sents their sacrifices as well.

While many of us can wear a few

different combat patches repre-

senting our service with different

units, our Wolverine Soldiers can

now always wear this patch with

great pride for their service and

all this patch represents.

Overall, life is good

because the missions are going

well, the Soldiers/Troopers are

doing well and the support from

home has been fantastic. Thanks

again to all of you for all that you

are taking care of us back

home so that we can focus on

our mission here.

We’ll try to get

better about posting pictures

on Facebook, so keep check-

ing and spread the word to

other families and friends. If

there is ever anything we can

be doing better, do not hesi-

tate to let us know. I remain

honored to lead the best

fighting force from Fort Drum

and privileged to have the best

support group of any Squadron/

Battalion EVER!

Ready Now! Comman-

dos! Climb to Glory!

What a great start by

all Troops and your Troopers/

Soldiers that comprise Combined

Task Force Wolverine. Shortly

after last month’s newsletter, all

forces arrived at the respective

Forward Operating Bases and

Combat Outposts. Almost imme-

diately, their determination and

commitment have made a meas-

urable difference. Members of

the Task Force have made very

favorable impressions with the

local Afghan civilian leadership,

the different facets of the Afghan

National Security Forces,

including our Afghan Na-

tional Army partners. All

have provided raving feed-

back on how professional,

competent, and motivated

our Wolverines have been

and will continue to be.

The last few

weeks, CSM Jusino and I

have been privileged to

travel around and award

10th Mountain Combat Patches

to nearly all of Soldiers. Officially

called the Soldier Sleeve Insignia

for Former Wartime Service, the

combat patch is the official rec-

ognition that a Soldier has served

a combat tour with a particular

unit. This designation is for life

and is something all of them

should be very proud to wear.

To me, this particular combat

patch is in recognition of not

only my service as the Squadron

Commander, but it serves as a

symbol of all the great men and

women who have served this

great Brigade and Division in

times of war.

Our brigade is one of

the most deployed brigades in

the entire Army since the tragic

events of September 11th. This

brigade was one of the first units

to fight on Afghan soil in the

early days of the conflict. This

patch represents that service.

Our Squadron has a

great fighting record since incep-

tion, to include the two tours to

Iraq in 2006 and 2009. Four

Wolverines paid the ultimate

sacrifice in those conflicts and

many others were wounded,

some seriously. This patch repre-

Hitting the Ground Running

I N S I D E

T H I S I S S U E :

Growing

Through vs

Getting

Through

2

Troop Up-

dates

3-5

Dietz Print 5

D E P A R T M E N T O F

D E F E N S E

The Growler M A R C H 1 5 , 2 0 1 3 V O L U M E 1 , I S S U E 1 V

S P E C I A L

P O I N T S O F

I N T E R E S T :

Hitting the

Ground Run-

ning

Troop Up-

dates

Growing

Through vs

Getting

Through

P A G E 2

Growing Through vs Getting Through

By Chaplain Daniel Moen There has been a rumor out

on the street for over 60 years

that the Chinese word for

“crisis” is a combination of two

words, “crisis” and

“opportunity”. Victor H.

Mair, Professor of Chinese

Language and Literature at the

University of Pennsylvania, says

that’s simply not true. The

second word really means

“crucial point” not

“opportunity”. But why would

a rumor like that last so long?

It probably didn’t help that

President Kennedy referred to

it in a speech back in 1959.

This misunderstanding is be-

lievable because 1) we’ve all

been through some kind of

crisis and 2) we’ve all learned

something from the crisis. I’d

like to redeem this rumor and

apply the truth of the rumor to

our current “crisis”: our de-

ployment. The truth is that

there are many benefits to

crises; adversity does present

an opportunity. Deployments

present families and Soldiers

the opportunity to grow.

You may have heard people

say, “If I can just get through

this deployment...” Other peo-

ple have the attitude of wishing

the deployment away. There is

no doubt that we’d all like to

be with our family and friends.

However, if we wish the de-

ployment away or we just try

to get through it we might miss

something important for our

lives.

John Maxwell, author of Atti-

tude 101: What Every Leader

Needs to Know, offers a few

reasons we should embrace

adversity:

Adversity Creates

Resilience

Adversity Develops

Maturity

Adversity Brings

Unexpected Benefits

Adversity Motivates

Adversity creates resilience.

Whatever the crisis, most

people are able to bounce back

from difficult situations be-

cause we are created to pick

up the pieces and move for-

ward. Think of the folks in

Japan after that earthquake or

the Haitians after their earth-

quake or Americans after hur-

ricane Katrina. We are wired

to bounce back. The challenge

for all of us is to find that moti-

vation to not stay seated or

defeated, but get up and do

something.

Adversity develops maturity and

perspective. In the middle of a

crisis, it’s hard to look up and

find perspective. We can find

perspective through our family,

our friends and our faith. They

are able to come alongside of

us and offer hope and objectiv-

ity. Once we get through it we

have a more mature outlook

and our character grows

stronger too. The night we

deployed a good friend gave

me some perspective. He

could tell I was sad to leave my

wife and family and he said,

“this is the hardest night; it

gets easier.” I was so thankful

for those words of encourage-

ment!

Adversity brings unexpected bene-

fits. If our head is down

throughout the deployment,

we might miss a blessing. We

have to stop and celebrate

from time to time our victories

and achievements. When the

kids have done well at school,

or you’ve accomplished some-

thing that your deployed

spouse usually does, celebrate

those moments. If we spend a

few minutes each day “hunting

the good stuff” we will benefit

in the long run. It will keep

negative and defeating thoughts

from hindering our day.

Adversity motivates. You can

either let this deployment

make you bitter or better.

Your attitude towards this

“crisis” will make it a very long

deployment or a short one.

Many folks, Soldiers and Family

members, have made deploy-

ment goals. They are measur-

able goals to keep you moti-

vated throughout the deploy-

ment. Perhaps it’s working out

regularly, losing weight, paying

the bills on time or keeping

your spirits up. Adversity can

motivate or defeat you; it’s

your choice.

We all have the opportunity to

get through this deployment or

growth through it. In the end

we can look back and see how

we took advantage of this de-

ployment or if we let it take

advantage of us. Let’s get up

and grow!

N E W S L E T T E R T I T L E

P A G E 3

Bravo Troop - Black Hawk (CSM) Jusino. They arrived to

take part in our Combat

Patching Ceremony. All

Troopers here at Super FOB

attended, those who were on

patrol or manning our control

points were presented theirs

at a later date.

A couple days later

the Brigade Commander and

his Sergeant Major arrived as

part of their battlefield circula-

tion, allowing the Brigade

Commander to familiarize

himself with his Area of Op-

erations (AO).

The Security Force

Advice and Assist Team

(SFAAT) patrol traveled fur-

It has been a very

busy month in Blackhawk

Troop. Not only are our Sol-

diers currently retrograding

material from Super FOB to

FOB Sharana but they are also

advising our Afghan partners

on how to conduct operations

and plan missions. In addition

we had our Combat Patching

Ceremony, Soldiers receive

their combat patches, and a

visit form the Brigade Com-

mander and Sergeant Major

added to our excitement.

At the beginning of

the wmonth, FOB Super Fob

was paid a visit by Lieutenant

Colonel (LTC) Griggs and

Command Sergeant Major

ther than usual, down to Kho-

shamond, south of Super FOB,

with our first Platoon Alpha

Troop as the security element.

The patrol’s purpose was to

advise and assist the ANA

personnel in that district, and

also to conduct familiarization

with the southern portion of

our AO.

All of the Troopers

here in Blackhawk are doing

well. We would like to thank

all of the families and friends

for their continuous support,

thoughts, and prayers. Until

then.

Bravo Troop Pro-

motions

N E W S L E T T E R T I T L E

Pictured from Left to Right: Alpha Troop Mortars, CPT

Farley attends a security meeting.

Charlie Troop - Crazy Horse

P A G E 4 V O L U M E 1 , I S S U E 1 V

Crazyhorse Soldiers have

been busy the past month with

their respective Security missions

for the Security Forces Advise and

Assist

Team

(SFAAT).

These

teams

and their

security

force,

have

daily

meetings

with the Afghan Security Forces to

help train and mentor the Local

Police and Army. Additionally, the

Soldiers of Crazyhorse Troop have

been training on the range in order to improve

their marksmanship skills.

While last week saw Crazyhorse troop

get settled in, this week has seen an increase in

the workload for the Soldiers. Whether it is pull-

ing security for the FOB, running convoys to Sha-

rana, or providing security for the SFAAT advis-

ers, the Soldiers of Crazyhorse continue to excel.

Charlie Troop Soldiers have spent most of their

downtime watching movies, playing video games

and cards, and talking with their families. We ap-

preciate all of the support from families and

friends back home.

mally require a platoon to com-

plete, however Delta Company

Headquarters has continued to

weather this storm with only a

hand full of Soldiers.

FLE 3 is attached to Bravo Troop 1-

89 CAV at Super FOB. Super FOB

is about 30 kilometers south of

FOB Sharana. FLE 3 only has 11

Soldiers but it supporting a FOB of

over 250 people with cooking food,

fuel operations, conducting mainte-

nance on generators, weapons, and

vehicles, and sustaining the ammo

supply. FLE 4 is attached to Alpha

Troop 1-89 CAV at FOB Sar

Howza which is about 16 kilome-

ters east of FOB Sharana, and has

12 Soldiers on ground. Alpha and

Bravo Troop along with their at-

tachments are increasing their pa-

trols outside the wire as the

weather gets warmer, which means

there is an increase is all operations

to support them. FLE 3 and FLE 4

will continue to support the Troop-

ers on both FOBs as they prepare

and conduct retrograde of all US

Army and US civilian equipment

back to FOB Sharana.

Delta also has a detachment of 4

Soldiers at FOB Rushmore, where

they are combined with other units

in support of 2nd BSTB (Brigade

Support Battalion) and C Troop, 1-

89 CAV. All Soldiers in the FLEs

and detachments have had the op-

portunity to work with Afghan

civilians and ANA Soldiers. From

downloading fuel from civilian

trucks and assisting in weapons

repair, all the way to traveling out-

side the FOB to recover a civilian

truck that was stuck in the mud.

Each section of Delta is essential to

the completion of 1-89 CAV and 2nd

Brigade’s mission during our de-

ployment.

Delta Company will ramp up its

output over the next couple of

months to complete the retrograde

missions across the battle space and

support of all 1-89 CAV units. Al-

though there is a lot to do, Delta

continues to train for all scenarios.

We continue to test our physical

fitness by completing the MAW

(Mountain Athlete Warrior) test,

and through the month of March all

Delta Soldiers will refresh and re-

fine their skills in marksmanship,

trauma care, and communications

equipment.

It has been a crazy

month. February saw all of our

Delta Soldiers finally making it to

their final destinations across the

Battle Space along with many

changes to the roster. Once 2BCT

got their feet under them, many

Soldiers across the Brigade were

moved to different locations and

different units to better support the

Afghan National Army and retro-

grade of equipment so the 2nd Bri-

gade can close it’s FOBs (Forward

Operating Bases). Delta has been

exposed to all of these changes, but

like always, Darkhorse continues to

support CTF Wolverine.

Delta Company Headquarters has

been diligently working to support

the requests of the FLEs (Forward

Logistics Element) with parts, per-

sonnel, and equipment so the FLEs

can keep CTF Wolverine vehicles

and personnel ready to fight. While

completing the constant requests

from Delta’s forward elements,

they also had to move Delta’s en-

tire operation from one side of

FOB Sharana to the other. This was

done in preparation for the even-

tual closing of FOB Sharana. All

these tasks have demanded much

time and effort, which would nor-

1LT Dan

Warner if

front of the

Arms

room.

Delta Company - Dark Horse

Hellcat continues day

-to-day operations but likes to

take time out to recognize

great Soldiers who choose to

continue their

Army Career!

Pic-

tured to the left

is SGT Gregory

who climbed a

five story tower

that overlooks

Paktika to

‘reenlist.’ The

Hellcats are very

proud of SGT Gregory for all

of his hard work. SGT Gregory

currently serves as a force

protection sergeant on the

personnel access point (PCP)

on FOB Sharana.

Headquarters - Hellcats

Want a Dietz Print? Please Contact CPT Andrew Radbill

Andrew.e.rabdill.mil@mail.mil