Dakota Beacon

*** COMPANY

Company Commander Notes:

A quick update for friends and families.  My monthly Walkabout has just been completed.  This involves the First Sergeant and me visiting every Patrol Base, patrolling on foot, over the course of three or four days.  There are 14 positions and we cover between 30 and 40 kilometers.  On this Walkabout we added our Combat Camera Marine, Cpl S*****, our Artillery Forward Observer, 2ndLt N***** and our always faithful linguist H****, who is fluent in four local languages (Darri, Farsi, Urdu and Pashtu) and English.  Cpl S***** captured some fantastic photos and we’ll see what we can do about posting some of them on the company page.

First Platoon is denying the enemy key terrain where he used to move about freely.  Those days are over and plans are in the works to flush out a few stragglers in First Platoon Area of Operations who do not know we’re watching them. 

Second platoon owns the most productive and influential bazaar in the battalion’s Area of Operations.  Like First Platoon, the men of Second Platoon are denying the enemy any safe havens.  Come ‘spring offensive’ time, I doubt the enemy will have any success there.  The Marines have locked it down and know the locals.  (D*****’s platoon)

Third Platoon is the first unit to occupy a position on the western side of the H****** River in the last four battalions.  This is a huge move designed to block the insurgent routes moving up and down the western roads.  The village they occupy was once owned by the enemy.  No longer.  Third Platoon is co-located there with an Afghani Police Station.  The two work together to rid the western approaches of Islamic fundamentalism.

Fourth Platoon has won the admiration of the locals.  Several of their elders are particularly enamored with the platoon commander.  Fourth Platoon continues to discover hidden caché sites which a feeble enemy relies on to emplace IEDs.  They avoid the Marines of Fourth Platoon.

My snipers have racked up another clean kill on an enemy bomb emplacer. The word is out amongst the locals.  If you work with the Taliban, a certain death awaits you from an unseen Marine.  I couldn’t be more proud.

Overall the men look good.  They’re in good spirits, discipline is high and their living conditions are improving.  They’ve turned to on training their Afghan National Army comrades in patrolling, shooting and communications.  Here at Combat Outpost S****, the company headquarters, we teach several subjects to the Afghani Soldiers. Cpl K****** is teaching basic computer skills, Sgt O*** teaches intelligence gathering, LCpl H******** teaches rudimentary English, Doc D**** and Doc K*** teach Combat Life Saving and I teach Marine Corps Martial Arts.  These are just a few things the local army is learning from the Marines of *** Company and such efforts are a huge piece of transitioning the battle-space over to the Afghanis. 

First Sergeant’s Comments:  The New Year is behind us and we are just about the half way point through this deployment.  To you family members, great job so far taking care of the multitude of situations and problems that have came up since your loved ones have been gone.  You have eliminated most of the stress off the Marines here which they have been able to perform meticulously and superbly in the day to day events that keep your Marines busy.  The Marines are creating new and interesting ways to occupy their time by building a guitar, constructing a hot water shower at one of our patrol bases and even adopting a few puppies to keep them company when they aren’t patrolling.

I have never seen the infantry be more able to live off the land then I see day to day around here.  They truly have been amazing in their work ethics and productivity while they have been in Afghanistan.  Your Marines have either walked into or have built from scratch the patrol bases that we live in today.  I can honestly say that each patrol base that *** company occupies now is better than it was when we got here and we will leave it more enhanced before we leave.  I sincerely want to thank each and every one of you for keeping your Marines head in the fight we have over here.  You should be and are being commended for a job well done, but hang in there for a few more months.  It’s not over yet and these last few months will be here before you know it.

Also, I would like to say Happy Birthday to the individual Marines that were hatched during the month of January; LCpl A*******, LCpl G******, LCpl H******, LCpl J******, LCpl K*****, LCpl S******* M*******, Sgt M**, LCpl P*****, LCpl R*** and LCpl U*********.

Semper Fidelis!