| March |
 | 1. 1. This past month the WOLFPACK celebrated the deployment's halfway point with its traditional "Deployment Cake Cutting Ceremony". Known on our last deployment in Iraq as the Sea Service Deployment Cake, this tradition of mine began when I was a young, rifle platoon commander in 2nd Battalion, 5th Marines, and it has continued throughout my tenures as a Rifle Company Commander and now Battalion Commander in 3d LAR Battalion. The purpose of the occasion is not just to celebrate the achievement of a milestone---the halfway mark of the deployment---but the event also serves as an opportunity for all of us to assess our individual and collective performances and goals during the first few months of the deployment, and then take the necessary corrective action to improve our efforts during the second half of the deployment. Always looking for an excuse to share in some camaraderie with my Marines and Sailors, the "Deployment Cake Ceremony" materialized. In previous ceremonies, the cake was designed to look like a Sea Service Deployment ribbon, which all personnel receive after their 90th day on the deployment. This year the cakes were designed as replicas of the NATO and Afghan Campaign Medals the battalion will receive following this deployment. Because our companies operate at different locations, we made several cakes this year and delivered them to the Marines and Sailors operating away from our main camp. |
Full Family Letter | |
| Feburary |
| 1. The unyielding support we receive from our families, friends, and the many fans of the WOLFPACK remains one of the greatest highlights of this deployment. Whether emails, letters, care packages, or simple thoughts about our welfare, we value and appreciate everything we receive. Occasionally, I’ll hear remarks from the homefront about the timeliness of mail delivery. Quite frankly, there’s really no average time that it takes to receive a parcel of some type…I’ve received letters from the States in less than two weeks; most recently, I received a package that was mailed form my bride in late November. Conducting operations in southern Helmand Province along the frontier of the country is another variable affecting the receipt of mail. The outpouring of support during the Christmas season also added to pace of mail delivery given the tens of thousands of pounds of mail shipped this way. Nonetheless, rest assured that we do eventually get what you send. Bottom line, please keep the mail coming…Nothing brightens a day more than a note or box from home. |
Full Family Letter | |
| January |
| 1. The WOLFPACK reined in the New Year with little fan fare, as most of us were more interested in how our families were celebrating the end of 2010 and the beginning of 2011. However, due to the herculean efforts of Captain John Fulton, the battalion’s logistics officer, and the newly promoted Master Gunnery Sergeant Tommy Martinez, the battalion’s logistics chief, all of us did enjoy a special meal with all the fixin’s. Give a Marine or Sailor a hot cooked meal of steak, potatoes, fresh veggies, and an assortment of deserts, and he’s ready to tackle the week’s duties. As always, Sergeant Major Elliott and I take great, personal pride in visiting our men across the area on these special occasions and sharing the day’s cheer with them. On behalf of both of us, we hope your New Year’s Day was joyfully memorable. |
Full Family Letter | |
| December |
| 1. On behalf of Sergeant Major Elliott, my bride, and me, here’s wishing you a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, and blessed holiday season…As the Marines and Sailors of Task Force WOLFPACK continue to conduct combat operations throughout the southern Helmand River valley, we eagerly look forward to briefly pausing our activities to celebrate the holiday cheer. Our Logistics Officer, Captain John Fulton, and his team have been working around the clock to ensure that we’re able to enjoy a hearty, traditional Christmas Day meal complete with all the fixin’s…As we did on Thanksgiving, SgtMaj Elliott and I will travel our expansive battlespace to share the day’s celebration with our men. To be sure, it’s one of the many highlights for the two of us as the senior leaders of this storied battalion. |
Full Family Letter | |
| November |
| On 20 November 2010, 3d Light Armored Reconnaissance (LAR) Battalion—the WOLFPACK—completed its relief in place with 1st LAR Battalion and assumed operational control of its assigned area in Helmand Province, Afghanistan. To be sure, the days since our departure from 29 Palms in October and early November have been very busy, but the professional competency, hard work ethic, and mission orientation of all the Marines and Sailors—your loved ones—in the task force have made it possible to seamlessly take the fight from the Highlanders of 1st LAR Battalion and continue the proud tradition of the LAR community in combat. As always, expressing my pride in this team surpasses my written skills. Quite simply, it remains my distinct honor and absolute privilege to serve with the Marines and Sailors of the WOLFPACK and make my fourth combat deployment in the last six years with this storied organization. |
Full Family Letter | |
| October |
| As I draft this month’s newsletter, the battalion’s advanced party personnel for our upcoming deployment to Afghanistan have returned from their well-earned pre-deployment leave, and the battalion’s main body Marines and Sailors just embarked on their well-deserved time off before we saddle up and hit the trails east to south Asia. To be sure, the time since our return from Iraq last October has certainly galloped away. As many of you can relate and understand, it seems like yesterday that we were returning to our loved one’s opened arms following a seven month deployment to Iraq, where the WOLFPACK closed the chapter on the LAR community’s contributions to the war effort in that country. Now we’re at the dawn of 3d LAR Battalion’s inaugural deployment in support of Operation ENDURING FREEDOM (OEF), and your battalion is ready. |
Full October Family Letter | |
| July |
| On behalf of Sergeant Major Elliott, my bride, and me, we would like to welcome all the recent “New Joins” to the WOLFPACK. In any unit in the military, the summer season always hails in new arrivals to the command. For 3d LAR Battalion, we have received dozens of new Marines, Sailors, and families in the last couple of months, and many more are expected to arrive. To be sure, we can already feel the strength of the WOLFPACK increasing, as the collective talent of all these great men has been evident to SgtMaj Elliott and me as we meet them. And to their families, we eagerly look forward to meeting all of you at one of our upcoming readiness meetings or other battalion-sponsored events. |
Full June Family Letter | |
| June |
 | Lisa and I trust that you and your families were able to enjoy some well-earned and certainly well-deserved extended time together this past Memorial Day weekend. Indeed, we’ve never had a bad time simply hanging out as a family. Evidently, I didn’t experience enough “expeditionary” living during the battalion’s last deployment to remote Ninewa, Iraq, as Lisa, the boys, and I spent our long weekend camping at Lake Skinner near Temecula, CA. Smores in the outdoors is always a hit with our four little ranch-hands. Like many families, we also paused to recognize our WOLFPACK fallen warriors as well as all service men and women who have given their lives to safeguard the many freedoms we enjoy each day. Deploying three times in the last five years with 3d LAR Battalion to Iraq, I often think of the many sacrifices our men have made to promote peace in our time, and I regularly express my gratitude for them and their families in public and private. |
Full June Family Letter | |
| May |
 | One of the highlights this past month was the WOLFPACK’s annual Jane Wayne Day, when our brides were able to don their husband’s gear—battle rattle—load onto 7-ton trucks for a convoy to the training area, observe a combined arms demonstration of machineguns, mortars, and light armored vehicles (LAV), then showcase their own fury by firing various weapon systems organic to 3d LAR Battalion. Additionally, the ladies were able to personify LAR crewmen and scouts by maneuvering the local “battle space” inside a LAV. To be sure, it was a great time had by all. On behalf of SgtMaj Elliott and me, we appreciate all the WOLFPACK ladies taking time from their schedules to join us for a day of fun in the high desert sun. Additionally, many thanks to Jillian King, the battalion’s Family Readiness Officer, and all the Marines and Sailors who assisted in the planning, organizing, and conducting of this event. Their many—and mostly—behind the scenes efforts truly enabled the success of this year’s Jane Wayne Day and greatly bolstered the family cohesion in the WOLFPACK. |
Full May Family Letter | |
| March |
 | “March Madness” takes on a new meaning this spring as the battalion continues to focus on the development of individual and collective LAR and infantry skills, train a reinforced LAR Platoon to deploy this summer with Battalion Landing Team (BLT) 1/7 and support the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU), maximize Marines’ attendance at various specialty schools and training courses throughout the Marine Corps, conduct maintenance on an equipment set of dozens of light armored vehicles (LAV)—many of which recently returned from Iraq—prepare the units for LAV gunnery qualifications, and conduct the myriad, daily tasks of a battalion training for a deployment to Afghanistan for Operation ENDURING FREEDOM. |
Full March Family Letter | |
| January |
 | On behalf of my bride Lisa and me, here’s wishing you a very joyful, restful, and blessed New Year. May all your resolutions this year endure the test of time—which for me is usually measured in weeks, sometimes days. Nonetheless, it’s always been a tradition of mine to jot down a few extra goals to pursue during the upcoming year, and I work diligently, if not sometimes naively, to maintain them throughout the season. Curiously, though, by the end of the year, the list is conveniently lost so that I don’t have to grade my achievements (or lack thereof)…Still, I’m ready to set my sights on a few new targets for 2010…We’ll see how it goes |
Full January Family Letter | |
| September |
 | “End of Mission”…These were the words transmitted shortly after midnight on 27 August 2009 when Task Force (TF) 3d LAR conducted a relief in place (RIP) and transferred operational authority of its battlepace in Ninewa Province to the Army’s 6-9 Cavalry. This date effectively ended five months of continuous combat operations in one of Iraq’s most operationally, politically, and geographically dynamic regions in the country. To be sure, the Marines and Sailors of the WOLFPACK regularly distinguished themselves throughout their tenure in the battalion’s area of operations (AO), where they conducted missions around the clock to interdict foreign fighters, smugglers, and other cross-border activity between Iraq and Syria; disrupted the enemy’s freedom of movement throughout the battalion’s expansive AO; worked tirelessly to enhance the professionalization of the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF), which included the Army and Border Police in the region; engaged the local political and tribal leadership to help advance the civil development in the more populated areas of the battalion’s sector; and routinely met with the local nationals to ensure their security, assist them with some of their needs, and to deny the enemy any passive support they may have been receiving in some of the more remotely located villages. |
Full September Family Letter | |
| August |
 | Dates of our redeployment to Twentynine Palms and, for Grappler Company, Syracuse, New York, are still somewhat fluctuating, but the battalion is scheduled to return home no later than mid-October, which is a few weeks earlier than our original deployment timeline. Later this month we should know definitively the scheduled dates of our flights home, and these times will be disseminated by Jillian King, the battalion’s Family Readiness Officer (FRO), and posted to our unit’s website. The dates that Jillian will announce later this month or early next will be our “official” return times. In recent weeks, there has been much discussion and speculation of when we will return home, and I know that many of you have been receiving different times from your Marines and sailors. However, I am still awaiting official confirmation of our redeployment timeline before announcing our return dates. Once these times are set in stone, I will immediately relay them to Jillian. |
Full August Family Letter | |
| July |
 | Throughout this deployment I have seen multiple signs of victory in Iraq since first deploying here with 3d LAR Battalion in 2004 and then again in 2006. The enhanced professionalization of the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF), the ability and willingness of the Iraqi Army in western Ninewa Province to plan and conduct combined operations with the WOLFPACK, the growing effectiveness of local political leaders to govern their cities and improve the civil capacity in their districts with the assistance of the Government of Iraq (GOI) and the coalition’s Provisional Reconstruction Teams (PRT), and a considerably improved security environment all serve to highlight the progress that has been made in this country throughout the years. To be sure, the Herculean efforts of the Marines and Sailors of the WOLFPACK—your loved ones—as well as all U.S. servicemen and women who have deployed to this once war-torn state have advanced Iraq’s progress toward a sovereign, self-reliant, and stable country. The blood, sweat, and, in some cases, tears that have been shed by Marines and Sailors of 3d LAR Battalion in Iraq have contributed immeasurably to the progress we see here today. |
Full July Family Letter | |
| June |
 | 3d LAR Battalion is currently scheduled to complete its entire 7-month deployment in support of Operation IRAQI FREEDOM. The projected timeframe of our return is late October-early November. Questions continue to surface regarding the battalion’s early off-ramping and redeployment home, but there’s currently no plan to finish our deployment before its originally scheduled end date. If there are any changes to our timeline, I will immediately notify Jillian King, the battalion’s Family Readiness Officer (FRO), who will activate the battalion’s information network and tell our families. To say the least, we’re all eager to reunite with our loved ones. |
Full June Family Letter | |
| May |
 | As-salaamu laykum (“hello” in Arabic; literally translated as “peace be upon you”) from western Ninewa, Iraq. As Marines and Sailors of 3d Light Armored Reconnaissance (LAR) Battalion regularly demonstrated throughout their previous four deployments in support of Operation IRAQI FREEDOM (OIF), your loved ones of the WOLFPACK continue to distinguish themselves in combat on a daily basis, conducting reconnaissance and security operations to interdict and disrupt the activities of elusive insurgent forces throughout the western region of Ninewa’s restive province and enhancing the professionalization of the Iraqi Army (IA) as Company D (Dragoons) continues to do in the Al Anbar province. |
Full May Family Letter | |
| April |
 | Greetings from Sahl Sinjar in Iraq’s western Ninewa Province. On 7 April 2009, the Marines and Sailors of Task Force (TF) 3d LAR assumed responsibility of their assigned area of operations (AO) from 1st Light Armored Reconnaissance (LAR) Battalion. Indeed, the Highlander warriors of 1st LAR—our brother battalion in 1st Marine Division—ensured a seamless battle-handover to the WOLFPACK, and I couldn’t be prouder of our team in preparing for upcoming operations... Our mission in the Ninewa Province is to conduct reconnaissance and security operations to interdict and disrupt enemy activity throughout our assigned AO... |
Full April Family Letter | |
| January |
 | Happy New Year! Lisa and I trust that you, your Marine, and your families enjoyed a festive and restful holiday season. Indeed, sharing several days of leave with loved ones throughout the last couple of weeks has certainly been a blessing for all of us. Whether you sat around the fireplace, if the climate in your neck-of-the-woods enabled you to light a few logs, spent hours wrapping gifts, watched as many college football bowl games as possible, celebrated a few family traditions, anxiously anticipated Santa’s arrival, reined in the New Year by staying up well past midnight, or just lounged around the house, I’m hopeful that your days during the holiday season were filled with peace and relaxation... |
Full January Family Letter | |