diers we have and the outstanding sup-port we receive from our Families. I look forward to spending the evening with the Thunder Soldiers and Families in celebration for the St. Bar-bara’s Day Ball on the 19th of September. This will truly be a great event filled with traditions, friends and fam-ily. Once again, thank you for your service to our Nation and our Soldiers. Go Forth With New Strength! ROLLING THUNDER UNDER

Thunder Soldiers & Fami-lies. As I write this I am hum-bled to be a part of this great battalion, full of so many great Soldiers and Families. Thank you to all the Thunder Soldiers for everything you do every day. Thank you to all our Families for the support you provide for your Sol-dier. As our deployment inches closer and closer, I want to take this time to urge all of our Soldiers and Families to prepare. To assist with this, we will conduct two Battalion Town Halls for our Families on September 23rd and 24th. This will be a great oppor-tunity to learn about the services available to our Families here at Fort Car-

son. As well as talking about the mission and show some pictures of the camps where your Soldier will be living, we will also discuss those things, such as power of attorney (which we will be able to do right after the town hall), that you should have completed before your Soldiers leaves. It is also a great opportunity to ask myself and CSM Perez any questions you may have about the deployment. We have trained long and hard over the last 12 months and I reassure you that the Rolling Thunder battalion is ready. This great group of Soldiers is trained, profi-cient and ready to accom-plish any task. Whatever we are called to do, I know we will accomplish the mission because of the great Sol-

3-16 FIELD ARTILLERY REGIMENT

September 2013

Inside this issue:

Chaplain 2

Townhall Flyer 3

HHB and Alpha 4

Bravo and Golf 5

Last Chance Shirt Sale 6

Photo Gallery 7

CFNCO Tip of the Month 8

Hails and Farewells 8

Promotions 8

http://www.facebook.com/pages/3-16-Field-Artillery-Regiment/192925627398006

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Sacrifice vs. Selfishness

I read a book that was written to help married couple meet each other needs. The author’s in-tent was that if you focused on the needs of one another you could have a successful marriage. When we are single and we meet someone we spend hours upon hours getting to know that per-son. We try new things and make sacrifices to spend time with that person. You remember, staying up all night on the phone, “Are you still awake?” or “You hang up. No you hang up first.” All this was before texting, you know, when you had to sneak to talk on the phone. Hey, have you ever got caught by your parents on the phone late at night? Ha, Ha. Oh, sorry, I get so eas-ily distracted. Once we get married, somehow, the things we did while dating become a lost art. We become very selfish and only focus on what we want and the idea of sacrificing to meet the other person’s needs disappear. There are times in our relationship when our priorities need to be re-evaluated. That time is now! We must make the choice to put our spouses first and then we can truly have happy and fulfilled marriages. This happiness and fulfillment will spill over into every area of our lives. So tell me, are you going to sacrifice for the one you said you wanted to spend your life with or will you remain selfish and allow your marriage to deteriorate. The choice is yours.

CH (CPT) Kehmes Lands

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Automatic Battery continues to prepare itself and our families for deployment through training of new soldiers on individual tasks, collective training at the platoon level, with Family Readiness Group (FRG) functions and by maximizing time at home for Soldiers to spend with loved ones. The Battery took advantage of a long Labor Day weekend by traveling, celebrating the start of college football and just relaxing. As the deployment ap-proaches, our junior leaders continue to prove they are among the best in their profession by en-suring readiness of the Battery.

The last two weeks have been dedicated to a series of small arms and machine gun ranges, dur-ing which multiple Soldiers qualified expert on their personal and crew-served weapon systems. Twelve soldiers were trained to operate one of the Army’s newest combat wheeled vehicles, the M-ATV (Mine Resistant Ambush Protected All Terrain Vehicle), which we may utilize during the deployment. Additionally, the Battery trained section and platoon sized elements on the funda-mentals of mounted patrolling by taking advantage of the Fort Carson Combat Skills Trainer simulator.

In the coming weeks our battery will recognize the volunteer efforts of our FRG leader- Marci Flickinger, at the Commander’s Volunteer Recognition Ceremony. We are also looking forward to the Battalion Dining Out, where we will award the Order of Saint Barbara’s medal to several

well deserving Non-Commissioned Officers in the Battery. From 1100am to 300pm on Thursday, September 26th, the Battery will host a family bar-beque and sports day at a location TBD. Look for details in an email soon!

CPT Collins & 1SG Murphy

To all the families of the Hardrock Battery:

As the Hardrock Battery Family prepares to

deploy to Kuwait in support of Operation

Spartan Shield, the last few weeks all our Hardrock soldiers have been con-

ducting several ranges, combat life savers course, military drivers training, and

several online pre-deployment training classes. We would like to congratulate

PFC Barnard for winning 3-16 FAR Soldier of the Month Board for the month of

September. Additionally, we would like to remind everyone in the Hardrock

family of the 2013 St. Barbara’s Day Battalion Ball on the nineteenth of

September. It will be a great time during this last gathering before we deploy

that we are all looking forward to. We want to take the time to thank all our

families for their unwavering support.

CPT Coats and 1SG Childress

To the Soldiers and families of Bulldog Nation:

We started the month of September by re-joining the Thunder Battalion. We are staying for good this time and will be deploying forward to Kuwait with the rest of the unit. Since we have been back, the Bulldog Battery has been very busy securing containers and packing bags, while simultaneously attending driver’s training, fielding new Fire Direction Center equipment, and conducting rifle and machine gun ranges. The Soldiers also had to prepare and conduct equipment layouts to turn in our Paladins and other gear to the Rear Detachment. Also, during this busy month, the leaders of Bulldog Nation attended the Brigade Organizational Day where we competed in flag football, ultimate Frisbee, soccer, and a few other sporting events. Bulldog’s leaders played a pivotal role in the Battal-ion placing third overall in the events. After all the events, the day was finished off with a Brigade Dining-In Ceremony, where we all enjoyed some laughs and the laid-back atmosphere. During the month of Sep-tember, we also welcomed two brand-new Bulldogs to the family. Congratulations to SGT Fields and his wife, Kristina, with their new baby girl and SSG Metz and his wife, Autumn, with their new baby boy. As we move forward, we would like to thank everyone for your patience and temperament during this time of fast and furious operational tempo. Thanks again to all the families that were in attendance at our last FRG meeting. We look forward to seeing everyone at the Saint Barbara’s Day Ball!

CPT Mason and 1SG Henriquez

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To the families, friends, and Soldiers of Golf Company. We would like to extend a warm welcome to SPC Barnett, PV2 Schrack, and PV2 Gerhart to the Gladiator family. Golf Company continues to execute training in preparation for the October deployment to Kuwait including a virtual con-voy live fire training, MRAP driver’s training, ranges, and combat life saver. Pictures of all training can be found on the company Facebook

page. The next FRG meeting will be on the 26th of September at the Special Events Center. We look forward

to seeing our Gladiator families at the Battalion St. Barbara’s Day ball on Sept 19th. Maintenance Platoon: First and foremost Maintenance Platoon would like to welcome SPC Booker’s son Gavin to the Maintenance family! We would like to also welcome SPC Kuenhe’s new wife, Ashley. Welcome! You will now forever be a part of the Gladiator family! A big congratulation goes out to SPC Ramos for his re-enlistment. In other news, this past month the maintenance crew participated in a Basic Radio Operations class taught by our very own SGT Girardin. The Soldiers should now be more than capable to be able to com-municate via radio communications while in Kuwait. The Maintenance crew has also completed a depleted uranium awareness class taught by our NBC pro SPC Hill, enabling them to safely identify and react to de-pleted uranium presence while in Kuwait. The Maintenance platoon has had plentiful training opportunities that will keep our company safe and maintain success in Kuwait. In the upcoming month, we will begin to deploy. By this time Soldiers and family members should be more than prepared for the 9 months ahead. Training never stops! In Kuwait, the Maintenance crew will continue to have DUI/DRUG prevention classes and Soldier skills taught by the Soldiers themselves. Distribution Platoon: SSG Medico and SGT Lee assisted the Battalion as HMMWV Egress Assistance Train-ers. SSG Medico and SGT Lee helped prepare 250 Soldiers for a possible vehicle rollover scenario to ensure Soldier safety during vehicle operations. SSG Patton became the Master Driver for Battalion's Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected vehicle course and trained Rolling Thunder Soldiers throughout the month to drive vehicles they would operate in Kuwait. Members of the Distribution Platoon assisted in constructing simulated guard towers in the motor pool to aid Rolling Thunder Soldiers in training on guard duties and security. The Ammuni-tion Section of the Distribution Platoon supported nine different weapons ranges for the Battalion throughout the month of September. The Ammunition Section ensured that ammunition was picked-up, stored, secured, and dropped-off on time. Congratulations to SGT Young for being promoted to Staff Sergeant and for his re-cent reenlistment. SPC Pierce received a COA from SGT Williams for his outstanding contributions to 3-16’s environmental protection program. Lastly, Distribution Platoon’s, SGT Flowers welcomed his son Jaise Flow-ers into the world on Saturday, the 7th of September. CPT Figueroa and 1SG White

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SPC Pierce

SSG Medico

SPC Ramos Re-enlistment

Dining In

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The Thunder times is an authorized online publication for the members of the Department of Defense. Contents

of the Thunder Times are not necessarily official views of or endorsed by, the U.S. Government, DoD, or

Department of the Army. The editorial content of this monthly publication is the responsibility of the 3rd

Battalion, 16th Field Artillery Regiment.

After you have saved 3-6 months of savings for emergen-

cies start saving for larger purchases such as a new car,

home improvements, or vacation. Example: My vacation

will cost $3000.00, if I save $375.00 for 8 months I can

afford to go on vacation without touching my emergency

funds.

HAILS

CPT Connelley, Mark

1LT Dixon, Joshua (From 1-10CAV)

1LT Thacher, Joe (From 2-8)

2LT Halverson, Keily

2LT Callahan, Kyle

SFC Davis, Elliot

SSG (P) Guzman, Aldo

FAREWELLS

1LT Smith, Jared

2LT Cashero, Daniel

Congratulations to

SSG Young!