Category Archive for 'History'

Abraham’s Well

Capt. Michael T. Lanigan, the chaplain with Task Force Atlas, 41st Infantry Brigade Combat Team out of Portland, Ore., and a Salem, Ore., native, explains the history and significance of Abraham's Oasis Jan. 4, during a tour of the oasis at Al Asad Air Base, Iraq. Photo by Spc. Lisa A. Cope

Although there is no proof that Abraham stopped at this particular oasis, Lanigan said it would have made sense for Abraham to have followed a path through this area.

“[Abraham] definitely traveled north, instead of going all the way west,” he said. “That would be a deadly march because there really is not any fresh water. So he had to have moved along the Euphrates [River].”

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Until this point, there had been little reliable evidence that any Japanese mini sub had penetrated the harbor and been successful in conducting an attack. There are numerous accounts of sightings by survivors of the attack and ships reported contacts and conducting several attacks on presumed subs but concrete proof was limited.

Nouri Obeyd Kathem -left-, an archaeologist with the Ministry of Antiquities and Tourism, explains the Sobbar Abu Habba site, Nov. 4, to Maj. Charles Morrison of Nashville, N.C., -center- and Capt. Ross Boyce of Chapel Hill, N.C. Photo by Sgt. Jon Soles

The complexes of dirt mounds – Tal Aldair and Sobbar Abu Habba – were once Sumerian city walls outside of what is today Mahmudiyah, south of Baghdad. Pottery and clay tablets with the world’s first form of writing, Cuneiform, are known to be in the mounds. The Sumerian culture is the oldest civilization in the world, dating back to the 6th century B.C.

Locating Iraq’s past

Peters said while most everything has been mapped, geospatial analysts extract certain features from one map and combine it with features from another map to make a new one. For example, a map showing structures and roads could be combined with a map showing different types of soil to plan an irrigation system for farmers.

“What we can do is take the data that creates all the available maps and pinpoint what a customer specifically wants to create a new map that fits their needs,” he said.

Ziggurat of Ur

The Ziggurat of Ur towers of Contingency Operating Base Adder during a flyover of Dhi Qar province in southern Iraq, Sept. 19. The flight in an AH-60 Blackhawk helicopter was scheduled to provide Iraqi reporters with an opportunity to get aerial shots of the province. Photo by Spc. Gavriel Bar-Tzur

Photo from the air of the Ziggurat of Ur taken September 19 2009

Institutional memory

Institutional memory is the collective recollection of facts, know-how, experiences and events within an organization or a connected group of people. It is the “why” to the “what”, “when” and “where”. It tells the members of the group how they got where they are and what the reasoning was behind the decisions that were made.

Good organizations attempt to document institutional memory, so that the context of their history can be seen and so that lessons once learned need not be relearned. In societies, institutional memory may not be in writing, but passed from parents to children or from teachers to students. If the passing on process is not faithful to the original, “memory” becomes distorted and may become entirely incorrect from the reality that existed.

Capt. Kelly Calway, 25th Infantry Division analysis control element battle captain, takes part in the Yezidi culture during her visit to the Yezidi temple in Lalish, Iraq, Aug. 2. It's customary to make a wish while tying knots in satin fabric inside the temple. Photo by Spc. Daniel Nelson

Members from Command Post-North, Task Force Lightning, made visits to both the Yezidi temple in Lalish, Iraq, and the Hermos Christian Monastery in Al Qosh, Iraq, Aug. 2.

The group, led by Brig. Gen. Robert Brown, deputy commanding general (support), Multi-National Division-North, first went to the temple in Lalish where they met with Prince Tahsin Ali, prince to all Yezidis in the world.

Staff Sgt. Justin Stein, of Billings, Mont., examines the damage time has done to a walkway under the ancient Taq-i-kisra- Arch. Stein is an infantryman assigned to Headquarters Brigade, 3rd Brigade, 82nd Airborne Division. The leftover ruins here have been converted into a temporary Iraqi army outpost. Photo by Pvt. Jared N. Gehmann

In an attempt to restore national pride and tourism to one of the oldest landmarks in Iraq, American Paratroopers and Iraqi army soldiers discussed plans for renovating the area surrounding the famous Arch of Ctesiphon in Salman Pak, Aug. 5.

The all-brick arch was built nearly 16 centuries ago and is one of the oldest free standing arches in the world. But years of neglect and war in the region have transformed the once popular attraction into an Iraqi army outpost surrounded by acres of trash and rubble.

By the Waters of Babylon

Soldiers and civilians prepare to enter the ancient city of Babylon for a tour, July 18. The entrance to the ruins is a recreation of Ishtar's Gate, originally built by Nebuchadnezzar II in 575 B.C. It was dedicated to Ishtar, the goddess of love and war. Photo by Debralee P. Crankshaw, Multi-National Division – South.

“Babylon is a very important empire and city in the old testament. It figures prominently in the development of the Jewish faith as well as the Christian faith,” said Lt. Col. John Morris, MND-S command chaplain. “About two-thirds of the old testament mentions Babylon in one form or another. Sometimes it’s prior to the Babylonian exile of Jewish people from Israel to Babylon. Sometimes it’s in the midst of that exile and sometimes it’s afterwards.”