Knee Deep in the Hooah!

Well, better late than never is my motto! I normally post this news in the morning, but I had a wedding to attend and my husband all to myself to spend the day with today. So, here I am and the news, as usual, is good! Enjoy!

Marines strengthen relationships through medical care

Excerpt

by Pfc. Jerry Murphy
RCT-1 PAO

MUDIQ, Iraq (July 17, 2008) To strengthen their relationship with local Iraqis, Marines of Company F, 2nd Battalion, 24th Marine Regiment, Regimental Combat Team 1, conducted a combined medical engagement earlier this month.

“The people need to see our presence know we are here to help them,” said Petty Officer 2nd Class Matthew G. McDonald, a corpsman with Headquarters and Service Company, 2nd Battalion, 24th Marines. “Our support through (medicines), food, stickers, suckers and interaction with the children is very important.” Read more…

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Reconstruction programs spur Iraqi job growth

By Gerry Gilmore
American Forces Press Service

Excerpt

WASHINGTON (July 16, 2008) Two U.S.-military sponsored economic reconstruction programs are helping to put thousands of Iraqi citizens into productive jobs while boosting the country’s business activity, a senior U.S. military officer posted in Iraq said Wednesday.

In March 2007, Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, commander of Multi-National Force - Iraq, directed his officers to find ways to provide jobs and increased opportunities for economic expansion, entrepreneurship and skills training for the people of Iraq, recalled Army Maj. Gen. Timothy McHale, director of personnel, logistics and resources for Multi-National Force - Iraq.

WASHINGTON (July 16, 2008) U.S. military-sponsored economic reconstruction programs are helping give jobs to thousands of Iraqis. Read more…

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Coalition ships intercept drug vessels

Reported By, Royal Navy

Excerpt

BAHRAIN (July 15, 2008) Coalition warships operating in the Gulf region have seized 23 tons of narcotics, which could have been used to fund the insurgency in Afghanistan. The British warships involved were frigates HMS Chatham and HMS Montrose, and the destroyer HMS Edinburgh. They were supported by the Royal Fleet Auxiliary helicopter support ship Argus and her embarked Sea King aircraft.Sailors and Royal Marines from the ships discovered hidden drugs in vessels along the so-called “Hash Highway,” and often operated in the most unpleasant of conditions. The narcotics they seized included hashish, opiates, cocaine and amphetamines.

“The scourge of illegal drugs is one of the gravest threats to the long term security of Afghanistan, and a vital source of funding for the Taliban warlords who seek violence against Afghan, British and NATO forces. Our mission in Afghanistan is one of absolute importance and by seizing these drugs we have dealt a significant blow to the illegal trade,” said Commodore Keith Winstanley, commander of Royal Navfy forces in the region, speaking from the Combined Maritime Forces headquarters in Bahrain. “News of these successes has been kept quiet for operational reasons, but I am delighted that the tremendous efforts can now be recognised.” Read more…

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British General hails normalization in Basra

by Jim Garamone
American Forces Press Service

Excerpt

WASHINGTON (July 15, 2008) Security progress in Basra is “overwhelming” and Iraq’s second-largest city could be “another Dubai in the coming decade,” the commander of Multi-National Division - Southeast said July 14, referring to the bustling international business hub.

British Army Maj. Gen. Barney White-Spunner told Pentagon reporters via teleconference from Baghdad that Operation Charge of the Knights, ordered by Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki in March, has “well and truly” turned the tide in the city.Before the operation, militias controlled large parts of the city. Militia leaders, many under control of Iran, intimidated the populace and turned the city into a crime empire. Read more…

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Coalition, Iraqi Troops Bring Medical Treatment to Village

Monday, 14 July 2008
By Army Sgt. 1st Class Tami Hillis
3rd Infantry Division, 4th Brigade Combat Team

Excerpt

FORWARD OPERATING BASE KALSU Residents of Juhaysh in Iraq’s Wasit province received medical assistance from Iraqi and Coalition forces during a cooperative medical engagement last week. Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 32nd Brigade, 8th Iraqi Army Division, secured the area along with U.S. Soldiers in Company D, 3rd Battalion, 7th Infantry Regiment, attached to 1st Battalion, 76th Field Artillery, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, and used a school as a makeshift clinic to offer care to local Iraqis.

Village residents poured in from the streets, forming a line outside the school.

“I think this is very good,” an Iraqi medic said. “It’s good to help out the people, and we have a good relationship with the Coalition forces.” Read More

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Veterinarians Assist Fetoah Farmers

Friday, 18 July 2008
By Staff Sgt. Amber Emery Multi-National Divison - Center
Friday, 18 July 2008

Excerpt

CAMP VICTORY Iraqi Army Soldiers and Coalition forces conducted a veterinarian medical event in the Fetoah area, July 14.

Iraqi Soldiers from 4th Company, 2nd Battalion, 23rd Brigade, 17th Iraqi Army Division assisted Soldiers from Company B, 1st Battalion, 35th Armored Division (attached), 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) during a Veterinarian Civil Action Program. 411th Civil Affairs Battalion also provided support for the event. Read More

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Iraqi Citizens, ISV Take Weapons Off Streets of Rashid

Entire Story with permissions

BAGHDAD An Iraqi citizen and Iraqi Security Volunteers assisted Multi-National Division Baghdad Soldiers in the recovery of two separate weapons caches July 15-16 in the Rashid district of southern Baghdad.

At approximately 10:15 p.m., July 15, Soldiers from the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division reported a group of ISV members handed over 10 mortar fuses to a combat outpost in the Aamel community.

Acting on a tip from an Iraqi citizen, Soldiers from the 1st BCT, 4th Inf. Div., discovered three rocket propelled grenades at approximately 11:45 a.m., July 16, in the Hadar neighborhood. An explosives ordnance disposal unit hauled the munitions to a Coalition forces base for destruction.

“The 1st Brigade Soldiers interact daily with the Iraqi citizens of the Rashid district,” said Maj. Dave Olson, 1st BCT Spokesman, 4th Inf. Div., MND-B. “As part of Operation Nor’easter, we continue to provide a safe environment for the citizens of Iraq.”

(Multi-National Division Baghdad PAO) Source Link

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Improving Quality of Life in Dohuk

Wednesday, 16 July 2008
By Polli Barnes Keller
Gulf Region Division

Excerpt

DOHUK Two schools and a renovated water distribution network under construction in the Dohuk Province, will improve the quality of life for the residents. The projects, overseen by the Gulf Region Division, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, are constructed by Iraqi firms using funds from the Economic Support Fund.

The schools in the Malta and Shindohka neighborhoods each consist of 12-room compounds that include an administrative building, laboratory rooms, toilet facilities, a play area and garden, as well as a perimeter wall, guard house and a maintenance room. The facilities will support approximately 2,400 children in two school sessions a day and create employment for more than 40 teachers. At a cost of $2.5 million collectively, these schools are currently under construction and scheduled for completion by the end of the year.

“Education is the key to a bright future, and these educated children are Iraq’s future leaders,” said Jim Hilario, the Dohuk resident engineer for the Gulf Region North district. “I am grateful that I played a small roll in providing the tools necessary for the growth of this nation.”

The Masike to Jami Bini water network will provide a reliable water supply for approximately 65,000 people. Replacing the existing damaged network and installing new water lines will improve the quality and quantity of safe drinking water in the area. The $1.5 million project also provides collateral benefits of increasing water pressure, which reduces contamination; filling existing water storage tanks; and slowing aquifer depletion. As long as there is a reliable source of water serving the Dohuk province, growth potential is unlimited. This project is also under construction and scheduled for completion by the end of the year. Read More

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Hundreds of New Officers Join Iraqi Army, Air Force

Entire Story with Permissions

RUSTAMIYAH
Wednesday, 16 July 2008

Amid showers of candy and shouts from family and friends, more than 250 new lieutenants joined the Iraqi Army and Air Force after graduating from the Iraqi Military Academy here July 14. The same day as the graduation at Rustamiyah, more than 400 cadets graduated from the academies at Zhako, Nasiriyah and Qualachalon.

“You are the future of Iraq,” Iraqi Defense Minister Abd al-Qadir Muhammad said to the graduates. “You are who the country will count on for reconstruction and leadership.”

The defense minister stressed the importance of working together for the country’s future.

“From this place, I’m asking you all to be united,” he said. “All work as one team, for Iraq only. Remember that you all have the same enemy. … The biggest medal you can wear on your chest is the trust of the Iraqi people.”

U.S. Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, commander of Multinational Force Iraq, told the graduates they were joining increasingly capable forces that will benefit from their leadership.

“You are about to join the Iraqi Army and Air Force that have distinguished themselves in recent months against the enemies of Iraq,” he said. “I know you will live the values you learned here, and that you will provide the courageous leadership the military expects of you.”

The Rustamiyah academy was founded by the British in 1924 and is modeled after the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. It was closed in 2003 before the war, and since it reopened in 2005, Rustamiyah and the other three academies have graduated 4,800 new officers for the Iraqi armed forces.

The program of instruction is based on three training terms over a one-year period, as well as a six-month course for officer cadets who already have a university degree. Air force cadets go through the first term with their army counterparts, and then focus on air force and language training.

The year is broken into three 15-week training terms: junior, intermediate and senior.

The junior term focuses on basic military training such as drill, basic weapon-handling drills and physical training to make the transition from civilian to officer cadet. The intermediate term focuses on leadership principles, command positions, and section and platoon attacks. The senior term focuses on bringing all of the principles together, culminating in a final tactical training exercise that brings the cadets to final readiness for their first job in the Iraqi forces.

(From a Multinational Force Iraq news release.) Source Link

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Same City, Different Outlook on Ramadi

Tuesday, 15 July 2008
By Lance Cpl. Casey Jones
Regimental Combat Team 1

Excerpt

RAMADI A mostly Sunni city with about 500,000 residents, Ramadi was considered to be one of the most violent cities in the world during the early part of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Today, locals are out shopping at the city’s bustling marketplace, known as the souk. Children are playing soccer in fields, and students are walking mostly worry-free to and from the province’s local college, al Anbar University.

The signs of war have steadily declined as the city has embraced peace and the region is returning to normalcy, which is an unexpected but welcome change for Marines with 1st Battalion,9th Marine Regiment, Regimental Combat Team 1, returning to the region for consecutive tours.

“A lot of the action happened in Ramadi,” said Cpl. Abdias Betancourth Jr., a 23-year-old motor transportation operator from Toppenish, Wash., with 1st Battalion, 9th Marine Regiment, Regimental Combat Team 1. “We had it all here - improvised explosive devices, small arms fire, rockets, almost every type of attack.”

The city of Ramadi endured some of the toughest fighting between 2004 and 2006, and the Marines expected intense combat while preparing for their deployments to the region.

“We had an idea of what we were going into just from all of the storylines and news coverage,” said 1st Sgt. Patrick J. Dostal, the Headquarters and Service Company first sergeant with 1st Battalion, 9th Marines, who was previously deployed to Ramadi in 2006. “But still you just don’t know what to expect. We trained for (heavy combat), but its just one of those things you don’t (fully comprehend) until you’re there.” Read More

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Iraqi Army Soldiers Seize Weapons Caches in Sadr City

By the Multi-National Division Baghdad Public Affairs Office
Courtesy Story
Posted on 07.19.2008 at 02:30Am

BAGHDAD Iraqi army soldiers working to secure the area in the Sadr City district of Baghdad uncovered several weapons caches July 17.

Soldiers with the 3rd Brigade, 1st Iraqi army division, found a cache in an empty house at approximately 6:30 a.m. The munitions included 21 122 mm mortar rounds, an anti-tank mine, a 40 mm mortar round, a 122 mm artillery round and 50 12.7 mm small arm rounds.

At approximately the same time, members of the same unit in a different search found a 155mm mortar round, an anti-tank mine and an 82mm illumination round. Read More

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Operation Friendship

By Chaplain (Maj.) Terry Hayes
Headquarters and Headquarters Company, Special Troops Battalion, 1st Sustainment Brigade
7/18/2008

Excerpt

CAMP TAJI, Iraq Most people like to help, especially when it comes to helping others a little less fortunate. A number of individuals and organizations in the United States had that opportunity recently when 300 packets of donated hygiene items like soap, shampoo, toothbrushes and combs were passed out to Iraqi soldiers training at the National Training Center. A group of volunteers from the 1st Sustainment Brigade assembled at the Argonne Chapel and for two hours packaged together packets of supplies for distribution.

The bags were then loaded to be delivered by the volunteers, led by Chaplain (Maj.) Terry Hayes, a Grants Pass, Ore., native, and Sgt. Michael Theubet, a Redding, Ca., native, and the chaplain assistant.

First stop on the “Operation Friendship” mission was the Iraqi non-commissioned officer academy, where a group of 100 Iraqi and Kurdish soldiers awaited their goodies. The second leg of the journey was the Level Three Wheeled Maintenance shop, commanded by Col. Abdul Wahab Mohammed.

“These gifts show the U.S. Army (does) cares about our Soldiers and it encourages them to do their very best,” Mohammed said. Read More

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Nations ‘band’ Together in Afghanistan
By Army Sgt. Zachary Otto
382nd Public Affairs Detachment

Excerpt

BAGRAM AIR FIELD, Afghanistan - The 101st Airborne Division and Afghan national army bands met the week of July 13 for a four-day training event.

The two units worked together to learn music and foster relationships. The 101st band has been to Kabul, where the ANA’s group is located several times. However, this was the first time the Afghan musicians have come to Bagram.

About 22 ANA soldiers from an Afghan Kandak, battalion sized element, stayed with the 101st band Soldiers. “The language barrier was the hardest part,” said Chief Warrant Officer Thomas Hager, the 101st band commander. “We got through it though, music is a universal language.”

Though the language of music may be universal, an interpreter was present for the non-musical communication.

The two bands worked on the Afghan, U.S., French and German anthems as well as Bravura, a marching tune. They swapped musical tips and helped each other on techniques. Read more

Tags: Good News (Iraq) //