Photo By Sgt. 1st Class Debralee Lutgen | Sgt. Derrick Salas, Battery B, 1-77 Field Artillery deputy mayor, a native of Madera,...... read more read more
FORWARD OPERATING BASE HUSAYNIYAH, Iraq – Keeping in touch with family is important during a deployment. Family members want to know their Soldier is staying safe and accomplishing the mission. One Soldier here is keeping family members informed with a newsletter for loved-ones back home.
Sgt. Derrick Salas, Battery B, 1-77 FA deputy mayor, a native of Madera, Calif. began working on the unit newsletter, "When the Bulls Speak," in February after the unit first sergeant challenged him.
"I made it like a competition," said 1st Sgt. Ray Trent, Battery B, 1-77 FA first sergeant, a native of Lynchburg, Va. "I did the first two then he came to work in the office. I made it a competition to see who could make it the best. With the competition there, we have a really good newsletter."
Salas said he was a little hesitant to take on the project, but he did it anyway.
"I wanted to challenge myself and make a product people like," he said. "If the family readiness group leader or the first sergeant had said they didn't like it, I wouldn't have done the next one."
Taking on the challenge gave Salas an opportunity to improve his power point skills and himself.
"It boosted my confidence to take on more challenging things," he said. "Putting together the newsletter made me want to take college courses on it."
Soldiers are encouraged to take photographs of anything family members might want to see when they go out on missions. Salas places these photos in the newsletter. He sends it to all service members in the unit. Soldiers are then responsible for forwarding the newsletter to their family members.
"Having the Soldiers submit their photos gives them their five minutes of fame," said Salas. "I get a lot of photos and can't fit them all in so it encourages the Soldiers to send their photos."
Trent said he is really happy with what Salas has done with the newsletter.
"It wouldn't have been sent out if it wasn't good," he said. "Salas did a fantastic job."
| Date Taken: | 03.24.2009 |
| Date Posted: | 03.24.2009 04:47 |
| Story ID: | 31522 |
| Location: | FORWARD OPERATING BASE HUSAYNIYAH, IQ |
| Web Views: | 319 |
| Downloads: | 210 |
This work, Competition challenges Soldier to strive with newsletter, by SFC Debralee Lutgen, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
No keywords found.
LEAVE A COMMENT