To our Family, Friends and Supporters:

Steak Team Mission Founder Harvey Gough (aka Steak 6) and 11 other volunteer team members will soon deploy to Afghanistan. We will be serving the Marines of Task Force Leatherneck in Helmand Province. The plan is to prepare approximately 2,000 cooked-to-order steak dinners for Marines assigned to six separate combat outposts (COP) scattered across the province. We are transporting all of the foodstuffs necessary to complete a full meal including appetizers, tenderloin steaks, ranch style beans, coleslaw, cornbread and ice cream bars.

This mission, we have a special guest joining us: Coach Rich Ellerson, West Point’s head football coach. We are very pleased that Coach Ellerson can join us and bring an added bit of excitement to the deployed Marines and Army personnel we expect to encounter. Most of the team have multiple missions under their belts, both foreign and domestic. This is the 18th Steak Team Mission and the third to Afghanistan. It will be my sixth overall and fourth overseas.

The team will first rally in London, then fly on to Kuwait and the Central Command (CENTCOM) area of responsibility. From there, we will board a United States Air Force cargo plane, along with several pallets of food and equipment, for “insertion” to the war zone via Camp Bastion, a British-controlled air base in Helmand, adjacent to Camp Leatherneck, the main Marine base in the area. After a day of equipment issue, security briefings, preparation and a little bit of catch up sleep, the team will split into two separate teams and, over the course of 3 or 4 days, travel to forward outposts to do our small part to serve the Marines who do so much and serve us so well.

The successful execution of every steak mission relies on the staunch support of our many friends and family who give generously. Every donation, every in-kind contribution, every gesture of support and encouragement makes a difference and makes these missions possible. You are legion, and I hesitate to even try to enumerate you for fear that I will leave someone out. THANK YOU ALL. You know who you are.

Special thanks to my wife, my kids and my parents for lovingly indulging my need to get off my butt, go out and try to just DO SOMETHING useful in support of the special breed of men and women who willingly go in harms way for me. Again, and again, and again.

I don’t know how much connectivity to expect once downrange. My guess is: not much. But, I will attempt regular updates, along with photos, as the mission progresses.

This year, I learned another military expression from Michael: “Charlie Mike” These are the phonetic alphabet terms for the letters “C” and “M” used in radio transmissions. Charlie Mike = Continue Mission. So, until the next post … Charlie Mike.

David