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COMPANY B |
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19 July 2001
Well, we are now 4-6 weeks away from our mobilization and deployment! This will probably be my last newsletter until we are established on Camp Comanche in Tuzla, Bosnia.
First, let me say that you should be extremely proud of your soldiers! They have accomplished some amazing things over the last 10 months. I am very proud to be part of this specific group of fine Guardsmen and great Americans! We have built a cohesive team that will watch out for each other as we accomplish our mission in Bosnia. It’s a diverse team with the new Crew Chiefs fresh out of school, our temporary Beasts from Michigan and Mississippi, the Beasts that have been around for years, and the great A Co crewmembers that stepped up to the plate and have become Beasts for the years to come. It bears mentioning that those former A Co crewmembers have made us a better unit by fitting well into our personality, and have quickly made themselves a permanent part of B Co. I wouldn’t want it any other way!
This past drill weekend we completed our last collective training task to certify us for the deployment……Door Gunnery. We qualified 22 Crew Chiefs as Gunners and we qualified 23 pilots to fly Door Gunnery. This is incredible because we did it all during a long 14 hours flying day and NVGs. This type of qualification is normally done over a several day period!
Special recognition goes out to SSG Chris “Spanky” Neuville, B Co’s Master Gunner, who has, over the past couple of months, virtually built our Gunnery Training Program from scratch. His efforts made this a highly successful event! Also deserving of recognition is CW2 John “It’s not a bald spot, it’s a shiny hat!” Calley. Without John’s contribution the pilots would not have completed their qualification. After inviting all of the local news programs to attend and report on the Gunnery, we were visited by a Richmond Times-Dispatch photographer whose photo of SGT Danny “Oops, was that supposed to fall off the gun?” Conwell was published in the 16 July edition.
As I am writing this, we are in the process of getting our unit gear and our personal belongings packed into containers for shipment overseas. CW2 Donnie “Gyro” Rice and crew are hard at work finalizing those loads. The week after the August drill we will move our aircraft to port for shipment to the Balkans.
I want to extend my most sincere gratitude to all of our families and friends that have supported us during our preparations for this deployment. You have dealt with our long hours and sometimes sour moods with grace and we could not have accomplished half of what we have without you!
The next time you see us on these pages, we should be in Bosnia!
Until then, God bless America.
Sincerely,
NEAL J. EDMONDS
CPT, Aviation
Commanding
Bravo carries the Task Force!!
Commanders Newsletter #3
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