Well February has come and gone and by the time you read this we should be well into March and really starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel that signals our imminent deployment to Fort Carson and back to our families.

As usual, Charlie "Hardrock" Company continues to vigorously execute a steady flow of missions in sector along with the rest of the Battalion. We continue to take insurgents off the street, uncover weapons caches, and make our corner of the world here safer every day for the Iraqi people. Most importantly, we have recently been accomplishing all this without sustaining any serious casualties in the last few months. I would say this is less good fortune, which I equate with luck, than a direct result of our soldiers continued vigilance and hard work.

As many of you are fortunate enough to have already witnessed firsthand through the R&R program, we continue to send 12-14 of our Company soldiers home every month for some well deserved time with their loved ones. Hopefully by the time we are finished, a majority of the company will have had the opportunity to get home at least for a little while.

I wish I had some specific places, dates, and times to give you for our deployment to Fort Carson, but I don't, and don't expect to for some time. Be aware that in the coming weeks and months you will undoubtedly hear any number of different plans on deployment, all from people who claim they know somebody in the know. Chances are one of them might even be right! But right now this is all up in the air, and no specific timeframe has been established. The bottom line is deploying a force of this size from a combat theater to a new post, already coming from an overseas tour in Korea is an enormous logistical undertaking. I do know that the Brigade has recently sent some of its best and brightest to Fort Carson for a few weeks to begin to work this process with the Fort Carson Community. (How I failed to make that list is beyond me!). Over the next few weeks they will be working feverishly, burning the midnight oil, and basically pounding their collective heads against the wall to get everything right. And it will be. But it will take some time, and have no doubt that with any undertaking this large and difficult there will be some confusion upfront, so I ask that you continue to exercise your extraordinary patience and support. The most important thing to keep in mind is that your soldiers will be coming home in the not too distant future.

Congratulations to 1st Platoon Leader, 1LT Hurley, who was fortunate enough to be with his wife in Italy in late February to witness the birth of his first son, Daniel Giovanni Hurley. (Do you think his wife is Italian?).

CPT John H. Sandler
Company Commander