Wednesday, September 12, 2007

FINAL THOUGHT...


FINAL THOUGHT...

Col. Michael Garrett

Your hard work has paid off in the past 11 months. We have seen many, drastic changes in our area. You should be proud. Many of our areas are safer for the common citizen and easier for the Government and Iraqi Security Forces to operate.

We now have less than 100 days to the transfer of authority of our Brigade Area of Operations. I am asking you to put this well into the back of your minds.

In the final months we have to take care of each other. The final months of deployments historically bring many negative trends. Watch each other and stick together. Historically, the rate of sexual assaults climbs by 75% in the last three months of deployment. The possibility of depression and combat stress should be at the forefront of our minds. As redeployment nears problems at home become more real and stress us out more than they have in the past. Leaders, must identify Paratroopers that may have problems and keep an eye on them, assist when necessary, be proactive as you care for your Paratroopers. Paratroopers must stick together and watch each other.

The patrol that you execute tomorrow is the same, if not more dangerous, than the first one you executed in October. The enemy has adjusted to many of our TTPs and is desperate to inflict damage on us. Don’t let your guard down, review the basics, remember the lessons we have learned so far, conduct pre-combat checks, and be vigilant.

Now is the time for leaders to get back to enforcing the basic standards. Our unit has higher standards than most, don’t let that fool you. The enemy will do what he does, we can only affect that so much. You have to be ready and make sure your Paratroopers are ready. Get back to your SOPs, make sure your vehicles are ready, check and clean your ammunition, and enforce
the uniform standards. Take care of your Paratroopers, laziness gets people killed.

Continue to be aggressive and take the fight to the enemy. I am very proud and you should be as well. Your performance has been sensational thus far and your efforts will be recorded into
the chronicles of history.

SPARTA LIVES, SPARTAN 6

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