Most recent family letter

Here's the latest family letter:

Dear TF Normandy Family Members,

I apologize for this being delayed. It seems I say that too often. I hope everything finds you all well for the holidays. I know your loved ones are missing you very much this holiday season.

There was such a great response to the letter from the soldiers at Bagram, I have again included a letter from them. In the future, we are looking at possibly including letters from the individual companies or platoons. These “soldier letters” are created by the companies or platoons together and are specifically for you back home.

Everything continues to go well at BAF and at Ghazni. Thanksgiving was a big success with all the trimmings, both at BAF and in Ghazni. In fact, in Ghazni some local officials even brought us some turkeys to help us celebrate. The only problem is they were still alive so we didn’t have time to prepare them for dinner. There are plans now to use them for Christmas. At Bagram the officers and senior NCOs stood guard duty for the day. This allowed us to give some of the lower ranking enlisted the day off. We plan to do the same thing on Christmas day.

On December 7^th, the Afghans had a historic day. The first democratically elected president was inaugurated to office. And more importantly, there was virtually no violence to mar the inauguration. Several of our units supported security for the inauguration by helping local police with Traffic Checkpoints along the main roads to Kabul. At Bagram we conducted surge patrols near the base as part of the extra security required by the presence of Vice President Cheney and Secretay of Defense Rumsfeld at the inauguration. Two days before the inauguration our patrols helped to discover rockets that were aimed at Bagram. They were safely disarmed. This incident serves as another example of the contribution that our Soldiers are making to the security of Bagram. Several of our Soldiers even had the opportunity to have breakfast with the Vice President. All in all the inauguration was a great success.

We have been receiving additional heavy weapons and vehicles to better support our missions at Bagram and Ghazni. New armored vehicles have been provided for the Soldiers patrolling at BAF. The heavy weapons will be divided between Ghazni and BAF. We have also received some additional protective items to help us against IED’s and new body armor gives greater protection to the arms and sides. This was issued to us at the same time it was issued to all the active duty units.

In Ghazni we have started to get more and more rain. On occasion, it has turned to snow. One of our patrols had to return to base because they could not get through the mountain passes because of the snow. We are actually tracking the rainfall to compare it to previous years to see if the drought might be lessening. Ghazni Province needs water almost more than anything else.

The weather in Bagram is getting colder but we still have some nice days. A new system for manning towers and conducting roving patrols is providing a little relief from pure tower duty. Some of our Soldiers rotate between towers and roving patrols during their shift, providing them with some variety during the day.

Rotations of units between Ghazni and BAF are almost complete. There will be one more rotation after Christmas, and then we should be stabilized for a couple months.

As we prepare for the holidays, I want to thank you all for the support you have been giving your loved ones over here in Afghanistan. There has been such a great outpouring of support from you all, it reminds us all of how great America is.

Take care, may God bless you and your family and God Bless America.

LTC Blake C. Ortner

Battalion Commander

From the Soldiers at Bagram

Dear Family Members:

At Bagram Air Field, we have been very busy since the last letter. Various dignitaries here for the inauguration of President Karzai, including Vice President Cheney and Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld, recently visited us. Their visit necessitated increased patrolling in the area as we searched for rocket sites and any anti-coalition activity. Thankfully, the visits and the inauguration went off without a hitch. The local villagers are starting to be more helpful, and we have been finding weapons caches and rockets before they have a chance to use them on us.

When not guarding the perimeter, we have been taking advantage of the time to conduct training at the Urban Warfare (MOUT) site, which allows us to practice searching buildings and taking hostiles into custody. The training is very realistic thanks to the use of simunitions, which are like paintballs specially made to work with our rifles. The site has sound effects, as well as cameras and microphones to record our training so we can review it later. This training is both valuable and quite enjoyable to the troops who need a break from the monotony of guard towers.

Several platoons have rotated up from Ghazni and everyone is adjusting to life here. The amenities are certainly nicer here, and the schedule is far more challenging, but we make do as best we can with the mission we are given. The new MWR building is now complete, thanks to the efforts of several of our soldiers who volunteered their limited time to construct the phone and computer areas. We are now waiting for the base contractors to install the computer and phone lines for it to become operational.

With the holiday season upon us, the number of letters and packages rolling into BAF for our soldiers is astonishing. We are all very grateful, and it makes missing our families during the holiday season slightly more bearable. Know that we miss you all, and wish you all a very happy holiday season.

Sincerely and respectfully yours,

The 3-116^th at Bagram Air Field