Chuck Simmins | June 29, 2009 |
“Their anthem is relatively new,” Bushera said. “Many of them don’t even know it. I felt it was extremely important for the Iraqi people to hear their anthem and have pride in it. This was a good way for them to have pride in their freedom.”
“It builds nationalism,” Skaar added. “You can see the emotion on their faces when they hear the song. When we did it at the Romanian ceremony at Adder, some of them actually broke into applause when it was finished!”
Category: Iraq, Military, Our Best: Military Women, Rebuilding, War on Terror |
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Tags: 34th Red Bull Infantry Band, american sings the Iraqi national anthem, Iraqi national anthem, Sgt. Brenda Bushera
Chuck Simmins | June 26, 2009 |
Soldiers with the 120th Combined Arms Battalion, 30th Heavy Brigade Combat Team, and a family of Iraqi dairy farmers are spearheading a program to increase milk and cheese production in this community, the first dairy initiative the North Carolina Army National Guard Soldiers have started with the Iraqis.
Capt. Sara Woods, Civil Affairs Team 31, said the intent is to revitalize the area’s dairy industry.
Using microgrants, the pilot farm will be used to build a well and buy cheese-making equipment. The farmers’ part of the program begins with them logging their dairy production.
Category: Iraq, Rebuilding, War on Terror |
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Tags: dairy production in iraq, dairy products produced in iraq, iraqi dairies, Iraqi dairy industry, milking cows in iraq
Chuck Simmins | June 25, 2009 |
A vehicle-borne improvised explosive device detonated in the Iraqi city of Taza in Kirkuk province, killing at least 82 Iraqi civilians and wounding approximately 200, June 20.
Taza Police and Iraqi emergency services responded quickly by securing the area, beginning rescue efforts and transporting the wounded to a local hospital for medical care. Residents from several neighboring villages also arrived to assist in the rescue.
Category: Iraq, Rebuilding, War on Terror |
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Tags: 1st Cavalry Division, Kirkuk Province Iraq, Taza Iraq, Vehicle-Borne Improvised Explosive Device
Chuck Simmins | June 22, 2009 |
Because of frequent power outages while running on Iraq’s power grid, surgical procedures were interrupted, vaccines were ruined due to the lack of refrigeration, and the limited supply of fuel resulted in patients being turned away.
“The green energy power supply eliminates all need for generators,” said Mahdi Jonny, bilingual and bicultural adviser, 2nd BCT. “With this great accomplishment we will give services for generations to come.”
Category: Green, Iraq, Rebuilding, War on Terror |
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Tags: baghdad iraq, Dahkel Clinic, Hurriyah neighborhood in Baghdad, solar panels at Iraqi clinic, solar power in iraq
Chuck Simmins | June 19, 2009 |
At the end of the day, the DoI expressed their concerns to listening ears. Just a few years ago these women walked behind their men carrying loads. Now as DoI, they stand behind their country by seizing weapons and helping to keep their streets safer.
Category: Iraq, Rebuilding, War on Terror |
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Tags: daughters of iraq, Sgt. Frankie Hibberd, women's rights in Iraq, Yusifiyah Iraq
Chuck Simmins | June 18, 2009 |
Ten years ago, Shatt Al Arab sports club in Al Tanoma city in east Basra was an old building.
“Shatt Al Arab sports club was a really unusable building, all the walls and ceilings were in very bad condition, but now everything looks new thanks to the U.S. Army Engineers efforts,” said Lateef Khalf, the sports club administrator.
Category: Iraq, Rebuilding, War on Terror |
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Tags: Al Tanoma city, basra iraq, renovated sports facility in Iraq, Shatt Al Arab Sports Club, sports in Iraq, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
Chuck Simmins | June 17, 2009 |
Nestled away in the sandy dunes of northern Iraq is the small village of Zalla Al Sabaee. With a population of approximately 500 people, it is one of thousands of small Iraqi villages that most people have probably never heard of.
However, this village and many others play a vital role in the overall stability of the country, which is why a platoon of Soldiers accompanied by the Daquq, Iraq Police travelled there May 31.
Category: Iraq, Rebuilding, War on Terror |
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Tags: 1st Cavalry Division, FOB Warrior, Iraq Police, terrorist recruitment, Zalla Al Sabaee Iraq
Chuck Simmins | June 15, 2009 |
“We wanted to provide a training program for physicians in Basra so they can in turn, train other physicians, nurses and midwives in neonatal resuscitation techniques,” said Brockbank. “It’s been very rewarding, being able to provide a program that can continue when we move on. It will be very beneficial to the people, especially the infants born in Basra.”
Category: Iraq, Medicine, Military, Our Best: Military Women, Rebuilding, War on Terror |
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Tags: 4th infantry division, basra iraq, Basra Women's and Children's Hospital, Capt. Michelle Szczenpanek, Contingency Operating Base Basra, Iraqi medical training, Iraqi neonatal resuscitation training, medical training in Iraq, Warhorse Brigade
Chuck Simmins | June 8, 2009 |
As the American Airmen worked on utility upgrades indoors, passersby outside the cemetery walls noticed restoration had begun to the shrine’s exterior.
Visible were Iraqi Airmen balanced on a shaky ladder about 50 feet high. As former Iraqi MiG pilot Col. Adnan Hassan tore away sheets of the dome’s weathered, green paint, the other Airmen painted a new coat of primer on the shrine’s dome. The Iraqi Airmen also repainted the shrine’s lime-stone plaster walls white.
The colonel said restoring the shrine was culturally important to the Iraqi Airmen so that visiting Turcoman Shia, like him, can go there to pay respect to their family members buried there.
Category: Iraq, Rebuilding, War on Terror |
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Tags: 506th Air Expeditionary Group, historic restoration in Iraq, Senior Master Sgt. Gary Lytle, Sultan Saqi Shrine, Sultan Saqi Shrine cemetery, Turcoman Shia shrine
Chuck Simmins | June 8, 2009 |
Iraq’s first notable tourist, Jonah, hated it. Belched out of a whale and stuck under Ninevah’s parching, sweltering sun, the Bible says, he cared more for the plant that shaded him than for the city he was sent to save.
Thousands of years later, it’s cliche to say Iraq is not everyone’s ideal daytrip. But in the six years since Saddam Hussein was deposed, conditions have reached the point at which tourism is now a viable industry.
Category: Iraq, Rebuilding, War on Terror |
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Tags: 34th Infantry Division, employment in iraq, Master Sgt. Dave Cullen, the land between the Tigris and Euphrates, tourism in iraq
Chuck Simmins | June 4, 2009 |
The Tuwaitha Water Treatment Plant supplies an estimated 120,000 Iraqis in Maid’in area, south of Baghdad, with potable water. The lift station, which provides pressure to keep the reservoir full, had broken a valve that prevented the plant from producing enough clean water. The “Dragon” Soldiers of the 1st Bn., 82nd FA Regt. stepped in and got their hands dirty, offering mechanical expertise to help the Iraqis repair the valve and repair electrical pump switches.
Category: Iraq, Rebuilding, War on Terror |
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Tags: 82nd airborne division, drinking water in Iraq, Maid'in Quada, potable water in Iraq, pure water in Iraq, tigris river, Tuwaitha Water Treatment Plant
Chuck Simmins | June 2, 2009 |
“If they’re not watching out for the neighborhood, they’re cleaning up, picking up trash and making sure their area is squared away,” said a charismatic Dixon. He also commented on the large improvements his Soldiers have seen in the area regarding litter.
“It gives them responsibility,” continued Dixon. “Instead of carrying a weapon … the broom symbolizes that right now, it’s time to clean up their areas … to show their neighbors it’s time to pick up the community and raise ourselves back up to where we were.”
Category: Iraq, Rebuilding, War on Terror |
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Tags: 1st Cavalry Division, baghdad iraq, Iraqi civil project workers, Jamilla neighborhood, Sadr City Iraq
