Dear friends and families of Headquarters and Service Company,
Our deployment continues to go well. H&S Marines have been working around the clock to support battalion operations. Your Marines are working extraordinarily hard and it is making a difference in the city. The company’s operational tempo has increased significantly and everyone has been doing their share of the work.
Engineers have worked non-stop since our arrival and over the past two months they have been called upon to conduct 24-hour operations for extended periods of time. They have performed magnificently. Their hard work has saved the lives of countless Marines and kept our battalion’s multiple outposts safe from enemy attack.
Marines in the S-1 shop have found themselves swamped with awards submissions and fitreps. Their shop is a veritable flood of paperwork. Not to worry though, we let them out for sunshine and food for at least fifteen minutes a day.
S-2 Marines continue to work 18-20 hour days providing the battalion with the necessary intelligence analysis, ensuring that we “bring the fight to the enemy.” Their tireless efforts have resulted in multiple enemies captured and the city as a whole being a much safer place.
The Marines of the S-3 shop continue to drive the battalion’s actions. As the brains of the H&S body, they have provided the direction needed to secure our battalion’s area of responsibility. Shouldering the responsibility for all actions within our battalion area, they live off of coffee and red bull and have to coordinate with an “alphabet soup” of units operating in our area.
The Marines of the S-4 shop (Motor-T, Armory, Food Services, and Supply) continue to act as the battalion “postal service.” Neither mud, rain, ice, nor more mud will keep them from their appointed rounds throughout the battalion area. Providing logistical support to company’s throughout the city, S-4 has kept us all well-fed and warm (it has been pretty cold here these last few months). Often a thankless job, the support they provide has allowed the company’s to continue the fight and to help out the citizens of our city.
Communications platoon has provided flawless support throughout the deployment. As the voice and voice box of the battalion, they have ensured that every company always has “someone to talk to.” Their proficiency and technical expertise has kept the battalion moving forward and allowed our efforts to be tied together over vast distances.
Guard Force Marines continue to improve the security of the city. Interacting with locals, the Iraqi Police, and Iraqi Army on a daily basis, they have improved relations with the citizens around their sites. One metric of their success is the delicious Iraqi cuisine their Iraqi counterparts “force” them to eat on a regular basis. Needless to say, they are finding time to PT off the falafels and pastries.
The corpsman of the company has officially pushed us through the worst of flu season. We have all heard the stories of how magnificent corpsman are in combat, and the members of 1/6 BAS have lived up to that reputation. They have proven multiple times that they are in fact a Marine’s best friend.
Overall the company continues to work hard and provide the line companies with everything they need. We all take great pride in our jobs and are bolstered by the support you all at home give us. Of course, we recently received news that we would be staying in Iraq longer than planned. Although none of us are happy about being away from loved ones any longer than we have to, we are all motivated to keep making a difference here in Iraq. It is your continued support (and cookies) that keep us going out here. We miss all of you and look forward to being home sooner than later.
Respectfully,
Captain Dynan
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