BAGHDAD — Multi-National Division - Baghdad food service Soldiers had the opportunity to experience a meal that isn’t served in the dining facility where they work.

“I learned a little more about our counterparts today,” said Smalls. “I believe the mission that we came out to do was accomplished.”

Multi-National Security Transition Command – Iraq ReleaseCAMPT TAJI — In a step forward for Iraq, the Multi-National Security Transition Command – Iraq (MNSTC-I ) has turned over the Iraqi Light Armored Vehicle (ILAV) Maintenance Center here to the Iraqi Army.

Iraqi Air Force Staff Gen. Naseer Abadi, deputy chief of staff, Ministry of Defense, participated in a ceremonial ribbon cutting with U.S. Army Brig. Gen. Steven Salazar, commanding general, MNSTC-I Joint Headquarters Army Advisory Training Team.

The ILAV (Badger) has an armored hull for protection against landmines, explosive devices and small arms fire.  It carries a driver, commander and eight squad members.

In May 2006, a contract was signed to procure 495 Badgers and the necessary logistical support.  The Iraqi Army and Iraqi Security Forces will use the vehicles for operations throughout Iraq.

“You should be proud today,” Salazar told the assembled audience.  “This is a very capable vehicle.  But with a great gift comes great responsibility.  You must take care [of] and maintain these vehicles.”

Iraqi Army Staff Maj. Gen. Muniem, deputy chief of staff for Electrical Mechanized Engineering, said that his staff is prepared to run the facility.

“We are ready to take care of this facility.  We will repair and maintain our vehicles and keep them running strong,” Muniem said.

The IP realized they could leverage significant operational gains with their own operations center to conduct mission planning and tracking, while working with key personnel from the Iraqi Army and Iraqi National Police.

“[The Iraqi Police] recognize that they need to work together with the Iraqi Army and the Iraqi National Police. To do that, they needed a functional operations center from which they could conduct operations,” said Sgt. 1st Class Gene Harding, intelligence team leader for the 3rd IP Div. National Police Transition Team.

The operations center is outfitted with work areas for liaisons from the Iraqi Army and Iraqi National Police as well as personnel for key functional areas such as intelligence and communications. This has given Iraqi Security Forces a unified front for security in Mosul.

“Now that they have a place where they can come together, they are coming together,” said Harding. “They are able to plan and coordinate with each other because they are all right there together.”

Since the center began full-scale operations on May 20, mission coordination has reaped rewards for the ISF. According to Harding, in the last week one mission resulted in the capture of a suspected insurgent and another uncovered a large weapons cache.

The IP’s designed, coordinated key pieces, and built the operations center to their specifications.

“They’ve taken ownership of this since inception. This is 100 percent their operations center,” said Harding. “They took ideas from one of our operations centers and made it their own.”

Lateaf stated that the operations center will become pivotal for the Iraqi Security Forces as Coalition forces reposition in accordance with the security agreement. Now that he has a base of operations, Lateaf is continually looking for ways to improve the operations center and the resources it provides.

“[The operations center] is not perfect yet, but we are developing it every day,” said Lateaf. “Each day we will continue to improve on our operations and be more successful. This is just the beginning.”

(Multi-National Division – North)

KIRKUK — More than 50 local Iraqi family members stepped foot inside the green gates of the Sultan Saqi cemetery to pay respect to mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters and beloved ancestors, May 27. For some, it was the first time in decades they have crossed the sacred threshold. After Iraq’s old regime barred relatives access to this site for almost 35 years, they were granted official visits to two on-base cemeteries here thanks to a partnership between the U.S. Air Force, Iraqi Air Force, a Defense Department Human Terrain Team, and the Kirkuk Provincial Council’s Religious Affairs Committee. The U.S. and Iraqi base commanders co-hosted the event.

Iraqi military, civic and religious leaders led a procession through the cemetery grounds to a ceremony in front of the renovated, green-domed Sultan Saqi shrine.

Col. Eric Overturf, 506th Air Expeditonary Group commander, recognized contributors from the 506th Expeditionary Civil Engineer Squadron and the Iraqi Air Force for their efforts in a recent restoration project of the cemetery’s shrine. He pointed out that while they come from different countries and have different religions and ethnicities, they came together to work on the project.

“These are only four men, but they represent the partnership of all of the people, [of] General Shihab (Al-Hurriya base commander) and me, the people of Iraq and the Coalition forces, and I think a great hope for the future [of this] nation,” he said.

Cemetery caretaker, Chaplain (Lt. Col.) Mark Rowan, 506th AEG Group chaplain, passed the key to the shrine’s door to Shaykh Akbar Hussain, whose family has been responsible for the shrine and cemetery for more than 400 years.

“His family [members are] the ancient caretakers here; I’m the temporary caretaker,” said Rowan, a Long Island, N.Y., native deployed from Yokota Air Base, Japan. He further thanked the shaykh for the faithfulness of his family and his love for the shrine and cemetery.

With the door unlocked and open, some people crowded into the shrine while others scattered throughout the cemetery to locate their families’ grave sites.

A retired Iraqi school principal, Salim Ali Mustafa, walked to where his great grandfather is buried. It’s been 36 years since he last stood on this ground, he said. He remembers coming to this area to study when he was in high school, he said. But much has changed since that time, including the absence of many trees that used to surround the land that once belonged to local farmers.

Human Terrain Team research manager Dan Sockle said that in the mid-1970s, under Saddam Hussein’s orders, the base expanded to the north and south, absorbing most of the Tis’Ayn neighborhood and destroying the small village of Bilawah.

Today, however, there were no indications of human bitterness here after a long-anticipated return to honor Saqi and visit the graves of their loved ones, respecting and reflecting on their cultural heritage.

The atmosphere was not solemn, typical of such a place of respect. Instead visitors were grateful for the opportunity to visit and happy to once again see their family members’ final resting places.

Hassan Kawther pointed out his family: a son, an uncle, sister, mother and grandfather buried among the cemetery’s 700-plus graves.

Hassan said that by being here on this day, he recollects many memories from 42 years ago. “It’s very good to come back,” he said. “Nothing is better than today.”

Two visiting family representatives, including Councilman and Committee Chair Hassan Turan, also reconnected with their loved ones in the Bilawah cemetery.

(By Senior Airman Jessica Lockoski, 506th Air Expeditionary Group Public Affairs)

FOB DELTA — Task Force Gunner Med, the 41st Fires Brigade’s combined medical engagement team, recently visited the Karama hospital to continue its effort of improving the Wasit healthcare system. The visit, part of the joint medical civil-military operation between the Wasit Director General of Health and the 41st Fires Brigade, was designed to restore the medical capacity in Wasit and bring medical care up to the regional health care standard.

Lt. Col. Sheila Hodgson, 945th Forward Surgical Team, ventured outside FOB Delta for the first time since her team took over here in March.

“I think it was a great experience,” said Hodgson. “I was just really amazed by the doctors there. They are working with so little but they are still doing what they can to help the people.”

Hodgson was joined on this trip by Col. Carlos Penaloza, flight surgeon for 1-150th Assault Helicopter Battalion, who visited a local hospital for the first time. They met with the Karama doctors and discussed some of the hospital’s challenges before visiting with patients.

The lack of medical training materials was one of the issues discussed during the meeting and Hodgson said if she had known this was a problem, she would have brought some from home.

“We have so much of that laying around back in the States,” said Hodgson. “So that’s what I plan to do, just contact my colleagues back in the states and see if they can send me a box of DVDs and electronic materials.”

The lack of educational materials wasn’t the only thing that Hodgson noticed as she toured the hospital and visited with patients.

“It just seems that their medical attention on the floor is pretty limited,” said Hodgson. “Basically, the care they were getting was provided by their family members, so they really need to build up their infrastructure; nursing, nurses’ aids and even just basic equipment.”

Hodgson said the best part of her first trip to the hospital was talking to a female pathologist who works there with her husband.

“You could tell she was just very dedicated, very passionate about her work and I’m sure what she has to work with is very limited, but she really inspired me,” said Hodgson. “Hopefully we can get to go out on more missions and bring out more supplies and do what we can while we’re here.”

(By Sgt. Joe Thompson, Multi-National Division – South)

By Spc. Phillip Adam Turner
Multi-National Division - Baghdad

BAGHDAD

— In an effort to give a group of high school students a glimpse into the lives of Iraqis, a Dubuque, Iowa teacher assigned a service project to her students to apply ‘real world problem solving solutions’ that would benefit the people of Iraq. Brenda Foust, a world history teacher at Hemp Stead High School, and her students decided they should focus on education the most, with the common belief that ‘knowledge is power.’

“We gathered donated school supplies for the children, feeling that that would help to better educate them and eventually help them effect change in years to come,” said committee member and Hemp Stead High School sophomore, Rachel Splinter.

Partnering with the students and faculty of nearby Washington Middle School, the students gathered an abundance of pens, pencils, notebooks and many other educational tools that could be used in classrooms throughout Iraq.

The next step would be to find a way to deliver the supplies.

That’s where sophomore Tracy Zurcher and her uncle, Master Sgt. Craig Roberts, with Multi-National Division - Baghdad’s Provost Marshal’s Office, helped build a bridge between American high school students and the Iraqi children.

“Since he was in Iraq, I introduced Mrs. Foust to Craig, and soon our class was exchanging e-mails, and [video chatting] with him,” said Zurcher.

With [the 1st Cavalry Division] being deployed, I agreed to help them out because I saw that it was a good cause and a way for them [to] understand what it is we are trying to do over here,” Roberts said.

Soon all the pieces were falling into place. Roberts, having seen this project grow from an idea into a fully-fledged humanitarian aid mission, took the next few steps on his own.

“Once I received the supplies I started making connections [with U.S. military units] which would ultimately provide the means to deliver these supplies to a community they had a relationship with,” said Roberts.

So on May 15, roughly 200 students of the Hamichun School in Baghdad gathered just outside their respective classrooms, filling the concrete courtyard with gleeful anticipation and chatter, as Roberts and Soldiers of the 112th Infantry Regiment unloaded box after box of school supplies and mounds of book bags. For the students in Iowa, their hopes were that these children would see that they had not been forgotten.

“This is one of those things where a plan comes together,” Roberts said. “I had it in my mind that those [Hemp Stead High students] had gone through so much to get that stuff here, that I was going to go that extra mile to get [the donations] out to kids who needed it, before school let out for the summer.”

“I am so glad that my students got to see the benefit of all their hard work,” Foust said. “I really can’t take any of the credit for this; all I did was give them an assignment. They took it, ran with it, and I couldn’t be more proud of the results. I am truly amazed.”

By Pfc. Justin Naylor
1st Cavalry Division

KIRKUK

— Partnership is the term used by U.S. military officials to describe the cooperative relationship between Iraqi Police (IP), Army and U.S. Soldiers following the Security Agreement signed between the two countries, January 1. This includes daily missions maintaining security in Kirkuk province, and it also means sharing in accomplishments.

Iraqi Emergency Services Police here recently witnessed a re-enlistment ceremony for two U.S. Soldiers from the 82nd Field Artillery Regiment.  Known as the “Red Dragons,” the unit also awarded Army Achievement Medals (AAM) to five IP at the event.
 
The ceremony began with dozens of IP standing in formation to watch the unfurling of the U.S. flag and the re-enlistment of two U.S. Soldiers.

“There is nothing more fitting than for these Soldiers to raise their right hand and reenlist with their Iraqi partners present,” explained Lt. Col. Terry Cook, commander, 3rd Battalion, 82nd FA Regt.

Aside from wanting to extend their time in the military, there were additional reasons the Soldiers chose to re-enlist with their Iraqi partners beside them.

“We are in their country,” said Spc. Jonathan Real. “We wanted to show them how we [U.S. Army Soldiers] do our ceremonies.”

Sgt. David Crebo explained that the IP have been great partners and this ceremony not only symbolized that partnership, but gave the IP an example of how to conduct their own ceremonies.

Following the re-enlistment, the five IP to receive AAMs stood before their fellow IP and U.S. Soldiers.

By Army regulation, the AAM can be awarded to any member of the Armed Forces of the United States, or to any member of the Armed Forces of a friendly foreign nation who, while serving in any capacity with the Army, distinguishes himself by meritorious service or achievement.

According to Iraqi Brig. Gen. Khatad, the five IP were being rewarded for their outstanding work and for setting an example for their fellow Policemen.

“I’ve seen the Shurta [IP] within Kirkuk city working at an exceptional level,” said Cook. “We are honored and humbled to be able to serve with such a fine organization.”

For one IP in particular, the award had special meaning.

“It is very unusual for us to receive awards for doing our job well,” explained Anies Fandi Naijm Muter. “I am very proud.  All my fellow Shurtas are going to try and prove that they can be better than me now.  It’s a great program, and it is great that we are being rewarded for doing what we love.”