Hello once again to all of the Viper friends and families. Things are going well here in Afghanistan. Task Force Desert Hawk is taking extremely good care of us. Recently, the Vipers were selected to support the movement of Vice President Cheney during a visit. It was a tremendous honor for the Company to be chosen for this mission, and we supported it in an outstanding and professional manner.

In our off time, we are managing to enjoy ourselves over here. Many are using the excellent gym facilities to start of continue a regular workout routine. Some members of the Company even ran in a recent St. Patrick's Day 5K race (one Viper was even spotted running the race wearing a sombrero and a moustache). The weather is getting a little warmer as we move into the Spring and Summer months, but so far it is generally in the 80's during the day. I am sure we will miss this time of year when the temperatures climb into the triple digits!

Recently we have been able to promote several members of the Company: on April 1st CW4 Pelkey was promoted, on March 1st we promoted SPC Arevalo, and on April 1st we promoted SPC Torres. Another milestone was reached recently as CW2 Sheffield reached the 1,000 hour mark in total flight time. Congratulations to all of these outstanding Troopers. We would also like to welcome PFC Ashby and 1LT Keefer to Charlie Company as the newest Vipers. PFC Ashby is joining us from Delta Company and 1LT Keefer is joining the Company after recently completing flight school. Last but not least, we want to welcome CW2 Axton to Afghanistan. So far he was only in country 24 hours and in true Axton safety-fashion managed to wrench his back and visit the medical tent four times. Thankfully he is still smiling and has even started flying as well.

We all hope that everything is going well with friends and family back home. Until next time...

CPT Matt Dyer

17 March 2007 -

Things are going well for the Vipers at FOB Salerno. Everyone is staying busy flying and fixing helicopters around the clock and we have settled into our rhythm here. Be sure to take a look at the company photos that have been added. They were taken on March 17th. Enjoy..

11 March 2007 -

Just wanted to add a quick note. Some new pictures have been added to the photo gallery section of this website. Be sure to check them out. Thank you to Laurel Dahlquist for sending them to me. We hope to add more pictures very soon.

CPT Matt Dyer

1 Feb 2007 -

First of all, I would like to say hello to all of the Viper families. The company has finally gotten settled at our new home away from home in Afghanistan, Forward Operating Base (FOB) Salerno. Soon after we arrived, we quickly got very busy providing daily aviation support to coalition forces here. Life here is pretty good. We live in actual brick and mortar buildings and everyone has a small living area to call their own. We have quickly learned to appreciate the area where we live. While the rest of the country has several feet of snow on the ground, we are enjoying winter temperatures of about 40 degrees at night and a balmy 70 degrees during the day. We'll continue to provide updates as often as possible.

CPT Matthew Dyer