1. Dragon Herald
1st Battalion 63rd Armor Regiment
Dragon 6 Command 1
CSM Notes 2
NTC Rotation 13-04 3
BOUNTY HUNT- 4
SRP AND SNIPERS 5
CHAPLAIN’S COR- 6
FRG Events and
POCs
7
Hearts Apart 8
Inside this issue:
Dear Soldiers, Families and
friends of the Dragon Battalion:
1 ID is leading the way once again with
the beginning of the Army’s new Re-
gional Aligned Force (RAF) mission.
2ABCT will be falling under U.S. Af-
rica Command. 1-63 Armor has earned
the honor of being the first unit from
the brigade to execute missions out of
Camp Lemonnier, Djibouti. With a
deployment to Africa instead of the
more recent Middle Eastern deploy-
ments, questions have risen over daily
operations on the camp. While it will
not be as pleasant as life at Fort Riley,
Soldiers will find the camp isn’t lacking
comfort.
Camp Lemonnier is a U.S. Na-
val camp in which different branches of
service work together to meet the mis-
sion of Combined Joint Task Force-
Horn of Africa. This will make famili-
arization with other services’ rank
structure and customs essential. Being
deployed to Djibouti, we will qualify for
Combat Zone Pay, Hazardous Duty
Pay and tax-free income.
Soldiers will be living in Con-
tainerized Housing Units (CHU) fur-
nished with wall lockers, beds, desks
and chairs. Each CHU has air condi-
tioning which will be needed as tem-
peratures reach well over 100 degrees.
Camp Lemonnier has a 24 hour
fitness center with a track, turf field,
and swimming pool.
There are also a lot of enter-
tainment venues to enjoy while off
duty. The Camp is equipped with an
air conditioned movie theater, facilities
with Xbox, PlayStation and big screen
TV’s. Each Soldier will be entitled to a 96-
hour pass in which they can travel any-
where; the MWR offers subsidized trip
packages to places such as France or Egypt
during their pass. These packages usually
range from $1,800 to $2,500.
While there is a lot to do during off-
duty hours Soldiers should remember that
we are in country to complete a mission
and not to vacation.
I encourage all Dragon Soldiers
and Family members to attend the final
Town Hall meeting on May 21st or contact
your chain of command. You can also
search the internet to get information
about Camp Lemonnier and frequent the
Dragon Facebook page while we are de-
ployed.
Above all 1-63 Soldiers are profes-
sionals representing not only the U.S.
Army but also the United States as a whole
and I have no doubt we succeed.
Dragons!
LTC Jason Wolter
Command Notes by Dragon 6
MAY 2013

2. DRAGON SERGEANT MAJOR
By SGT MAJ. Luis Freyre
DRAGON HERALD
Greetings Soldiers, family members, love
ones and friends of 1-63 Armor Battalion
“Dragons”. As we all know, the Dragon
Battalion is preparing to deploy to Africa.
As your Senior Enlisted Advisor, I want to
make sure I address some important issues
dealing with taking care of our family mem-
bers, significant others, and supporters of
this great Battalion.
Each Company level has a Family Readiness
Groups, commonly referred to as FRGs,
which will be able to provide you with a
significant amount of information on who,
what, when, where and how to go about
maintaining positive updates with your loved
ones in this Battalion. In the event that your
Company FRG leader is unable to address
your specific concerns, the Battalion FRSA
Ms Mimi can be contacted for assistance at
(785)240-4529 or via E-mail at
eileen.m.woodworth.civ@mail.m,il.
Here are some things I expect the Dragon
Family to have updated prior to the depar-
ture: Wills, Power of Attorneys (POAs),
Health Care provider (by location), Finance,
Bills, maintenance on vehicles and resi-
dences, etc.
There will be means of communication be-
tween you and your love ones via emails,
phones and of course writing letters which
will allow you to keep in touch with each
other. Our Soldiers will have MWR facilities
and other means to keep up their morale and
I urge Family members and Supporters of
this Battalion to follow us on Facebook at
1ID 2HBCT 1-63CAB to keep up with what
this great Battalion is accomplishing thru out
our deployment.
Sincerely,
CSM Freyre
Dragon 7
Above is a picture of the shopping cen-
ter located on Camp Lemonnier. Here
Soldiers will be able to purchase many
items they will need throughout the de-
ployment. Other items can be ordered
through the exchange or on the internet.
“Welcome to Camp Lemonnier”
1-63 AR Battalion Soldiers will likely
here this phrase many times as
we arrive in Djibouti. We should all
remember that although the Camp
might look or sound like a vacation
spot we are here to complete a
mission and that is what we will do.
The pictures above and below are
examples of the Containerized
Housing Units our Soldiers may be
assigned to during the deployment.

3. NationalTraining Center Rotation 13-04
DRAGON HERALD
Soldiers from the 1-63rd
Armor Battalion returned from the National Training Center (NTC) in Fort Irwin, California after a
successful rotation. The Battalion’s performance during our NTC rotation wouldn’t have been possible without the sacrifices the
Dragon Soldiers and Families made as we were going through our train-up for NTC. During our rotation every Soldier in our forma-
tion stepped up to the demands and challenges we faced and took full advantage of the opportunity to learn about operations
from the Company to the Brigade level. As with all training events, I have made it a point to recognize individuals and teams who
stood out and were truly a key to our success. Over one hundred Soldiers from “Dragon” Battalion earned awards for their exem-
plary performance at NTC; these Soldiers embody the “Dragon” spirit and bring credit upon the prestigious history of the 1st
Infan-
try Division, 2ND
Brigade, and 1-63 Armor Battalion. The following individuals were recognized by their leaders and the Cadre at
NTC as superior performers during our training rotation at the National Training Center:
CPT LITCHFIELD, KYLE HHC
1LT HARPPER, BRIAN A
1LT SKLDOWSKI, THOMAS HHC
2LT BOSS, CHRISTOPHER A
2LT PATRICK, JOSHUA HHC
2LT STERIOTI, ANTHONY HHC
1SG DILLION, CALLEB A
SFC OSORIO, HUGO HHC
SFC STEINLICHT, JOSHUA A
SFC TERRY,MORRIS HHC
SSG ESPURVOA, ISAAC HHC
SSG HARTLEY, JASON A
SSG JOY, MICHAEL HHC
SSG PALMIERI, THOMAS E
SSG TORRES, ROGER A
SGT BENNETT, PAUL A
SGT BRADDY, MIKHEAL A
SGT BUTCHER, MATTHEW B
SGT BUTLER, BENJAMIN A
SGT CONRAD, SHAWN HHC
SGT CORNELIUS, WILLIAM A
SGT COTTER, GREGORY HHC
SGT DILLENDER, SAMUEL C
SGT DISNEY, CARL A
SGT DONAHUE, ROBERT B
SGT EDWARDS, ADAM A
SGT GREEN, CORNELIUS HHC
SGT GRIESER, PHILIP HHC
SGT HARRELL, EPHRAIM HHC
SGT HEWITT, MICHAEL E
SGT HINTON, TRAVIS HHC
SGT JAMES, PIETER HHC
SGT KERR,DANIEL HHC
SGT MEHDI, QASIM A
SGT MORELAND, MATTHEW D
SGT PHILLIPS, CHRISTOPHER HHC
SGT SCHAUFLER, CASEY HHC
SGT SMITH, JEFFERY B
SGT TAVERA, EDER A
SGT ULRIGG, RONALD HHC
SGT WILLIAMS,ERIC C
CPL CURRENT, JAY B
CPL IKERD, JASON HHC
CPL LAWRENCE, JACOB HHC
CPL THOMAS, DARYL HHC
CPL TIMS, CHRISTOPHER HHC
SPC BENELOGA, ZOCARLO HHC
SPC BRICKER, BENJAMIN HHC
SPC CAMPBELL, CHRISTOPHER A
SPC COLBURN, PATRICK B
SPC DAIGRE, CHRISTOPHER HHC
SPC DUCKETT, CLAUDE A
SPC HERGENREDER, JEFFERY HHC
SPC HERNANDEZ, FRANK A
SPC HORCH, JORDAN E
SPC KEEN, THOMAS E
SPC KING, STEFAN B
SPC LEE, AHTHONY HHC
SPC LOPEZ, RONNIE B
SPC LOPEZ, RONNIE HHC
SPC MALLISON, JUSTIN A
SPC MARCELLO, THOMAS HHC
SPC MEIER, MARK B
SPC MOSCOSO, NICHOLAS HHC
SPC MUCKELBANEY, GARY HHC
SPC MUNOZ, JOHNATHAN HHC
SPC NABHANI, ADEL HHC
SPC NEVINS, ARTHUR HHC
SPC PICKARD, ASA A
SPC SANCHEZ, TOMAS D
SPC SCHLOMAN, JARED A
SPC SENEDLBACH, NATHAN A
SPC STONE, CHARLES HHC
SPC TUCKER, CAMERON HHC
SPC ULLOA, ALEXANDER HHC
SPC VINCENT, DANIEL HHC
PFC BUCKMASTER, W HHC
PFC CATALA, VICTOR HHC
PFC COWSERT E
PFC CRUZ, CHRISTIAN B
PFC CUSTER, DARREL B
PFC FOCHT, MATTHEW E
PFC FRAZEE, JOHN A
PFC GEARHISER, MICHAEL HHC
PFC GILLEY, TANNER HHC
PFC HOUSTON, ETHAN HHC
PFC LOGAN, OCTAVIA E
PFC MARTIN, CHRISTOPHER HHC
PFC MCCANN, JACOB HHC
PFC MORA, OMAR B
PFC NGUYEN, HAI HHC
PFC OLEXSON, ALEXANDER HHC
PFC PADGETT, SPENCER HHC
PFC PANCZYK, MATTHEW E
PFC PHRHAM, ISAAC E
PFC QADER,HAMED A
PFC RAYN, MICHAEL HHC
PFC RESENDEZ, RICHARD HHC
PFC SALAS, ARRON HHC
PFC SIMMONS, DANIEL HHC
PFC SMITH, KANDANCE E
PFC STEWART, JACOB HHC
PFC TRIGUEROS, ROBERTO HHC
PFC VALADEZ, IAN B
PFC WALLS, ROBERT A
PFC WALSH, ANTHONY D
PV2 DALMAN, TYE HHC
PV2 GOLDSTEIN, SHAWN HHC
PV2 HERRERA, ADRIAN B
PV2 JOHNSON, ROBERT HHC
PV2 KYLE, RANDAL A
PV2 PHILLIPS, ROBERT A

4. Dragon Herald
1st Battalion 63rd Armor Regiment
The time has come to say our
farewells and wish the Soldiers in
Bravo Company a successful Deploy-
ment as they spearhead a new mis-
sion for 1-63 Armor “Dragons” Bat-
talion, 2nd BDE of the 1st ID.
Greeted by the Battalion Com-
mander LTC Wolter and CSM
Freyre, Bravo Company Soldiers are
the first from 1-63 Armor Battalion
to deploy in support of Operation
Enduring Freedom – Horn of Africa.
Leaving behind friends, family, and
loved ones the deployment will be
tough, but thanks to training and
commitment they are more than pre-
pared for the task.
Bravo Company will be the
forerunners for the Battalion setting
the conditions and standards prior to
the arrival of the rest of the Battal-
ion at a later date. We know that as
“Dragons” Battalion Soldiers Bravo
Company’s professionalism and tac-
tical proficiency will garner prestige
that will establish the
credibility of the
Dragon Battalion.
Thanks to
their commitment to
the profession of
Arms, Bravo Com-
pany was able to com-
plete a multitude of
pre-deployment tasks
with little notice prior
to their departure
date. Some of the
task included online
training courses,
weapons qualifica-
tion, physical fitness
test, medical health assessments and
MOS specific skill certifications.
These tasks were necessary for Sol-
diers to achieve a deployable status.
“This is one of the fastest deployment
that I’ve had to get ready for” stated
SGT Ryan M. Nielsen-McCants, who
has already served as a Forward Ob-
server in both Afghani-
stan and Iraq, “But I
am ready and my fam-
ily supports me a lot, I
am just wondering
what Africa is going to
be like”.
It was a cold morning
filled with the emotions
of family members as
their loved ones pre-
pared to board the bus
that would begin their
long journey to Africa.
However, Bravo Com-
pany still took the time
to celebrate as it con-
ducted a promotion ceremony for
three of its’ Soldiers.
For some Soldiers this will be
their first deployment and first time
traveling outside of the United
States, while others have had multi-
ple deployments to both Afghanistan
and Iraq. The Bounty Hunter Sol-
diers were motivated and ready as
they spent their last hours playing
with their children, reading, cleaning
weapons, laughing and trading sto-
ries between families. The support
and appreciation of family and
friends will strengthen the unit in
Africa, as they once again go forward
the Big Red One!
For more photos on this story, please visit the
Battalion Facebook page at:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Fort-
Riley-KS/1-ID-2HBCT-1-
63CAB/221149081082?ref=nf
Photos and story by SFC Neil Weathers.
Bravo leads the way to AFRICA
MAY 2013
BRAVO COMPANY POSES FOR A PICTURE WITH SGT HILL’S
CHILDREN PRIOR TO DEPARTING FORT RILEY.
BRAVO COMPANY COMMANDER CAPTAIN JOHN ENDERLE PROMOTES
THREE OF HIS SOLDIERS BEFORE THEY DEPART FORT RILEY FOR AFRICA.

5. Dragon Herald
1st Battalion 63rd Armor Regiment
MAY 2013
SNIPER TRAINING
Recently snipers from
1-63 Armor “Dragon” Battalion
took part in a series of exercises
designed to enhance their tech-
nical proficiency. The Soldiers
trained on the XM2010, M107
and the M110 weapons sys-
tems. They shot at ranges of
500-1200m with the M110 and
XM2010 and an incredible 700-
2200m with the M107. With
winds blowing at 35mph these
shots were no easy feats, but
the conditions were set to push
the snipers abilities to new
plateaus.
This training was
important in that it allowed the
snipers to familiarize them-
selves with their weapons capa-
bilities as they prepare for fu-
ture AFRICOM missions.
When they arrive in Africa they
will continue to conduct weap-
ons proficiencies and building
DOPE (Data On Previous En-
gagement) so they maintain
their lethality throughout the
deployment. This is another
example of how “Dragon” Bat-
talion Soldiers are leading the
way for the Army and the Big
Red One!VOLUNTEERS MAKING A DIFFERENCE
The Dragon Battalion was one of the first units to do a Pre-Deployment Service Readiness Program
(SRP) rotation through Fort Riley’s new SRP Site. The new SPR site allows Soldiers to complete their entire
medical, personnel and financial out-processing in one building. The facility, which has televisions in most of
the common waiting areas, was a nice break for the Soldiers who have been working long hours to ensure
they are ready to deploy. An added benefit to the SPR process was the presence of the Battalion’s Family
Readiness Groups (FRGs). Throughout the building
you could smell hot dogs and cookies which were pro-
vided to the Soldiers at no cost by the FRGs. The FRG
Volunteers who were at the SRP site were more than
willing to help watch a child for a few minutes or talk
to a young Soldiers as he waited to conduct his medical
screening. The FRGs will be providing other services
to both the Service Members and their Families
throughout the deployment.
If you would like to volunteer or would like more infor-
mation on becoming more involved in the Battalion or
one of the Company FRGs contact Ms Eileen “Mimi”
Woodworth at Eileen.m.woodworth.civ@mail.mil.
DRAGON SOLDIERS TRY OUT NEW
SRP SITE
As 1st “Dragon” Battalion, 63rd Armor Regiment, 2nd Armored
Brigade Combat Team prepares to deploy to The Horn of Africa,
medical readiness is just one of the tasks the Dragon Soldiers must
complete prior to executing its mission. The battalion Executive Offi-
cer, Maj. Nicholas Schenck said “the Battalion as a whole is doing
everything possible to mitigate the hazards and dangers of the region
to include ensuring the medical, financial, and legal readiness of the
Dragon Family.”
In the past, this daunting task would have required Soldiers to be transported all over post. However, over the past
several years the Army has implemented Soldier Readiness Processing centers to speed the process and ease the burden on the
Soldiers. Fort Riley is no exception. In the past Fort Riley’s SRP site had all of the required services located in the same gen-
eral area—however, Soldiers still had to travel between several buildings in order to complete their individual requirements.
On April 2, Fort Riley celebrated the opening of a new SRP site which provides for all of the Soldiers’ needs under one roof.
The SRP chief, Bob Smith, stated that the facility is what the Soldiers have been asking for and he intends to continue making
the SRP site better as more feedback is received and processes are streamlined over time.
Many Soldiers are accustomed to battlefield hazards; however, many of them may be surprised to hear that one of
the biggest hazards they might face in Africa can come from something as small as a mosquito. In fact, mosquitoes in the Horn
of Africa are one of the leading causes of death for the indigenous population because of the diseases they carry. In order to
combat this and other medical hazards in the region, Soldiers have and will continue to receive a series of inoculations—
including, smallpox, anthrax, yellow fever, tuberculosis. In addition to this battery of vaccinations, Soldiers will also receive
malaria medicine while they are deployed.
Smith said “1st Bn., 63rd Armor Regt. has been relatively smooth at completing the SRP process”. Smith attributes
the Battalion’s success to its leaders’ and Soldiers’ attention to detail. Most of the Soldiers just have to be checked to verify
that their medical status is ‘green,’ meaning they are current on all vaccinations and medications that they might require, and
that they have updated their life insurance information and emergency contact information if necessary, Smith said.
In addition to the medical screening, the SRP site allows Soldiers to ensure their dental treatments are all up-to-date
and each Soldier meets with a medical provider to ensure their overall physical and mental health is ready for the upcoming
deployment.
One of the outstanding features of the new site is the availability of
volunteers, who do everything from run a USO station where Soldiers can make
a video recording for their family to local Family Readiness Group volunteers
who make food for the Soldiers and talk to them as they wait to complete the
SRP process. In the end, the goal of this entire operation is to ensure the Soldiers
and Families of the Dragon Battalion are fit to fight and focused on their mis-
sion throughout their deployment and eventual return to Fort Riley.

6. Please, Lord, be kind to us!
We depend on you.
Make us strong each morning,
and come to save us
when we are trouble.
Isaiah 33:2, Contemporary English Version
I am preparing my notes for an upcoming Strong
Bonds Marriage retreat for our unit that will take
place on 10-12 May. One section of the training
material seems especially pertinent to what many
of our Soldiers and Family members are going
through as we near deployment: stress.
It’s been proven that as Soldiers and loved ones
near deployment, that disagreements and argu-
ments are more frequent due to the added stress
of such a significant life-changing event.
The training material suggests various ways to
“Stress Proof Your Marriage.” These suggestions
can easily apply to any relationship, for example,
how to stress proof your relationship with a boy-
friend or girlfriend, with parents, or with friends.
Here are a few suggestions you might consider: 1)
Think about some of the ways you’ve handled stress
in the past, and how you might handle it differently
next time, 2) Talk through the upcoming deploy-
ment together and the changes that will occur, and
3) Brainstorm together about some things you could
do together as couple to deal with that stressor.
As a person of faith in God, I also find that depend-
ing on God to helps me to deal with my stress in a
positive way. I like to think of God’s grace like this:
whenever I am weak and my strength gives out,
God’s grace kicks in and carries me through the
rest of the way. As I think about all the unknowns
and changes that will occur in my life and for my
Family as I prepare for deployment, what helps me
to stress proof my life is my faith in God.
God Bless,
Chaplain Fimple
Chaplain’s Corner
DRAGON HERALD

7. DRAGON HERALD
Alpha Company FRG Meeting 22 may 6pm Ft. Riley USO