Dear Interested Reader,
Marines strengthen ties with villagers. New classrooms open at the Hegna Primary School. Irbil facility to serve as Orphanage and Senior Center. MP Officer Basic Course graduation celebrated. New environmentally-engineered landfill in Kirkuk is first of its kind in Iraq. Soldiers from 66th Armor Regt., 25th ID takes us on a patrol through Shananah in Diyala province. In Afghanistan, coalition medical personnel care for people of Oruzgan.
Joanna
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March 1, 2009
Multi-National Corps - Iraq
Public Affairs Office, Camp Victory
APO AE 09342
Marines Strengthen Ties with Iraqi Village
By Lance Cpl. B.A. Curtis
Lance Cpl. Stephanie H. Rivera hands out blankets to villagers in Kem Esbani, Feb. 16.
CAMP AL TAQADDUM — U.S. Marines recently visited the a village of Kem Esbani to strengthen the rapport CF established with the town since the U.S. entered Iraq in 2003. The comm. officer of Marine Wing Support Sqdrn 373, Lt. Col. Todd M. Jenkins, chose to visit the town to enhance relations with its people by providing them with supplies, medical care and other basic needs. He hopes these acts will promote the exchange of ideas between CF and the citizens here.
Jenkins and other 2nd Marine Logistics Group leaders sat with the village leaders to discuss their challenges and needs. During the meeting, other Marines from the logistics group handed out blankets, mattresses, toys, soccer balls and water to villagers who lined up with anticipation and excitement.
One Iraqi explained to the Marines that the village’s biggest need is fresh water, mentioning the village draws their water from a nearby canal. The water is not purified and could result in future health problems for the families that reside in the tight-knit community. According to Capt. Jack D. Pearce, the co cmdr of Co A, MWSS-373, the unit is looking to help alleviate this problem by diverting water to the village from a newly constructed water treatment plant in nearby Kabani.
“The first tour I was here, there was almost zero traffic, and we didn’t get the good fortune of seeing families out,” Jenkins said. “This time we see a lot of big families with happy kids that are doing better economically.” Jenkins plans to return his Marines to the town in the near future, to follow up on what he calls a “ground-breaking” meeting to provide further aid to the villagers.
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Opening classrooms, opening minds
FOB WARRIOR, Kirkuk - The GoI's commitment to progress is continuing in the form of 3 new classrooms which opened at the Hegna Primary School Feb. 15. The additional classrooms will allow younger children to focus on educational fundamentals.
"This is a great opportunity for the children of Hegna to have greater access to a learning environment and will allow teachers to be able to focus more closely on the children by reducing the classroom sizes said,," Cpt. Justin Michel, cmdr, Alpha Co, 1st Bn, 8th Cav Regt, 2nd BCT, 1st Cav Div.
According to Michel, the GoI has taken the responsibility of providing for its country's future, and is determined to create better lives for its citizens and its children by continuing to add on to this school and schools like it around the country.
The children of Hegna are not the sole benefactors of the GoI school openings. "Opening more classrooms creates opportunities for local teachers to use their skills to benefit the village's children," said Michel. "The continuing improvements to the infrastructure of Iraq are beginning to be more and more apparent in towns like Hegna. The GoI is providing its citizens the vital social services they need to continue to build a bright future for their country," said Michel.
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Irbil facility to serve city’s most vulnerable residents
By Mike Scheck
Gulf Region North
Irbil – February 12 was a day of celebration in the 4,300-year-old city of Irbil in the northern Kurdish region of Iraq. The Kurdistan Regional Govt, the USACE Gulf Region Div, and contract partners gathered to celebrate the completion of the Irbil Orphanage and Senior Center. The new facility provides a home for some of the city’s most vulnerable citizens and stands on the site of the old substandard orphanage, built in 1967.
Although the local Kurdish society is traditionally built on extended family support networks, the instability in Iraq during the past decade has disrupted that social network system. The Kurdish Regional Govt determined that it must take a more active role to both provide a safe living environment for these special needs residents, and offer them rehabilitation programs to ensure that they can integrate into society as contributing citizens.
The new facility has almost twice the capacity of the old orphanage and can accommodate 250 boys and 250 girls in separate dormitories. One hundred destitute senior citizens, who have no alternative means of support, will also live at the new center. Assisted living is a new concept for the region, and planners consider it a logical combination to have homeless children share a facility with senior citizens.
“In the U.S. we’re starting to see day care centers on assisted living properties because seniors and kids get along well together,” according to Gary York, the area engr for the Gulf Region North district’s Irbil Resident Office.
The new facility also has a unique look and modern functional design. At the heart is the multipurpose room, surrounded by 6 3-story resident halls. The buildings were designed so that the small children’s playground is located in front of the seniors’ home. Other conveniences for the senior center include a hydraulic elevator, extra wide doors and handicap-accessible tubs and showers.
“The Americans with Disabilities Act is of course unfamiliar to the Iraqi people,” York said. “However, there are many features required by the act built into the new facility.” Those features include fire alarms, high-quality hardware and kitchenettes in each resident facility. “Many responsible individuals and companies from the local area have made generous donations for equipment and furnishing. There is no greater service to your country and community than helping the underprivileged,” York said.
The general contractor for the project was the Zeezna Company. “The Corps of Engs was offered a unique opportunity to partner with the Zeezna Company to build a facility that serves such a noble cause: the care of Irbil’s orphans and senior citizens,” explained Col. Margaret Burcham, cmdr of the Gulf Region North district. “We have taken that opportunity to create a structure that is both beautiful and functional, and one that serves as a lasting testament to USACE’s commitment to the reconstruction efforts in Irbil. This project represents tremendous efforts by dedicated people who have worked together to make a difference in the lives of these special citizens of Irbil,” she added.
Other amenities constructed on the orphanage site include a playground, swimming pool, soccer field, guard house, administration building, garden lot, exterior water tanks and parking lot.
USACE’s Gulf Region Division has completed more than 4,400 projects in Iraq. These projects are helping meet the basic needs of the Iraqi people by providing essential services like electricity generation, clean water, sewage treatment, schools and medical facilities.
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Multi-National Security Transition Command – Iraq
Public Affairs Office, Phoenix Base
APO AE 09348
MP Officer Basic Course graduation at An Numaniyah
By Capt. Randy Sherman
AN NUMANIYAH - The Iraqi MP Academy at An Numaniyah Military Training Base continues to professionalize the Iraqi Officer Corps. Eight MP officers from 6 different IA divs graduated from the MP Officers Basic Course, Feb. 25.
The 8-week curriculum included such diverse topics as Levels of Force, Civil Disturbance, Personal Security Detail (planning & executing), Traffic Control Point/Entry Control Point mgt, plt and co.-level Military Ops in Urban Terrain, Force Protection/Security in Urban Areas, and Enemy Prisoner-of-War/Civilian Internee internment and resettlement ops.
The training also included situational training exercises requiring students to overcome challenging, realistic circumstances likely to be encountered in both urban and rural settings, while drawing upon experience from classroom instruction and practical exercises. The course is designed and mentored by personnel from Multi-National Security Transition Command – Iraq’s Joint HQs Army Advisory Training Team (formerly Coalition Army Advisory Training Team).
The Iraqi MP officers will return to their home units and apply the newly-learned techniques and skills to better their units, as they continue their efforts to maintain security and stability in Iraq. MNSTC-I’s crucial assistance in the training of Iraqi SF represents a vital step towards ensuring Iraq’s self-sufficiency, during the critical transition from coalition to Iraqi-led ops.
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New environmentally-engineered landfill in Kirkuk is first of its kind in Iraq
By Mike Scheck
Gulf Region North
Kirkuk – Engrs estimate that Kirkuk residents discard 900 tons of trash a day. So like other major cities in the world, Kirkuk is facing the age old problem: what to do with all that trash. The city is serious about solving its garbage problem and the USACE is part of a joint, multi-national effort to provide solutions.
For years Kirkuk residents have been dumping their garbage into unregulated areas or merely unloading it in open fields outside the city. This unrestricted dumping has the potential to cause serious health, environmental and public safety concerns. To solve the city’s garbage problem, the CF BCT initiated a sustained Solid Waste Mgt Program for Kirkuk in 2005. To find an environmentally safe solution to the city’s garbage collection and disposal dilemma, the BCT partnered with the Kirkuk Municipality, the Kirkuk Provincial Govt, the PRT-Kirkuk, U.S. Agency for Int'l Development (USAID) and the USACE Gulf Region Div.
The central piece to the initiative is the sanitary landfill project, which meets both the highest U.S. EPA and European Union Landfill Directive standards. This site represents the first environmentally engineered and constructed landfill in Iraq. The landfill project, was completed by the Irbil-based Zana Group in February 2008. The 48-acre site is located 10 miles south of Kirkuk and has an expected lifespan of 10-12 years according to the engrs.
To increase the capacity of landfill sites and to conform to current EPA standards, solid waste must now be processed through a transfer waste station where garbage is compacted. The Kirkuk landfill will soon have 2 solid waste transfer stations to provide added capacity, and to compact the trash before being transferred to the landfill.
“The first waste transfer station is being fully utilized, and the Iraqis are implementing some of their own ideas at the waste transfer station. For example, they are removing large pieces of metal from the trash for potential recycling,” explained Lt. Col. J.B. Chadwick, officer in charge of the Kirkuk Area Office.
The price tag for each solid waste site is $2.5 million with funding for the projects coming from several agencies including the UNs Office of Project Services. The Development Group Iraq Trust Fund is paying for the city’s garbage trucks. The Republic of Korea donated the collection vehicles and loaders used at the sites. The solid waste sites and landfill will employ over 700 local workers, adding good paying jobs and a much need boost to the city’s local economy.
The major concern by the solid waste project partners was how to sustain such a massive op after the subject matter experts leave Iraq. To keep Kirkuk’s solid waste plan in place for the long-term, the agencies instituted training in all aspects of the op. U.S. AF technicians currently conduct vehicle and maintenance training with employees, and the Research Triangle Institute Int'l instructs local mgrs on landfill ops, maintenance and site mgt training.
“The Kirkuk Solid Waste Project is a model that can be used for Iraqis to learn proper waste mgt practices and will dispense with the need to travel to foreign countries to obtain info about solid waste mgt,” according USACE officials.
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Joint ComCam Center Iraq
Patrol in the Village of Shananah, Diyala Province
(Photos by Petty officer 2nd Class Walter Pels
U.S. Soldiers talk to some children in a village. Soldiers from 1st Bn, 2nd Inf Regt attached to 3rd Bn, 66th Armor Regt, 1st Stryker BCT, 25th ID are clearing the village of Shananah in Diyala province, Feb. 25.
Army Pfc. Stephen Steinlein provides security during a patrol.
Army Spc. Raymond Nicolai provides security during a patrol.
Army SSgt. Stewart Midkiff identifies an unexploded mortar in a field.
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ISF, MND-B Soldiers respond to car fire, discover IEDs
BAGHDAD - While conducting ops in the Rashid district of southern Baghdad, at approx. 11:30 a.m. Feb. 26, Soldiers from 22nd Inf Regt, 1st BCT, 4th ID, and Aamel IP responded to an explosion on Highway 8 in the Jaza'ir community near central Baghdad.
As the joint patrol arrived, IP were already spraying water onto a burning vehicle. IP rushed the injured driver to a local hospital where he later died from his wounds, while other IP remained on site to direct the congested traffic. Police officers conducting a combined patrol with Paratroopers from 1st Bn, 505th PIR, arrived to assist with site security.
After assessing the situation, the combined patrol determined the driver of the burned vehicle was transporting an IED that prematurely detonated, causing the fire. A CF EOD team responded to assist with the investigation.
Meanwhile at approx. 11:30 a.m., Feb. 26, members from the Zubaida SoI, working with Paratroopers of the 1st Bn, 505th PIR, discovered an IED while conducting combined ops in the Zubaida neighborhood in the Rashid district of Baghdad.
At approx. 12:30 a.m., Feb. 27, a local Iraqi citizen delivered a large IED to NP officers, working with Soldiers from 1st Bn., 22nd Inf. Regt., 1st BCT, 4th ID, while the 2 units conducted joint ops in the Shurta neighborhood in western Bagdad.
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U.S. Forces - Afghanistan
Coalition troops care for people of Oruzgan
KABUL - The hope for a healthier life grows strong in Deh Rawod District, Oruzgan Province, thanks to troops from multiple nations dedicated to the medical well-being of the Afghan people.
Medical professionals from the Combined Joint Special Ops TF - Afghanistan, U.S. Police Mentoring Team, Danish PRT, the French military and Afghanistan, are working together by staffing and operating 2 clinics in Deh Rawod. "This clinic shows the Afghan people that help is available to them if needed," said a Civil Affairs medic. "I've been working at the clinic since Dec. and, depending on the weather, we've generally been seeing 300 to 400 people a week."
From basic ailments to serious illnesses and injuries, the int'l medical troops provide the best possible care to a large number of people, who would not normally have access to proper medical assistance, added the Civil Affairs medic. For basic medical treatment, people are seen at this more centralized clinic, said the Civil Affairs medic. For treatment of more serious injuries, such as broken bones, extensive burns and serious illnesses, a nearby clinic operated by the Dutch PRT is consulted.
"Our clinic specializes in eyesight and life and limb saving. Since this past Oct., we've seen approx. 100 people a week," said Sgt. 1st Class Frank Deboer, a medical nurse for the Dutch Battle group.
In addition to having medical doctors, the Dutch PRT also has female medical staff members who work at both the Dutch and Civil Affairs clinics, said Deboer. Having the females provide care at the clinics helps to bridge a cultural divide in Afghanistan.
"The female nurses are able to provide health care for women in the surrounding areas," said Sgt Deboer. "It's really unique here. Women come here to be treated (unescorted)."
"I fully support our clinic's mission," said Private 1st Class Chris Macomber, a medic with the U.S. PMT. "Our being here greatly improves the quality of life for the Afghans in Deh Rawood." One recent example of this is a young girl suffering from cerebral palsy. "The girl was having trouble with her leg brace," said Sgt Deboer. "It was causing her great discomfort. We helped provide transportation for the girl's family to Kandahar, where she was able to have her brace modified and receive specialized shoes to fit her better."
Another example was a very sick little girl who was brought in and evaluated by medical personnel, said the Civil Affairs medic. She was taken to the Dutch PRT for an additional assessment, and medically evacuated to a hospital in Tarin Kowt. The girl was diagnosed with tetanus and received the treatment she needed.
A CJSOTF - A spokesman called the medical care a huge step in the right direction to a peaceful and stable country, and added that CF are working together to assist the people of Oruzgan, and other communities all over Afghanistan. CJSOTF is a SF command that partners with Afghan National SF in conducting counter-insurgency ops. Their ops include training ANSF, working with PRTs to rebuild key infrastructure and communities, and providing medical and humanitarian assistance to the Afghan people.
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