well: “The strength of our Nation is our Army; the strength of our Army is our Soldiers; the strength of our Soldiers is our Families.” We must maintain the bond of trust between every Soldier and Family member and the Army as an institution that we are all a part of. These events that our FRG plans will help families better endure the month service members will be at JRTC. I look forward to seeing you all partake. Until next write up, V/R CPT Keay, Barclay Commander, B Co/2 BSTB

Page 3 BRAVO COMPANY

Page 4

CHARLIE COMPANY

23 February 2012 Dear Families and Friends, First I would like to thank everyone for their participation on February 16 during our Company Bowling Party and FRG meeting. Every month we continue to get new Soldiers and families involved in these fun events. Over 40 people showed up to support the event, and 10 of them were family members. We will continue to schedule fun events and I look forward to seeing you all again soon. I hope it was a good time had by all. As we ramp up for our deployment to JRTC in March, your Soldiers are continuing to do fantastic things during both “duty hours” and more importantly “after hours.” I know that we will be leaving soon, so I will do my best not to keep the company any later than absolutely necessary. Due to the hard work and dedication of your Soldiers, I look forward to a productive JRTC rotation.

It is very important we have a strong family support network for Soldiers and Families alike as our

operational tempo continues to increase. I look forward to continuing to increase FRG involvement as we

move forward. Thank you for your support.

Sincerely, Frank D. Remillard CPT, SC Commanding

24 February 2012 2BSTB Families, This last month I held a leadership luncheon for key leaders in the Battalion in order to let them know about me as a chaplain, introduced and garnered support for chaplain lead programs, and provided training on ethical leadership. As your chaplain, I look forward to getting to know you better through some of these programs. Coming up after JRTC on the 5th of April, we will be conducting Gladiator Games. This will be a day to bring the Family and have a good time. There will be company competitions, games for children, a two mile run/walk, snacks and lunch, and for those who are interested—an Easter message. What a wonderful way to celebrate coming home from JRTC. The month after, 18-20 March, we will be having a married couples strong-bonds event. I am looking at going to Niagara Falls for the training. Each company will be allotted a certain number of slots and sign-ups will be with the First Sergeants. We are allowed to take 30 couples. Child care and most of the meals will likely be provided as we work out the funding and location with the contractors. You would need to provide your own transportation. I am very excited about the upcoming events and hope to see you there! Godspeed,

Chaplain James Willis

A Word from the Chaplain

28 February 2012 Hello again to Avenger Family and Friends! I hope you've enjoyed the mild (for Fort Drum) winter we've had! The Avengers have stayed busy the past month, conducting quality training in preparation for JRTC. Earlier this month, the MPs conducted training on close quarters battle (CQB) using one of the "shoothouses" in the Fort Drum training area as well as part of an urban training area. Squads trained on a variety of tasks, such as clearing rooms, quick reaction force operations, and dealing with law enforcement scenarios they may see in the future. This training also included the infantry security section. The following week, the Company conducted a field training exercise (FTX) for the Military Police Platoon, CBRNE Platoon, Medics and IN security section. This FTX consisted of Situational Training Exercises (STX) lanes to build proficiency in mounted tactics. In addition, we conducted training on calling for artillery fire using the Call For Fire Trainer (CFFT) on post, a classroom based simulator to allow Soldiers to practice calling for fire. We're ready for our rotation to the Joint Readiness Training Center in March, and it should be quality training. Thanks to the new FRG volunteers, and for everyone's support as we continue to train. Very Respectfully, Photo of Medics At C/210 Medic Training 28 Feb► CPT McCall Commanding HHC 2BSTB

29 February 2012

HHC/2BCT Soldiers and Families, As February comes to a close, we continue to prepare for our rotation to the Joint Readiness Training Center (JRTC). Some of the Company is already gone and by the end of the first full week in March all of us will be in Louisiana. Thank you to everyone that came to the FRG meeting/bowling event earlier this month. I’d also like to thank everyone who donated snacks for the goodie bags that will be handed out to our Soldiers as they head to JRTC. For those of you that don’t know, the rear detachment OIC is CPT Tim Dufner and NCOIC is SSG Julius Peres. They will be in charge of the Company while we’re gone in March. My wife, Sarah, is staying local and will be available for support and to answer questions as always. That’s it for now. I’ll see everyone in April V/R, MATTHEW W. FREEBURG CPT, AD Commanding

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HHC 2BSTB

HHC BRIGADE COMPANY

March 16-18 Watertown North Country Goes Green Irish Festival http://www.ncirishfest.com/ March 17 & 18 and 24 & 25 Lowville Area 16th Annual Maple Weekend, there's no better way to spend time with family and friends! Five maple producers in Lewis County, along with over 90 other maple producers across New York State, will be hosting open houses for the public to see how Maple Syrup and other related products are made. This family oriented event is sure to delight visitors of all ages. Participants will be boiling sap into maple syrup and many will demonstrate the making of other maple products...and of course, visitors can sample and purchase maple prod-ucts. In addition, some of the sugar houses will provide a variety of other activi-ties to make your visit more memorable. The following Lewis County Maple Producers will be participating: Swiss'er Sweet Maple - Open 3/19, 3/20, 3/26 & 3/27 from 10am to 4pm ~ Ja-son & Barbara Zehr at 6242 Swiss Rd, Castorland NY. (315) 346-1034 swis-ser@twcny.rr.com or visit: www.swissersweetmaple.com Tug Hill Sweets & Treats - Open 3/17,18,24 & 25 from 10am to 4pm ~ County Route 163, Copenhagen NY. (315) 408-8100 Golden Maple Shanty - Open 3/26 from 10am to 4pm ~ Marvin Widrick at 4836 Sharp Rd, Lowville NY. (315) 376-6310 sales@mapleshanty.com or visit: www.mapleshanty.com Pierce's Sugar Spigot - Open 3/17,18,24 & 25 from 10am to 4pm ~ Karen & Carl Pierce at 11603 Route 812, Croghan NY. (315) 543-2980 kapier-ce3@hotmail.com or visit: www.lcida.org/sspigot.html

WHAT IS HAPPENING: