This month we talked

about honoring the service of those who

have gone before us by

filling “the unforgiving minute.” Rudyard Kipling, adventurer and author of The Jungle Book, wrote the poem If with his son, John, in mind. It contains advice on how

one can fill his or her life with meaning and purpose. Perhaps most appli-cable to soldiers and our families is the point he makes about life being unforgiving. We have chosen a difficult profession. Being in the Army is hard and dealing with the uncertainty of our missions can be challenging—I

know! Kipling would tell us this is all the more reason to fill the time we do have together with good memories and quality time. I sincerely thank 643rd’s soldiers for their hard work and their families for their support.

The Wolfpack is definitely picking up the pace this month. In the last thirty days, we have deployed over 35 soldiers to Guam and the Philippines. Try to keep up with your soldier on Facebook or the platoon pages! In addition to the recent deployments, we still have troops on Palau doing great things. I speak with the team weekly and they

have already got to work on a fire department and workout stations for the small country’s Olympic development facilities. The Roughnecks have landed in the Philippines and have begun another unique project: a steel cable suspen-sion bridge across a small river that will help farmers reach their fields and return with carts of produce. These pro-

jects genuinely impact people’s lives. While it is difficult to be away from our homes and families, it makes me so proud to think that our soldiers’ hard work makes life a little better for countries less fortunate than our own.

This month also marks the end of two officers’ time with 643rd. 1LT Russ Marron recently finished a 12

month tour as the company’s executive officer and deployed to Guam to support the battalion’s mission there. It is impossible to explain the influence a good XO has on the company, but I can say that LT Marron sacrificed more time and energy than many realize and I can’t thank him enough for his service. In his place, we welcome 1LT Diana Worth. She is an extremely capable officer and will pick up right where LT Marron left off. In addition, we are also

losing 2LT Hugh Foster, our maintenance platoon leader. Although only with us for five months, Hugh truly made his mark with his dedication and selfless service. We’ll miss his leadership in the motor pool, but 2LT Tyler Skomp, his replacement, will undoubtedly do a fine job. I sincerely appreciate the devotion these officers displayed during their

time with us; they have truly honored the service with their performance. In the midst of all that is going on, this month reminds us that even as soldiers come and go, we always have a home with the Wolfpack. This is truly a special unit full of great people. Thank you!!!

Honor the Service Wolfpack 6

From the Commander

PROMOTIONS

Congratulations to the following

soldiers for being promoted:

31 MARCH 2013 Issue 3

Wolfpack Howler

Inside this

issue:

1ST PLATOON

3RD PLATOON

4TH PLATOON

CAT PALAU

MAINTENANCE

OPERATIONS

Happy Birthday to the following:

SPC Donna Moya, 30 APR (21)

Shaquanne Fregiste, 3 APR (10)

Kyle Pino, 6 APR (6)

SPC Mark Louis Jeune, 18 APR (30)

SPC Kevin Vandelinder, 11 APR (21)

BIRTHDAYS

Congratulations to the following soldiers and their spouses on cele-

brating their anniversary!

SFC Benoit and Juanita Fregiste

-4 APR, 12 years

SSG Zachary and Olita Pettitt

-12 APR, 5 years

SGT Steven and Choua Thao

-12 APR, 8 years

SPC Jesse and Kimberly Ramey

-16 APR, 3 years

ANNIVERSARIES

SPC Dameg inspects the bridge 1st

Platoon is replacing during Operation

Balikatan, 2013 in the Philippines.

“If you can fill the unforgiving minute

With sixty seconds' worth of distance run, Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it, And—which is more—you'll be a Man, my son!”

Excerpt from If by Rudyard Kipling

Page 2 Wolfpack Howler

1ST PLATOON Roughnecks

Roughnecks Go to Zambales

After a short break from the rigors of construction operations, the Roughnecks are at it again in the Philippines.

During the second week of March eight Roughnecks left Hawaii and arrived in Manila, Philippines. There they met up with

two additional Roughnecks from Guam and proceeded to their project site in Zambales. The project “Balikatan 2013” will

involve the construction of a wire suspended footbridge to serve a small subsistence rice farming village.

After arriving at the village, the advanced party quickly realized the scale of their mission. Not only is the village

remote, but there is a 4 foot deep river to cross before they can even reach the river which their bridge will be crossing.

Never daunted, 1st Platoon drove on and found a route around the footbridge, and began running their two trucks almost

non-stop to deliver all the construction materials necessary for the bridge. After conquering this problem and several

other logistical challenges, the Roughnecks have worked hard to get the mission complete.

The Bridge itself is designed from plans and instructions created by Virginia Tech called the Bridges to Prosperity

program. The purpose of this program and the design is to create a bridge which can be adapted to a many applications, in

any environment, with limited and low quality materials, and untrained labor in order to support pedestrian traffic to other-

wise populated but cut-off areas. The bridge is designed to be built with untrained labor in anywhere from three to four

months. The Roughnecks, however, will complete this project in less than 30 days.

Soon the rest of the crew will arrive to join the advanced party, and a total of 25 Soldiers from 1st Platoon and 25

from 522nd Engineer Construction Battalion, Philippines Armed Forces, will complete the last two weeks of construction

and dedicate the project to the Baranguay.

SOLDIER OF THE ISSUE: SPC Anthony Gabrillo

-Born 1987 in Honolulu, Hawaii. One of four children.

-Joined the army in June of 2010 to start a career focused on

construction.

-Married to Tiffany Gabrillo since March 27, 2010

-Reenlisted in January for four additional years in the Army and is headed to Fort Carson, Colorado for his next duty station. Plans to get his college degree in Sports Medicine and go to

OCS to become an Officer.

Page 3 Issue 3

3RD PLATOON We Ready

The month of March was fast and furious for the We Ready Platoon. From the very beginning of the month

Soldiers and NCOs displayed their innate flexibility by quickly and competently conducting Warrior Tasks and Skills train-

ing without prior planning. After completing the training, the Platoon responded well to another challenge: running two

M16 ranges in two weeks. The hard work of the Soldiers and NCOs paid off as the Platoon helped to qualify over 130

Soldiers during the two ranges. Without losing a step, the Platoon refocused on construction and performed three weeks

extremely high quality training on Pre-Engineered Buildings (including one very difficult test).

Taking advantage of the extra time allotted, the We Ready Platoon found time to relax and enjoy a little bit of

time together during the Platoon Org Day on March 8th at Halewia Beach Park. Between the great barbeque chicken pro-

vided by SPC Dykes Lopez and the intense football and ultimate frisbee competitions led by SFC Yancy Young it was

a surprise that anybody could move well enough to make it in to work the following Monday.

Even after spending all that time on training, the Platoon still found time to keep up on both maintenance and

supply. After conducting two roll-outs during the final weeks of the month, the We Ready Platoon can safely say that they

are the Company leaders in performing quality maintenance and being prepared to deploy. Additionally, the Platoon

seamlessly executed change of hand receipt holders after fare welling two squad leaders. CW2 Edgar Espiritu took

SSG Bryant Kennedy with him to Guam along with SPC Lukasz Zabkowski and PFC Austin Shiver for a short

goodbye before we see them again in Guam at the end of April. Bidding “adios” to SSG Moses Guzman as he moves

off to Schofield Barracks Garrison Operations was a little harder as he will be gone for over six months. His technical

competence and high motivation will be missed, but they will quickly prove useful in his new job. Filling in for those who

have gone before us, 3rd Platoon welcomed PFC Luigi Fernandez, PVT Kristoffer Sala, and PVT Tyler Smith this

past month, and everybody looks forward to working with them.

April is sure to be both a challenging and rewarding month as the Platoon looks forward to finishing the final

arrangements before departing for Guam, and then the Marshall Islands, at the end of the month. Whatever challenges

the upcoming deployment holds 3rd Platoon is confident in the fact that its motto is truer than ever before: We Ready!

SOLDIER OF THE ISSUE: PFC Corey Mauser

Age: 21

Hometown: Newton, North Carlolina

Favorite Sports Team: NASCAR

Hobbies: Working on his truck (really anything that’s diesel).

Interesting fact: Plans on getting full Automotive Service Engineer

(ASE) Certification so that he can be licensed to work on any kind

of vehicle.

Page 4 Wolfpack Howler

4th PLATOON Mighty Rhinos

Taking its place in the 84th Engineer Battalion’s historic

deployment to Guam, 4th Platoon, 643rd Engineer Company has

begun construction on a major project at Anderson Air Force

Base. Beginning on March 15, the Platoon task organized into

three separate crews each with its own piece of a four building

Military Operations Urban Terrain (MOUT) site consisting of two

one-story and two two-story CMU buildings located on Anderson

Air Force Base the total cost of which goes well into 6 figures.

The task requires proficiency in block work and concrete and

places particular emphasis on project management, safety and qual-ity control. This may seem like an everyday project for the 643rd

Engineer Company, which regularly has Platoons deployed

throughout the Pacific conducting missions with minimal life sup-

port and oversight, but this one in particular carries a unique twist.

Two out of the three crew leaders, SSG Jeremy Lanning and

SGT Wesley Snead, are 12N’s (experts in horizontal construc-

tion) where heavy equipment operation is paramount but little

vertical construction is normally expected. Here on this project

site, they lead teams of 12R’s (electricians), 12K’s (Plumbers), 12W

(Carpenter/Masons), all the while developing their own up and

coming crop of 12N junior enlisted Soldiers. Another thing sepa-

rating this project from the rest is that 4th Platoon has taken the

reins on what was previously an Air Force project headed by the

554th Red Horse, a unit with most of its personnel currently de-

ployed. Platoon leadership and crew leaders alike have been find-

ing themselves learning the Air Force way of doing things from

signing out equipment to purchasing materials as well as upholding

the standards in the Navy Seabees reporting requirements. This of

course is all being done while maintaining the Army’s safety, quality

control and discipline standards.

MOS: 12N

Originally from Vietnam

Goals in the Army: To have a successful mission in Guam and Micronesia and become an NCO Hobbies: Fishing and all outdoor activities

How does he like Guam so far? “It’s OK.” - man of few words

SOLDIER OF THE ISSUE:

PFC Hoi Tran

It’s been a long hard month for the Mighty Rhinos as the Soldiers so emphatically call themselves but

one they’ve taken on aggressively. 4th Platoon arrived on Guam just over a month ago with a daunting agenda.

While cross-training horizontal NCO’s on vertical construction, the Platoon has conducted a series of Warrior

Tasks and Drills, assisted in Camp Maintenance operations, cross-trained with the 142nd Survey and Design team

on mission specific equipment, trained on new communications equipment with the Battalion’s S-6 shop and

conducted a series of planning and estimating missions as well as project briefs. Additionally, the Platoon would

like to congratulate SPC Aaron Leucht and SPC Joseph Lewis on their impressive performance at the

board and are happy to announce we will soon be welcoming them as the newest NCO’s in the Army. The next month doesn’t show any signs of slowing down as the Platoon continues to prepare itself for

an upcoming mission to the Federated States of Micronesia where it will be conducting multiple projects and

community relations activities alongside host nation workers in support of USPACOM’s cooperative engagement

strategy in FSM. This strategy places a focus on enhancing basic public facility infrastructure and local engineer-

ing capacity while generating enduring grassroots relationships and improving host nation education and health

service infrastructure and will largely be done through renovation work on three of the island’s public schools.

4th Platoon will continue work on the MOUT site up until its departure date for Kosrae when it will turn the

project over to another highly motivated crew in the 84th Engineer Battalion. Also, prior to departure, we will be conducting M16 qualifications, participating in multiple community service

activities, completing various Platoon certifications for the Kosrae deployment, as well as take our record APFT.

Be sure to wish your Soldiers good luck from home in these critical events!

Page 5 Issue 3

CAT PALAU

Time is on our side as we are away from

our families and friends. Another month down and

the closer we are to reuniting with our loved ones.

The Civic Action Team is all gas and no brakes as

they go into the final phases of completing their pro-

ject of the Ngardmau Fire/ Police Station in the

month of April. This project was initiated in 2009

and is finally ready for completion by your Soldiers,

the CAT Palau 84-01 team. Lots of effort and hard

work is put into this project and the Soldiers take pride in every task they do in order to complete the

Fire/Police Station. The long hours working with the

apprentices to teach them engineering and to main-

tain good community relations has led to the 100%

successful completion of this project. SSG Justin

Vegafria is the crew leader for the project and has

done a phenomenal job guiding and mentoring SPC

William Hall and their apprentices Travis and Shane. SGT Arnaldo Terrazas is the NCO in charge of

ensuring all plumbing is in place, installing fixtures and inspecting water lines. SPC Joseph Rew is back in the

fight and has done an excellent job with wiring the entire building and doing inspections on the building so that

complete safety in the electrical system. The team is highly motivated to complete the pre-engineered building

which consists of 7 office spaces, 2 jail cells, 3 bathrooms, 2 storage areas, 1 kitchen and laundry area. Every-

one is excited to complete the project so we can work on new projects that are aligned for us.

The Equipment operators have done a superb job training their apprentices on all their core trades

and how to properly operate heavy equipment. Among the many training events they have conducted, the

Equipment Operators, headed by SSG Zachary Pettitt, completed a technical assist with the Palau Baptist

Church. SPC Daniel Kelly and the apprentices Zach and Isi loaded and hauled 8 loads of asphalt to place for

the Baptist church drive way. After all the asphalt was laid they used the BHL to help spread and level the

existing asphalt. Then they went back and used rakes and a hand tamper to finish the job. The total length of

the drive way was 150 feet. The heavy equipment team has a number road projects they are getting ready to

execute as well. One project is located in the state of Melekeok where they will grade the road to the medical

clinic for the state, another one will be grading of a 1.5 mile long road to Ngardmau’s dock to help their state

income with tourism and an additional school ground improvement project at the state of Ngarchelong. The

team has their work laid out for them, but they continue to display their enjoyment of what they do because

they know their work greatly increases the quality of life of the people here in Palau.

The mechanic team led by SSG Loren Pino is doing an awesome job with their apprentices Kinley

and Jason as the train on equipment maintenance and readiness. SPC Donna Moya is doing a tremendous

job by teaching the apprentices their specialties in their MOS. On top of that, to gain more training, the locals

have brought in their privately own vehicles to get work done by our mechanics and their apprentices. So far

the mechanics have completed 10 tech assist for the local population who are truly thankful and grateful for all

the work and assistance that the CAT Team has provided for them.

Although we work hard, the team also knows how to play hard. The team conducted an MWR

event where we hiked to a waterfall near the camp where we could relax and swim. The team has done a

morale boosting BBQ which was headed by none other than our “TOP MASTER CHEF” SSG VEGAFRIA,

who did a phenomenal job at the grill. We enjoyed good local cuisine and some nice island music while we

laughed about our adventures in Palau. In April we have lots of community relations activities to conduct and

also a big MWR hike on the island of Peleliu. The team is looking to do lots of great things for the Republic of

Palau and hope to leave a legacy upon our return home!

CAT Mission takes off in full throttle.

The CAT PALAU Team after their waterfall hike.

Page 6 Wolfpack Howler

Maintenance The Backbone

During the month of March, 643rd Maintenance, the Backbone of the

Company, continued to successfully maintain the rear fleet and ensure its opera-

tional readiness for deployment throughout the Pacific Rim. The Backbone would

also like to bid farewell and good luck to 2LT Hugh Foster. 2LT Foster served

successfully as the Maintenance Platoon Leader for the last several months. He

will be heading over to 561st Horizontal Construction Company to take over a

line platoon from 1LT Taylor Stokes once he returns on the 30th of March

from Mississippi where he spent a well-deserved two weeks of leave. The Back-

bone extends to him their gratitude and respect for his leadership. Taking over

for 2LT Foster is 2LT Tyler Skomp. He will have some big shoes and dirty mechanic overalls to fill in the wake of 2LT Fosters absence, but the members

of the Backbone have welcomed him into their ranks with open arms. The Backbone would like to applaud SGT Rutledge and his ability to

carry out the Motor Sergeant’s responsibilities while SGT Thao was on leave for

two weeks this March. A special mention of SPC Cheeseboro is justified as

well, because without her, the Backbone would never have received the Environ-

mental Control Officer’s (ECO) rating of Excellent (99%) for this quarter. In this coming month of April, the Backbone doesn’t have many unique tasks to

look forward to, but instead will focus on becoming more efficient at basic mainte-

nance and soldier skills. Furthermore, we will help the new 643rd XO, 1LT Diana Worth, in her efforts to reestablish a PMCS/

Maintenance program for the all communication and CBRN gear. Finally, we will wish a safe deployment for our very own SGT

Rutledge in mid to late April, as he heads over to assist forward company maintenance operations with his much needed expertise

and skill. For the month of April, the Backbone family wants to congratulate two couples on their wedding anniversary and wish

two people a happy birthday. Congratulations to SGT Thao and his wife Choua on their 8 years of marriage as of the 12th of

April. The Backbone also wants to say congratulations to SPC Ramey and his wife Kimberly on their 3 years of marriage as of

the 16th of April. The Backbone Maintenance team understands the importance of a stable family life and the truly appreciates these

two ladies in their support of their husbands and the entire team. Additionally, we wish a

happy birthday to SPC Louis-Jeune who turns the ripe age of 30 on the 18th of April, but

he doesn’t mind because as he states he is “aging like a fine wine”. SPC Moya, who turns

21 on the 30th of April, also deserves our best wishes as she is currently carrying out many

difficult but ultimately successful maintenance tasks while deployed to Guam in support of

the 643rd.

SOLDIER OF THE ISSUE:

2LT Hugh Foster, 12A

Age: 31

Hometown: Myrtle, MS

Goals: Serve my country until retirement, get master’s degree in trans-

portation and traffic engineering, obtain professional engineering license.

Hobbies: Billiards/Pool, the movies, volunteer work, watching the history

channel, and relaxing.

SPC Louis Jeuene gives 2LT Foster an award

showing MNT’s appreciation before 2LT Foster

leaves the Company.

Page 7 Issue 3

Operations

Aloha! March has definitely proved to be a busy month for the hardworking operations team. We started off the

month strong with an M16 qualification range. Seven Soldiers from Headquarters shot expert, including SGT Ayers, SFC

Kendall, LT Marron, SGT Petscher, SSG Reyes, SGT Sanders, and LT Worth! Well done! Not long after, Head-

quarters took a successful APFT. Congratulations to SSG Rose and CPT Mainwaring for earning the Army Physical

Fitness Badge! Great job!

Operations have been going strong all month. The Wolfpack family is doing incredible work across the Pacific

and the Operations team is providing top-notch support every step of the way. SPC AQ has expertly prepared orders

and settled vouchers to make sure Soldiers get to their mission locations and get paid. SSG Hagar, SGT Sanders, SGT

Ayers, and PFC Edman have worked tirelessly to plan, resource, and track the training that keeps the Wolfpack ready to

perform any mission. SPC Gaeta worked nonstop to take care of the company’s personnel actions. SPC Brower con-

stantly overcame whatever communication challenge was thrown at him. Every single member of the Operations team has

put forth incredible effort to make the company a success! Well done.

It may seem that Operations is too busy working to have fun. Fortunately, though, the Operations team was able

to take a break from the hectic work week to conduct kayak physical training at Pililaau Bay in Waianae. The team spent a

beautiful morning learning how to roll over in their kayaks, practicing paddling, and having a great time. The morning was

complete with a kayak and sand running race and plenty of turtle sightings.

Congratulations on a job well done this month! Next month will continue to challenge the section. Stay tuned to

hear about another month of excellence!

A big aloha goes out to SPC Edwin Velasquez as we welcome him as the new company medic. Sadly, Opera-

tions will be bidding farewell to some amazing members of its team. SGT Ebrahimnejad, SPC Hutchings, and SPC

Gerena will all be moving on to bigger and better things in the near future. Thank you for your hard work! You will truly

be missed. Best of luck in the future!

SGT John Ayers and SSG Nicholas Hagar

take over the company conference room

while trying to bring order to the company’s

training certificates

The operations team prepares to splash

around and get some good PT in at Plilaau

Bay in Waianae

Page 8 Wolfpack Howler

1st PLATOON

(Left) SPC Gabrillo

prepares to guide the anchor formwork into position on the far

side of the river. (Right) SPC Dameg checks the elevation on the excavations for

the far side of the bridge

(Left) SSG Williams

supervises the con-crete mixture as the far-side anchor is

poured. (Right) SGT Geib attaches the cable clamps which will hold

the 1 1/4 inch steel cables against the tension of the bridge

decking and users.

(Left) SGT Geib and

SPC Hurst begin to mix mortar for near-side foundation con-

crete block. (Right) SGT Geib and SGT Rausch continue to work on the tem-

porary construction bridge necessary to get materials and

equipment to the far side of the river.

(Left) 1st Platoon

stands in formation for the bridge ground breaking ceremony.

(Right) LT Tolentino (AFP), LT Kantner, and SGT Geib discuss the rebar cage design

Page 9 Wolfpack Howler

1LT Bryant Watrous reenlists SPC Daniel Hale while PFC

Corey Mauser and SGT Donny Vaiau hold the flag during

sunrise at Bellows Air Force Base.

SFC Yancy Young prepares to hike the ball while his team-

mates PFC Corey Mauser, SSG Moses Guzman, SPC Jason

Mayberry, and SGT Darrin Albarico look to run their

routes. SPC Daniel Hale and SGT Andreas Smith are plan-

ning on blitzing….

SPC Zabkowski and PFC Shiver place and align CMU block while working on the expansion to the Anderson Air Force Base

MOUT site in Guam.

3rd PLATOON

Page 10 Wolfpack Howler

SGT Snead discusses

his project scope with Major General Lyons during the

CG’s visit to Guam. The General pre-sented multiple

leaders with coins

for excellence after being impressed with how the site

was run.

SGT Snead briefs SPC Leucht and PV2 Ramsey on his con-

struction plan prior to starting the day’s activities on Building

#2

4th PLATOON

SSG Lanning poses next to a mixer from the 554th Red Horse.

Construction at the site has required coordination with Army,

Navy, and Air Force Personnel.

1LT Leedham and SFC Stewart served as keynote

speakers at an ROTC forum at the University of Guam where they gave their advice and answered questions to Cadets and discussed how to create

a successful platoon leader/platoon sergeant rela-

tionship.

All 4th Platoon NCO’s receive a certificate of apprecia-

tion after volunteering to judge a JROTC competition.

Page 11 Wolfpack Howler

CAT PALAU

“Top Master Chef” Vegafria on the grill

during the team’s BBQ.

SPC Kelly facilitating the apprentices as they conduct

load materials for the Church Drive Way project.

Visit us on FaceBook!

643rd EN CO—Wolfpack!

FRG NEWS!

IMPORTANT PHONE NUMBERS

Army Community Services: (808) 655-4227

Army Substance Abuse Programs: (808) 655-8700

Battalion Chaplain: (808) 655-1297

Military Family Life Consultant: (808) 226-7307

Military One Source: 1-800-342-9647

Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-8255

Tripler Trolley: (808) 433-1200

Tripler Trolley: (808) 433-1200

FRG Training with ACS

FRG Essentials (FRG 101, Key Caller, Fundraising, VMIS) – April 9 @ 0900-1345

Volunteer Orientation (BLDG 647 next to Theatre) – May 7 @ 1330-1430

Master Resiliency Training – May 7 @ 0900-1100

FRG Essentials (FRG 101, Key Caller, Fundraising) – May 14 @ 0900-1300

FRG Essential (FRG 101, Key Caller) – May 28 @ 1800-2000

FRG Essential (Fundraising) – May 29 @ 1800-1930

FRG Committee Contacts:

FRG Leader: Traci Kendall (253)720-2033, 643rdfrg@gmail.com or traci_l_kendall@yahoo.com Secretary: Gabrielle Johnson

Treasurers: Kristina Spohn and Beatrice Marshall Activities Coordinator: Coral Cullin

Fundraising Chair people: Deanna Zulkoski

Hospitality Chairperson: Kristina Spohn Points of Contact/Key Callers: Coral Cullin (616) 309-3410 coralcullinfrg@yahoo.com

Deanna Zulkoski (570) 472-8262 deanna zulkoski@yahoo.com Kristina Spohn (810)5 516 1550 kgggm1@yahoo.com Soldier Liaison PPOCs: SPC Brittany Keyser and SPC Fernando Gaeta

Headlines:

FRG Meeting: In place of our normal meeting on the 3rd Wednesday we have been invited

to the Space A Briefing on April 16th in the 84th Battalion Classroom at 6pm. Please see the attached

flier for more details!

Tax Time: Last day to file your federal taxes is April 17. Schofield Tax Center is located in

BLDG 648 (by the Theatre). Call for appointment 808-655-1040. You can also create a Military One

Source Account if you don’t already have one and you can be linked to the H&R Block website and can

file your federal and up to 3 state taxes for free!