THE 9 LINE - Minnesota National Guard

I am an American Soldier..."Here I am! Send me." Isaiah 6:1, 8
The operations gang has quickly embraced the mission and certainly prides itself as being in everyone‟s busi-
ness. Specialist Raposa states that, “Nothing gets done around here unless “operations” knows about it!” Led by CPT
Joe Evans, Mr. John Silva and SSG Benny Tenorio, SPC Raposa is exactly right. No MEDEVAC missions are exe-
cuted unless the Operations section is in the middle of it.
The flight crews have certainly jumped in to the MEDEVAC missions with an enormous amount of dyna-
mism. You see, when the operations guys receive an urgent MEDEVAC mission, the flight crews have to run out and
strap on that helicopter and be on their way to recover the wounded or injured Soldier within fifteen minutes. This
group of characters is commonly led by Mr. Mike Taylor, Mr. Paul Neveu, Mr. Richie Schuler, SSG Mike Faulk, SSG
Davis and SGT Tillman. Of course, Mr. David Torres makes certain that we are doing it safely. They are all doing a
fine job.
It is always a commanders‟ privilege to promote his Soldiers to higher rank and greater responsibility. This
month I had the pleasure to promote two well deserved Sergeants. I flew out to forward operating base (FOB) Nor-
mandy on a goggle mission to promote SPC Elizabeth Johnson to Sergeant and Sergeant Amy Hise to Staff Sergeant
in front of their entire platoon. The fact that FOB Normandy is an austere location (and that‟s putting it lightly) and
my Soldiers of the mighty fourth platoon (led by MAJ Keith Owens and SFC T.J. Greenwell) have taken over the
MEDEVAC mission with minimal resources made the promotions much more special. I am very proud of SSG Hise
and SGT Johnson for their stellar performance and accepting the challenge.
The Soldiers of Alamo Dustoff were a part of a combat patch ceremony led by our “BC” LTC Macgregor. She
“tagged” me with another combat patch, and I in-turn tagged my platoon leaders, and the ceremony continued so-
forth. We donned the 34 th Infantry Division patch. This unit has a great history of combat action dating back to the
early 1900s, tremendous accolades during WWII, and throughout the current Operation Iraqi Freedom. This was an
awesome achievement for the Alamo Dustoff, and certainly a great day to remember.
September was also filled with a time of great sorrow. We mourned the sudden loss of 7 of our brothers in
arms from Red River 44. We were fortunate to have two reporters from The San Antonio Express News, Sig
Christiansen and Nicole Fruge embedded with the Alamo
Dustoff to write a story on how we do business. With this tragic
loss, they got more than they bargained for. Nonetheless, they
told this story so powerfully and honored the service of our
fallen comrades. However tragic a loss, the memories of our
American Patriots CPT Robert Vallejo, CW3 Brady Rudolf,
CW2 Corry Edwards, SGM Julio Ordonez, SSG Luke Mason,
SGT Daniel Eshbaugh, and CPL Michael Thompson will for-
ever be forged in our hearts. They will never be forgotten.
Alamo Dustoff 06, out!
Charlie Company 2-149 GSAB Vol. 1 Ed. 1
A few remarks from Alamo Dustoff 6…(cont.)
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