I am pleased to announce the addition of Able Company to our roster, formed by the ever-growing Third Platoon of Charlie Company, which was created for its European-friendly drill times. Our 230 members are now organised into three companies: Able, Baker and Charlie.
A little over eight months ago, we began surveying the unit to find out if we would have enough European players (or North Americans who preferred earlier drill times) to form a 'European Squad'. We found enough - it was roughly 8 if I remember correctly. However, we knew it would soon have a few more with retired members returning and European cadets from Basic Training, so we planned for it to be its own platoon, starting out as a single squad. I was able to talk T/4 Cranston into leading this squad-sized platoon, and it proved to be one of the best moves I've made.
As we have seen, the Darkest Hour community produced countless European players or North Americans who preferred earlier times, and the ranks of CP3 filled up very rapidly. With 50+ players, they quickly became the largest platoon in the unit. We saw them expand to a fourth squad (over the realistic limit), and still overfill the squad numbers to as high as 15 members per squad.
Clearly it was time for a second European platoon. But adding one to Baker Company would seem silly, as if it were its own Company, it could have its own Company Drills, rather than two platoon drills per week. This route making more sense, we began the planning for an expansion to a third company. Fortunately, we had strong leadership that was ripe for moving up. 1Lt. Cunningham, Charlie Company's XO, was proving invaluable to his company and quite capable of even more, thus he was chosen to lead Able Company as its Commanding Officer.
Staff Sergeant Cranston was able to hold the largest platoon in the unit together, alone in its platoon headquarters, for eight months, without any platoon leadership training like our officers have received. Through this and many other things he's done in the unit, he's proved his qualification for Officer Candidate School, and is now training to became a Lieutenant. Sergeant Egerton has also proven to be a very valuable asset to CP3, a member from its beginning and a role model to the entire platoon. He has been chosen to lead the newly formed Second Platoon of Able Company.
The hard work of these leaders allowed us to structure CP3 into the size and format that it is meant to be. But it was the hard work of all members of CP3 that made this necessary in the first place. The 70% attendance of drills, the hard work of its squad leaders, and the huge amount of recruitment taking place. I would like to thank our recruiters from CP3, especially its top 3, for filling up the platoon so much that it had to expand to a third company!
Able Company Recruiting Hall of Fame
1. Cpl. Tuomainen with 66 recruits
2. T/5 Vandewalle with 34 recruits
3. SSgt. Cranston with 29 recruits
Congratulations to all members of the new Able Company, and to all members of the 29th Infantry Division, past and present, for bringing us to where we are today - a battalion sized unit with three companies!
PFC Noye,
Cpl. Brewer,
Zookawarrior,
TSgt. Conrad,
Pvt. Tyler,
Cpl. Overby,
Sgt. Olson,
Maj. Cooke,
PFC Zhao,
PFC Dragunov,
Sgt. Grassel,
2Lt. Mills,
DAnderson,
PFC Pendleton,
Sgt. Leveille,
PFC Kramer,
Cpl. Vandewalle,
2Lt. Cranston,
Sgt. Saunders,
FSgt. Egerton,
Cpl. Gjerstad,
1Lt. Morra,
Sgt. Phillips,
SSgt. DeVore,
PFC Cline,
Sgt. Selleck,
Foxhole,
Sgt. Heck,
Sgt. Balzer,
PFC Vanzin,
Pvt. Delaruz,
Cpl. Sandberg,
PFC Weber,
PFC Yoder,
Pvt. Honkanen,
Cpl. Stollenwerk,
PFC K. Smith,
PFC Friesenhan,
PFC Daoud,
de Waal,
Pvt. Wickbom,
Cpl. Lubeck,
PFC McCulley,
PFC Donofrio,
PFC Lundqvist,
PFC Brotz,
PFC Des Bois,
T/5 Olsen,
PFC Stefan,
PFC Lollis,
Cpl. Murphy,
PFC Hartstock,
Pvt. Hartman,
PFC Hung,
PFC Perdiew,
Cpl. Luffy,
PFC McCarty,
Cpl. Yard,
PFC Howington,
Cpl. P. Smith,
PFC Canon,
PFC Skoko,
PFC Mckee,
PFC Bowden,
PFC Johansson,
PFC Goralski,
PFC Lamb,
2Lt. Boughen,
Sgt. Thornton,
PFC Morris,
PFC Treble,
PFC Sturm,
PFC Lorbek,
PFC Vigna,
PFC Jacobsson,
Cpl. van Schuuren,
PFC Carter,
T/5 Moates,
T/5 Pandy,
PFC Law,
Pvt. Sanderson,
PFC Daugherty,
PFC Ceglar,
PFC Sung,
PFC Mueller,
PFC Erb,
PFC Purcell,
Cpl. Hill,
Pvt. Nitsch,
PFC Ahopelto,
PFC Hanson-Macdonald,
Pvt. Ross,
PFC Gouin,
PFC Buschur,
PFC L'Heureux,
PFC Kolehmainen,
PFC Andersson,
PFC Rollins,
Pvt. Poe,
[No.3]Clark,
PFC Greenshields,
PFC Hutter,
PFC Lamsa,
Pvt. Mussalo,
PFC Viljamaa,
T/5 Jergulson,
Pvt. Mäenpää,
Pvt. Willis,
Pvt. Sampson,
PFC Pavlik,
PFC Feldman,
PFC Fisher,
Pvt. Basnett,
PFC Henry,
Pvt. Miller,
Pvt. Craycroft,
PFC Hopkins,
PFC Hernandez,
van Osch,
Pvt. Johnson
