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	Comments from the Task Force Command Team
	No video update at this time. LTC Ronald A. Westfall Commander, Task Force 1-151	No video update at this time. CSM Rodney A. Spade Command Sergeant Major, Task Force 1-151

	Dear Task Force 151 Families, Happy Oktoberfest to all of the Families and Friends of the Task Force 1-151 Predators. Temperatures here in Iraq are really starting to cool off and the cool air and turning leaves of autumn are fast approaching all of you back at home. Both of these are great as we move ever closer to completing our Mission in Iraq and returning home to all of you. The temps are hitting a low in the 70’s at night and believe it or not I have actually overheard some of our Soldiers complaining about it being cold in the morning!! Can you believe that? 70 degrees and they are complaining of being cold. What are they going to do when we return home to the snow and ice of an Indiana winter? Sounds to me like you are going to have to bring out the extra blankets, put another log on the fire and serve up lots of coffee or hot apple cider. However, knowing most of my Soldiers, they will probably prefer a cold beer to hot apple cider, but it’s the thought that counts! I continue to ask for all of you to keep up the good work in helping our Soldiers to maintain their focus and situational awareness. All the Soldiers are talking about going home and how great it will be to do all the things they love again, such as: kiss their wife or husband, play with their children, have that first cold beer, eat a real pizza, drive their car again, sleep in their own bed, take a vacation, eat the biggest steak they can find that doesn’t taste like camel meat and isn’t cooked like shoe leather, watch the game on TV, go hunting or ice fishing, and many, many other activities. And as you all know, being Soldiers, there are many other things that they talk about also, but since this is a Family newsletter I’ll just stop where I’m at! LOL! But until we are completely finished and back safe and sound with you, they must remain focused and I need you to help me remind them of that. In my previous update I talked mainly about redeployment. I realize that at this point it is the key focus on everyone’s mind. The overall plan continues to develop as things get finalized. We received our Operations Order from the 76th Brigade last week and have completed our plan and briefed to each of the companies. While I cannot tell you our return dates due to Operational Security, I can tell you that the overall dates have not changed. Individual dates for Units continues to be somewhat fluid and could still change a little before we fly home, so as in previous deployments, be prepared for some last minute changes by a few days or so. The Brigade will flow back into the state over the course of several weeks and our units will be dispersed throughout that time period. It looks as though we will return in two main groups, with half of the Task Force in the first group and the remaining half in the second. The plan for after we return home hasn’t changed much since my last update, but I will reiterate the key points for your planning purposes. Changes are highlighted in yellow: Welcome Home at Airport – As stated in my last letter, there will not be a ceremony at the airport. The plan is for the Soldiers to land at the Indianapolis Airport and then be taken by bus to another location where they will be reunited with the families. This location has been identified as building 9 at Stout Field in Indianapolis, which is where the State Headquarters is located. I will have the Rear Det ensure you receive directions on how to get there. It is at this location that you will be reunited with your Soldier for a 1-hour period. At the completion of that hour, the Soldiers will be bussed directly to Camp Atterbury. 48-hour Pass – There will not be a 48-hour Pass for Soldiers upon returning home. At the completion of the Reunion mentioned above, Soldiers will be bussed directly to Camp Atterbury to begin their demobilization process. This is expected to last from 3-5 days or until complete. Once the unit has completed demobilization, then the Soldiers will be released on Terminal Leave. Family Visitation at Camp Atterbury – The demobilization schedule is designed to be extremely busy in an effort to get the Soldiers home as soon as possible. This means that the Soldiers will not have any available time to spend with family members “after hours”. Since they are also still on Title 10 orders and undergoing Demobilization, they will not be allowed to leave Camp Atterbury. Based on this, the families are encouraged not to come to Camp Atterbury as your Soldier will not have the opportunity to spend time with you. The Post will be a very busy place as several units will be trying to complete demobilization at the same time. If the timing is such that your Soldier is scheduled to be undergoing demobilization over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, the current plan is that they will remain at Camp Atterbury and continue to complete the process. They will not be given a holiday pass. Therefore, I would encourage you to develop an alternate plan for celebrating Thanksgiving with your Soldier should he/she fall into this timeframe. The key thing to remember is that all of us will be home for Christmas and that is the best present any of us could get. Welcome Home to the Armory – Once the Units have completed the demobilization process at Camp Atterbury, the Soldier will be bused to the Armory that is the closest to their Home of Record. This is a change from my last letter. This is good news for the Soldier and their family. Since we deployed as a Task Force, there are many Soldiers that are assigned to units that are far away from where they live. For example, I have Soldiers assigned to Jasper that live in Richmond and Ft. Wayne. So instead of being bused to Jasper and having to make you drive there to pick them up, they can choose to be sent to Richmond or Ft. Wayne. While this is an opportunity for the local community to officially welcome home their Soldiers, it might be easier to wait until the Freedom Salute ceremonies that will be held in February. The timing of their initial return will be a little difficult to schedule as the exact dates will not be known until after the plane arrives and the Soldiers begin the demobilization process. So if your FRGs plan on doing something big it needs to be as flexible as possible with timing. You will not be permitted to pick your Soldier up at Camp Atterbury. With the large number of Soldiers and different Units trying to complete the demobilization process at the same time, it just becomes a matter of logistics to have all the families and vehicles on the Post. State Welcome Home Ceremony – The current plan is for the State to conduct a Brigade Welcome Home Ceremony similar in scope to the Departure Ceremony that was held at the RCA Dome. The timing on this will be in late January. We are currently planning for the 24th but that hasn’t been locked in yet. The location is also currently scheduled at the Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. It will be a Drill Weekend for the Soldiers, which means it is mandatory that they attend. I look for this to be a Grand Event that will give your Soldier the Honor and Gratitude they deserve after this deployment. I encourage you to attend. Back to IDT Drill status – There will not be a Drill in December and the first IDT weekend will be held in January (the State Welcome Home Ceremony). The following IDT drills will be held in February and the focus will be the Freedom Salute Awards. Freedom Salute Awards – This is a program designed for the Soldiers and the Families to formally recognize them for their Service. Soldiers will receive their End of Tour awards as well as the Freedom Salute package that goes to each Soldier and their Family. The intent of this program is to involve the families and communities. Each Company will hold their ceremony on a different time or day and they are encouraged to invite their local Civic Leaders and Businesses that contributed to the support of the Families throughout the deployment. More guidance will be published on redeployment as it becomes available. Until then, we continue to focus on our every day mission here in Iraq. Your Soldiers continue to safely escort logistic convoys all over Iraq as they set the standard for other units to follow. We continue day to day business as usual. Now that we are drawing towards the end of the deployment, it is time to think about some of the logistics of support. All of you need to make a mark on the wall of 18 OCT 08 as the final date to mail any care packages. With the delay in shipping, anything mailed after that date may or may not make it here in time to be received by the Soldier. So I ask all of you to complete any of your last minute mailings no later than the 18th. I would not mail any letters past the 30th of October as well. You also need to encourage your Soldiers to begin mailing any personal items home that they wish to keep as they will not be allowed to ship personal property, other than what can fit in their footlocker, home in the connexes and they won’t have room on the plane. So ensure you remind them to not wait until the last minute to mail stuff home. I know that Family Reintegration Briefings have begun across the State. We are doing the same thing here prior to redeploying. I highly encourage each of you to attend these briefings. There will be information regarding benefits that are available to you and your Soldier that you need to be aware of. Things have changed since our last deployment and there are many new benefits that you can take advantage of. We are placing a lot of focus on safety as well. This is something you need to be aware of as the number of Soldiers killed by accidents, mainly involving vehicle (both auto and motorcycle) accidents is on the rise is the past couple of years, especially after returning from a deployment. Soldiers tend to return home with an attitude that they made it through a year of combat without getting hurt so now they are invincible. This causes them to take unnecessary risks when driving. So be aware of this and help ensure your Soldier stays safe. They will also focus on the emotional and relationship aspects of reintegrating the family. Both you and your Soldier have changed since we left home a year ago. Your Soldier has been working extremely long days under harsh conditions and in some cases they have been involved in direct action against the enemy. You have learned to cope without them by taking care of the family by yourself. So in many ways each of you have undergone changes of some type. Therefore, when you get back together, it won’t be exactly like it was when we left. The briefings are intended to help you understand that and learn how to cope with the changes. The key component is that both of you realize this, communicate your feelings, and work through any issues together, as a team. If you can master those three things, then reintegrating back together as a family will not be an issue. The Battalion is also hosting Suicide Awareness briefings on 18 OCT or 1 NOV. See your rear det NCOIC for exact dates and locations. Suicide is something we all think only happens to “the other guy”, but in reality the rate of suicides among Soldiers returning from deployments is on the rise. The intent of the briefings is to help make you aware of the signs to look for so that if your Soldier is struggling with things you can recognize it early enough to get them help. The last thing any of us want is to have our Soldier make it through a yearlong deployment, without getting hurt by the enemy, and then come home and either get killed in an accident or take their own life. All of our Soldiers are too important for us to allow that to happen. We are drawing down to the end of this deployment. I want to thank each and every one of you for your continued support of the Predator Battalion and its Soldiers over these past months. For without you, we could not complete our mission. I thank each of you very much for that. Remember, if you ever need anything please contact your FRG Chairperson or Rear Detachment NCO and they will do everything they can to assist you. We have the best FRG and Rear Det team in the Brigade and they are always there to help you. It is because of you and our love for our family and our way of life that we continue to do what we do. Thank you for all of your continued support. Remember – we are one team, one family and together we will stand strong and finish this deployment successfully on both fronts.
	News Highlights and Updates
	Prime Power 1LT David Bryant
	It has become commonplace to have the power go out in the Headquarters building every day at about 1400. However instead of just accepting the annoyance, TF 1-151 soldiers have done something to “Improve the Foxhole”. Sgt Michael of the 249th Engineer Battalion was called to see what could be done to make sure that we have “Reliable, Constant, Electrical Energy”. Considering that this is Prime Powers’ motto his goal was to do exactly that! He is on a small team of only a couple soldiers that is responsible to bring power to COB Speicher from the main power plant here on post. They pull long hours and have very little help in the means of the task at hand. However, not when it comes to Task Force 151! “I was shocked to see they actually had soldiers there to help me!” Said SGT Michael, “I am used to doing these projects without any help from the people that we are trying to take care of, but your (151st) soldiers were ready to get this done!” There were 28 soldiers from A co, D co, and HHC that worked in shifts over the beginning of the project. “The toughest part of the mission is completed, but since we completed it way ahead of schedule, we have to wait to finish it.” Most of the labor was to dig a trench so that the cable could be buried that would connect the transformer. “The TOC (headquarters building) generator breaker is undersized, so it is tripping for the lack of capability to handle the power being processed.” said SGT Michaels, “this should correct the issue!” The soldiers worked through the night so that they would not deal with as much heat, it took 5 days to get where they are currently at. In that time they dug and prepped the trench, laid the cable, connected the transformer, installed the grounding grid for the transformer and prepared it for the next step. This transformer benefits more than just the headquarters building, it will also connect to the PSY OPS building, Legal building, the Stadium, as well as another administration building. To finish the mission, Prime Power will have to cut the power for a small period of time to the south side of COB Speicher so that they can connect the cables and transformer safely.

	With the new transformer in place, and the new cables that run directly from the main power plant, the next step will be for KBR to install our new breaker box inside the headquarters building. “Once that (the new breaker box) is up and running, your building will no longer run off of the generator.” Said SGT Michaels, “It will be used for what it is intended for, a back up.” One thing is for sure, things will be a lot quieter around the headquarters building because no one will have a reason to yell about power the power anymore!