America's North Shore Journal

“It’s all about engaging with the kids and building better relations with the local community all while having fun,” said Otters. “Being on camp can make some service members feel stressed, but when you come and play with the kids and you see their smiling faces, you can’t help but feel good and have a good time.”

Three hundred Iraqi schoolchildren in the village of Faylaq, near the Iraqi city of Kirkuk, Iraq, were treated to a surprise donation of school necessities Dec. 22.

In an effort to improve education in Kirkuk, Iraqi police and members of the Al-Atyah Women’s Organization, assisted by Soldiers from the 1st Battalion, 30th Infantry Regiment, attached to1st Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division, donated school supplies for children.

“I think the greatest accomplishments are the relationships that were fostered and created during the exercise and will continue as we go into the future and [the potential to] maintain these relationships as we work to achieve self-sustaining African security capacity,” the general said.

The medical outreach continued every day for a week, part of a U.S. Army Africa exercise, Natural Fire 10, in which the United States and five East African nations (Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi) practice disaster relief and medical outreach. The intent was to learn each other’s skills and procedures so that they will be able to operate more effectively in the event of an actual disaster.

“What we’ve started doing in Africa with the different countries we’re working with is going to go a long way to stabilizing the region, even when we’re not here,” Boyer said.

“It rains almost every single day here, which we know is a blessing to the Ugandans, but it makes for a challenging project, especially working on a drainage feature crossing,” said Daly. “This is exactly the kind of work we joined the Navy to do, so the chance to do it, regardless of the environment, is exciting.”

“It’s really good to see the people of Basrah receiving the help and assistance that they need from the Iraqi army,” said Spc. Christina R. Kreite, 206th Military Police Company, 17th FB and native of Long Island, N.Y. “We’ve been training them to handle these types of situations and there was a time when a crowd this large would have been a bit overwhelming for the Iraqi army. But this shows just how far they’ve come.”

“Getting out among the people has been a great experience,” said Sgt. Hugh Gunnerson, from Cannonsburg, Pa. “We can see the benefit of our mission in Iraq when people have something Americans sometimes take for granted, like clean water to drink.”

The Task Force 53 commander recognized Lt. Kristen Christensen for significant achievement in community service today (Oct 12 2009) at a ceremony held in Bahrain, and awarded her the Military Outstanding Volunteer Service Medal.

Christensen was presented the award for her volunteer service to the local community during the past year in Bahrain, which she was responsible for planning and coordinating more than 80 projects, totaling 1,500 hours of community service.