Sgt. Heath Wade checks on the status of his Soldiers, after setting up perimeter security for an aerial insertion of Task Force Cyclone team members in Surkh-e Parsa district.
1st Lt. Sam Drzewianowski (right), and Ed Campbell (left), speak with a pharmacist, Sayed Sarwary, at the Zia Pharmacy.
The first MRAP-All Terrain Vehicle to arrive in Helmand sits on the flight line, Nov. 16 at Camp Bastion in Helmand prov. The M-ATV will allow Marines to negotiate more restrictive terrain.
The vehicle's design also delivers more comfort to the crew, as well as safety from different blast angles. Sporting an extended wheel base, the M-ATV keeps its crew a safe distance away from pressure plate IEDs, many of which are designed to detonate when tires roll over them. The M-ATV is not only mine, ballistic and IED resistant, it can roll through the desert without all the bumps encountered with the humvee. Most Marines will welcome the comfort, but many will also be excited about the power. Sporting a 7.2-liter diesel engine, the M-ATV can reach 30 miles per hour in less than 11 seconds, despite weighing more than 25,000 pounds. The vehicle also tackles terrain at speeds the humvee could not, even when going up steep inclines. "Going up hills is nothing for the M-ATV," said Lance Cpl. Mario Rivera, a motor transportation operator with Bde HQ Group, MEB-Afghanistan. "Other vehicles take forever to go up. Not this one."
“It’s just the right thing to do,” said Mestemaker. “The Marines have been here on Al Asad for the past 6 years, and we’re getting ready to leave. When we do, we want to leave it better than when we came aboard.”
“We pick a starting point and pick up big materials, like scrap metal, and take it to [Defense Reutilization and Marketing Office],” explained Lance Cpl. Cory Strong, a mortar man with Weapons Co, 3rd Bn., 24th Marines. “After all the big stuff is gone, we police call for things like water bottles and cardboard. We’re picking up any of the messes we’ve made over the past few years.”
Though some remnants of war will always remain a part of the scenery aboard Al Asad, Marines are working hard to ensure future units, either U.S. or Iraqi, inherit a clean base.
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According to Jim Vancura, the senior agricultural advisor for the Kirkuk PRT, hoop houses "conserve water, increase agricultural products, and are very labor intensive, which increases employment. They're important to demonstrate to farmers that this method offers higher yields and an additional season of growth in mid-winter when vegetables are most expensive."
The houses are essentially enclosed farms, which trap heat and humidity, conserving water and protecting the crops from pests and inclement weather which may reduce the total percentage of crops the farm could yield. They're designed to withstand the Iraqi climate for up to 10 years before being replaced.
Shahidan's hoop house sits on land which has reportedly been in their family for nearly 70 years. "I lived here until 1987," said Rashid. He claimed his family was displaced during Saddam Hussein's Anfal campaign, which forced thousands of Kurdish families in northern Iraq to flee from their homes, according to Quil Lawrence, the author of Invisible Nation.
Rashid moved to Sulyamaniyah in the Kurdish Regional Govt, where he stayed until 2003. "I came back the day after the liberation," he stated proudly. The land that had been in his family for so long was now home to a former Iraqi military base, now abandoned. His story is not uncommon, but they were able to reclaim their family plot fairly easily, since they had wisely held onto the deed. According to the Kirkuk PRT, there are an estimated 40,000 property disputes throughout Kirkuk prov., and the average dispute takes nearly a year to resolve.
The land hadn't been used for farming in some time, so his family came together to reestablish their livelihood on their plot of land. A small pond sits near the property, which was not a naturally existing body of water. Rashid and his family dug out the pond and kept it filled through an artesian well, which siphons water from an underground source with enough pressure to keep a steady flow of water into the pond; which he keeps stocked with fish for supplemental income.
When asked what assistance he had for the grueling task of digging out the pond and the well, Rashid simply raised his hands and replied, "These." Shahidan then built the hoop houses, which have since proven so successful that he was able to hire additional help, an Arab named Hatem Kadhim. "He's the guard," said Rashid.
The success of his cousin's farm as a model of efficiency for Chemin, has encouraged Rashid to seek a micro-grant to build additional ones on his nearby property, which would also include a drip irrigation system to maintain the crops.
According to Vancura, the drip irrigation systems are more efficient than traditional watering methods, and work by applying water slowly directly to the soil and only when needed, saving on water consumption.
Rashid estimates the cost of the original hoop house at $3,500. Micro-grants can be rewarded to applicants for up to $5,000, contingent on a sound business model, which Shahidan has provided. The additional capability has the potential to significantly increase the family's income, which Rashid could certainly use. As the father of 11 children, "and 2 wives," Rashid has tremendous responsibilities, but even more hope, as evidenced by his family. "All of my children were born in Sulyamaniyah but one," he explained. One has been born in Kirkuk since his return, whom he named "Azad," the Kurdish word for "Freedom." And he is not finished. Like a young father, he beams at the announcement of his 12th child, due in April, whom he intends to name "Balin;" Kurdish for "Promise."
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Keeping the Hoop Dreams Alive
Capt. Nathan Strickland, Co C, 3rd HBCT, 1st Cav. Div., converses with Sheik Salih Albadrany shortly after a school opening in Jurn, a small village near the northern Iraqi city of Qayyarah, Nov. 17. The school, houses approx 240 boys, ranging in ages between 6 and 12.
(Army photo/1st Lt. Shakir Shinaba)