Fellow Red Lions;

As I reflect on our last two years together I am incredibly impressed with the dedica-

tion of the men and women who serve in the 1- 119th Field Artillery Michigan Army

National Guard. You have made huge sacrifices in time, energy and family while an-

swering the Nation’s Call to Service. I am deeply appreciative of your service and

thankful for the great support of your friends and families. They too have sacrificed so

much in the support of you, their Soldier.

As we reach the end of our year long deployment and units prepare for homecomings,

we must keep in mind the techniques and procedures for increasing resiliency from

within, as you and your family take on challenges that lay ahead.

From a Citizen-Soldier’s perspective, I would like to share how the warrior ethos is

imbedded in resiliency. I Will Always Place The Mission First; I will ready myself for

the task at hand. I Will Never Accept Defeat; No challenge is too difficult. I Will Never

Quit; I will succeed. I Will Never Leave A Fallen Comrade, Together we will bounce

back.

These last two years, preparing for deployment and deploying have seen you rise above

the common Soldier, the common unit. We have become a pride. A pride of Red Li-

ons that I am proud to call my own.

Thank you, for your continued support!

-CSM Jody L. Arrington

In early June CPT Adam Sylvester, the Battalion Maintenance Officer and

CSM Jody Arrington, TF 1-119 Command Sergeant Major traveled to Rich-

mond, Virginia and had the privilege of attending The United States Army 2011

Combined Logistics Excellence Awards at the Great Richmond Convention

Center. CPT Sylvester and CSM Arrington flew 22 hours to receive a Deploy-

ment Excellence Award Active Army 2010 Runner Up Award-Operational De-

ployment Large Category. This award recognizes Army units for superior

achievement in the areas of supply, maintenance and deployment logistics.

Judges from the U.S. Army Transportation, Quartermaster, and Ordnance

Centers travel around the world to conduct on-site evaluations of units nomi-

nated by their commands. CPT Sylvester and CSM Arrington accepted the

award on behalf of TF 1-119.

“It was an honor,” CSM Arrington stated, “being a part of this ceremony,

which included such a diverse group of military units from across the world”.

CPT Sylvester had this to comment on his experience at the Combined Logis-

tics Excellence Awards. “It was an honor and a privilege to be chosen to repre-

sent the 1st Battalion, 119th Field Artillery and to receive the award on their

behalf.”

The Key Note Speaker was Command Sergeant Major of the Army Raymond

F. Chandler III.

Also awarded was the 1-119th’s sister BN out of the Michigan National Guard.

The 1st Battalion, 182 Field Artillery was selected as Runner's-up, in the De-

ployment Excellence Award for Small Deploying Unit Category. Right to Left: CPT Sylvester , CMA Chandler and CSM Arrington at CLEA.

June 2011

2

LTC

THE XO Another month down!

You can feel something in the air, besides really hot sand blowing in your face as soon as you step outside? Is

there something a little lighter in your footsteps? It’s not because the many pounds several soldiers have

lost…….we are getting closer to coming home and leaving this beachfront property.

We are preparing the way home and many are working many hours not only sustaining current operations,

but planning and executing hundreds of tasks to redeploy. I wanted to take some space in this newsletter to go

over some of the large obstacles that personnel are accomplishing to support redeployment.

First, there is the planning of our relief in place. There are over 300 tasks that we have to train the unit who

will replace us. Each staff section and unit has developed plans to do a proper hand off to the unit who will

take over our mission. From scheduling ranges, MRAP drivers training, battle drills to tours of camps, all is

included in the planning to ensure all is covered and resources can be supported.

In addition we are working on plans for the first 120 days after we return. This will include our Yellow Rib-

bon event, Freedom Salutes and a post deployment health assessment drill weekend.

Then of course is the planning to physically move out of here. That includes preparing equipment to handoff,

counting every bullet for turn in, packing storage containers, scheduling customs inspections, scheduling

flights that coincide with our relief in place plans, Soldier physicals and blood draws, completing awards, writ-

ing evaluation reports and the list goes on…..well over 100 pages in an operations order….

Keep in mind, there is no let up on the mission. We are actually even busier than before. All these tasks is cer-

tainly keeping everyone engaged and helping the last couple of months go by very quickly. The staff is doing

great and I am proud of all of them and their service to the Soldiers of this BattaLion. In addition, the Soldiers

are stepping up with the new challenges and new missions. Their ability to remain resilient and adapt to

change keeps us successful. May has passed, well into June, preparing to hopefully be home before the last

summer holiday this year. If the stars are aligned just right….we’ll see.

Each unit will be staggered on the return from mobilization, so each unit FRG’s are planning homecoming

ceremonies. If you haven’t been involved all year in the FRG, that’s ok, but consider helping out on the re-

turn.

Red Lions Preparing the Way home!

MAJ Scott Meyers “The XO”

Red Lion families and friends,

June has arrived and in just a few short months, we all will be rotating out and returning home. Our replacements are at their

mobilization site, conducting all their mobilization training. Several of our Soldiers recently traveled to Ft. McCoy, to assist

the incoming unit with their training. We can now see the light at the end of the tunnel and it is getting brighter with each pass-

ing day.

The Task Force has experienced many accomplishments throughout the deployment. This is all thanks to the hard work, pro-

fessionalism and individual achievements of our Soldiers. Many of these individual achievements are physical fitness, weight

loss, military, and civilian education.

Over ninety percent of our Soldiers meet Army height weight standards. We have hundreds of Soldiers that have lost between

ten and twenty pounds, dozens who have lost forty to fifty pounds, and one Soldier who has lost over seventy pounds since we

have been deployed. Ninety five percent of the Task Force is now passing the Army Physical Fitness Test (APFT). Many Sol-

diers are now not only passing the APFT, but working to achieve a maximum score.

Sixty five of our junior enlisted Soldiers have completed the Warrior Leader Course, a part of their military education. An-

other twenty eight enlisted Soldiers are enrolled in senior NCO military education courses and dozens of Soldiers (both

enlisted and officer) are working on correspondence courses for both their military and civilian education. Soldiers are seizing

all available opportunities to better themselves, both mentally and physically.

Thank you all for your continued support. Red Lions – Prepare the Way!

LTC Schloegl

Commander

3

ALPHA

BRAVO

Family and Friends:

Just want to say hello and thanks

for all of the support over the last 9

months. It’s been your efforts that

have kept the soldiers motivated

through the heat, dust storms, and busy

operations. We are all looking forward

to joining our friends and family in the

very near future. We are on our final leave blocks as a unit and gearing up for Minnesota Na-

tional Guard to get here. Leave has been a blessing for all of the soldiers here. We had Sol-

diers travel to Ukraine, Thailand, and Costa Rica; but most people headed back home to be

with family and friends. Although the 15 days seems to fly by, it's

enough time to allow soldiers to relax and vacation. SGT Cuba

spent time down at Disneyland over his leave. Many soldiers from

1st Platoon went to see a Tigers game together. 1SG Bennett plans

to hang out in his garage as he says, "that will be a vacation for

me!"

-CPT John R.

Hendrikse

Hello Highlander Family and Friends,

This past month the company hit the 500,000 mile mark driving the

dangerous highways of Kuwait in support of Operation New Dawn

and it was done accident free! This commitment to safety and con-

stant professionalism by our NCO corps is directly responsible for this

accomplishment and I would like to thank them all and you all for

supporting them in achieving this goal. I would also like to acknowl-

edge the hardworking members of our Fleet management team shown

in the adjoining pictures. They have secured and helped maintain our

current fleet, which is a vast improvement to our previous fleet con-

figuration. The mission is not over however, and in many respects is

just ramping up. As part of

the Responsible Drawdown,

we anticipate an increase in

standard missions and a

need for our assistance

from the Battalion on their

standard mission. There is

no doubt in my mind the Highlanders will take any mission that comes their

way and excel.

A special Thank You! goes out to our FRG for everything they have done for

our unit. Thanks all!

-CPT Jeffrey Austhof

Bravo Soldiers perform preventative maintenance checks on

vehicles.

4

CHARLIE

DELTA

Hi all,

It has been another exciting month here in the HOT Kuwaiti desert. We are reaching

daily temperatures of well over 100 degrees. The constant breeze that comes in from the

North has turned into a steady stream of hot air. I think it was best described by 1LT

Beatty when he said it felt like the rush of hot air you get when you open the oven to check

to see if the cookies are done baking. I would say he is spot on. Well except for the smell, it

sure doesn't smell like cookies around here. Due to the rising temperatures we have

shifted to running many of our operations at night. The nights are a bit cooler and we

don't risk our trucks overheating as much from the intense sun beating down on them.

We had a few promotions this month PFC Denaway, PFC Drummond and PFC Dierking

were all promoted Specialist and PV2 William Bostwick was promoted to Private First

Class. Congratulations guys, well earned!! CPT Graham reminded all those promoted

that with higher rank comes greater responsibility.

The big sand storm that rolled through Kuwait two months

ago, left a lot of destruction behind. The Cobra's of Charlie

Company were affected the most by the storm, having the en-

tire roof of their porch torn off. However, after a few weeks of

working to get the materials the roof was ready to be rebuilt. So our engineers did what they

do best and picked up their hammers and saws and went to work. The build team of SPC

Robb, SGT Edwards, SGT Degroot, and SPC Dierking, SPC Spring and led by 1LT Beatty

and SPC Bromley put up the new roof in just a couple of nights. Way to go guys, great

work!!

Preparations to come home are ramping up every day, the light is at the end of tunnel and

getting brighter. Our replacements should be starting their training at Ft. McCoy shortly.

Well folks, that is all for now. As always, thank you so much for your support back home.

-SSG Plank

Family, Friends and Supporters,

As some of you know, the Cobras lost

the roof of their porch during the vio-

lent sand storm that hit Kuwait in late

March. I am proud to announce that re

-construction of the porch’s roof is fi-

nally complete. It took quite some time

to procure the materials needed but af-

ter seeing the final product, the wait

was worth it. I would like to personally

thank 1LT Avery and Delta Company

(the 1436th

Engineers) who used their construction expertise to complete this project. They volunteered countless

hours of their own free time to complete this project and the Cobras owe them a huge debt of gratitude.

Another month down means another month closer to coming home. The Cobras continue to display high levels

of confidence, eagerness and dedication to their mission. We remain busy which helps us stay focused and fight

complacency. We are roughly three quarters of the way through the deployment and for some, the countdown

has already begun.

Thank you again for all of your support.

We would not be successful “forward”

in this fight if it were not for your ef-

forts back home.

Regards,

-CPT Matthew J. Carroll

5

HHC

For any requests or comments concerning the Newsletter please contact

TF 1-119 PAO: 2LT Samuel Boulet

at samuel.boulet@kuwait.swa.army.mil

Family, Friends, and Community Supporters of HQ Company, 1-119 Field Artillery, Greetings!

Life in the desert can be harsh and demanding. As Soldiers, we experience a vast array of weather patterns, from the perplexing chill

of a clear desert night, to the scorching oven of a sun-drenched day. We experience an astounding array of storms; rain storms appear

quickly, the fat drops of warm water pummeling the earth with an intense and rapid-fire staccato; sand storms color the sky tan, darkening

the sun, obscuring visibility. We have even had the pleasure to experience a giant dust devil, of short duration but of giant stature, hundreds

of feet tall, skirting the edge of the camp, skewing perspective and thrashing the sand in a maelstrom of latent heat and wind. We awaken

early to a sun too bright, and work late into the night, sunset dipping molten red into the western horizon. We trudge wearily from one loca-

tion to another on the camp as we go about the missions for the day, enduring the intense heat and sand in stride. Our deployment and work

has placed our Soldiers in a position of constant adaptation to changing mission and environment.

We have grown accustomed to the rigors and austerity of life in the desert camp; walking the dusty roads, face held down, chin to

chest and eyes squinting nearly shut as we face the shifting sands of a fickle desert; climbing the rusting steps to a field latrine, oven hot, with

fetid and rank odor and no lights to see; simple tasks such as cleaning and toileting before bed become a challenge of logistics and operational

planning, getting dressed to move to the shower point, bringing bottled water to brush ones teeth, finding an empty sink or stall for washing,

planning bathroom breaks to ensure an uninterrupted night of sleep without having to stumble to the latrine in the dark. These are all sim-

ple aspects of our life in the desert; every Soldier has been indoctrinated into the current norm, the life of a deployed Soldier. The distant

memory of home and the comforts of our familiar surroundings are dim in memory as we have adapted to our new reality.

Soldiers shake boots out before donning, pound trousers and blouses against the floor or tent wall to remove any unexpected and un-

welcome wildlife from the folds; spiders and scorpions are part of our life now, becoming more active with the heat of Spring-time; this sim-

ple act of self protection is routine for most. Our desert home is becoming more crowded; units from the north rotate through our camp on

their way to redeployment. We have experienced a dramatic, but unpredictable increase in the usage of our shared facilities on the camp.

Our Soldiers are finding lines to wait in for chow, gym facilities full, and MWR and USO buildings teeming with bodies. We are privy to a

new, rather large contingent of native salesmen, setting up stands of exotic goods near the PX, aggressively hawking trinkets and sundries for

all of the transient Soldiers to buy before movement back home.

The only constant in military service and in the life of a Soldier is change. Our mission continues to mature and we have attained a

new and more complicated level of operations. As our time grows short, our duties and responsibilities continue to evolve, our operations

becoming more complex and wide-spread. Our Soldiers, ever strong and capable, continue to adapt even to these difficult but necessary

changes to mission and task. This is one of the most admirable of strengths of the U.S. Soldier; adaptability, dogged determination, and sac-

rifice.

As we near the end of our deployment, the days and nights busier than ever before, we look forward to a return to normalcy, to the

memories of simple luxuries that were taken for granted, to the quiet nights in the company of our families, friends, and loved ones. Again, I

want to thank all of you; the Family members, the community members, the veteran organizations, and employers of these Soldiers. Thank

you for your compassion and sacrifice; you are the home that we will return to, we are all grateful for your contributions and heart-felt care!

Michael J. Cochenour

Captain, U.S. Army

Photos courtesy of SSG Wimbury .