Greetings Assassin Family

It's sad that this is Capt. McGrue's last letter as commander. He will be moving to Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion, 15th Infantry Regiment on July 14, 2007, 2:00 am EST... he will be signing off as Assassin 6.

Capt. McGrue is a great Officer and an inspiration to so many Soldiers. He a great role model and I know the Assassins will miss him greatly...I know Chris did when he left. Capt. McGrue cares about his Soldiers and teaches them to be the best they can possibly be... something that Chris carried with him when he left the Assassins...something he will carry with him the rest of his life!


July 12, 2007


Greetings, Assassin Family,

I sincerely hope this letter finds everyone doing well. As it leaves me it leaves the men and I doing well.

Well, before I go any further let me apologize for the tardiness in this letter. As the end of June approached, I was a little indecisive if I wanted to send a monthly letter and a final letter, or make them both into one. Then we lost internet connection and that answered my question. Either way, the realization of having to write this final letter has been tough for I would be lying if I said that I have not grown fond of the Assassins. This unit has performed superbly over the past 13 months despite the many obstacles that have laid in our path, and I stand here today more proudly than ever of the significant contributions our men have made to the Global War on Terrorism. An d I am not just saying all this because I am the commander. Our men have done well and all the successes this troop has had are solely credited to them and their hard work.

The past month. June was a month filled with mixed emotions for our men. The patrolling became less, but the security became more often. Now that we reside in our own little combat outpost (actually called Patrol Base Assassins), we are required to secure ourselves. That rotates amongst the platoons so everyone gets a fair share. Initially it may have been a challenge, but now I think our men are well settled in. The only problem with being settled in is that sometimes complacency creeps in, so it is incumbent upon our leaders to remind our young men that complacency can hurt us. Our emotions h ave also been battled by the standing up of the patrol base itself. We went through many challenges getting this base off the ground. From emplacing HESCOs baskets (barriers with dirt in them) around the base for force protection, to figuring out how we can keep receiving ice so that we can have something cool to drink when it is hot, to waiting out for generators so we could have power to run our air conditioners, and to an array of many other things. But together we have overcome every obstacle and battled on, and I believe that the experiences we encountered during the month of June have made the troop stronger.

Family Readiness Group (FRG). You ladies have done an awesome job back there and I am VERY proud of you. I hear nothing but great things about our FRG around the Brigade command and am always complimented on how well you ladies are performing back there. I just want to personally thank each and every one of you for a job well done. You took the FRG to a level I have never witnessed and I am thankful. I also want to personally commend all those that supported the Faust family during their struggle, as well as those that have looked after our young heroes who have returned home early.

Well, I am not going to ramble on as I often do and cut this short for now. I no longer feel as if I have to be the source of communication considering that we have countless number of Soldiers with either a cell phone or spending time up here on the computer or DSN phone. Furthermore, when Soldiers return to the FOB for their short time of refit they are able to use the computer and phones back on the FOB. So if you have not been hearing from your loved one, send him a piece of mail and tell him to call or write more often; the resources are available. And on July 14 approximately 1000 hours here in Iraq (July 14, 2007, 2:00 am EST), I will be signing off as Assassin 6 and Captain Troy Thomas will assume command.

Take care, God bless, and please remember to keep SGT Santos, SPC McQuiston, SPC Grenier, and PFC Pinna in your thoughts and prayers.

PS
The websites tracking our stories while deployed:

http://www.wrbl.com/ (contains a link to Hammerslogger: http://hammerslogger.gulfeast.com/)
http://www.newsradio540.com/
http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/
http://www.militarynews.com/ (contains a link to The Bayonet: http://www.thebayonet.com/)

--Respectfully, Captain Arthur L. McGrue III
Troop Commander
Alpha Troop, 3rd Squadron, 1st Cavalry