America's North Shore Journal

Sol­diers of the scout sniper team attached to Com­pany A, 1^st Com­bined Arms Bat­tal­ion, 63^rd Armor Reg­i­ment, 2^nd Brigade Com­bat Team, 1^st Armored Divi­sion, Multi-National Divi­sion — Bagh­dad unload a solar pow­ered water puri­fier which was given to the vil­lage of Luti­fiyah, Feb. 28. A cer­e­mony was held by local sheiks, vil­lagers, and Sol­diers from 1–63 CAB for the instal­la­tion of a coalition-funded, solar– pow­ered water fil­ter to bring clean potable water to peo­ple in the Mah­mudiyah Qada.

Nad­hel, an Iraqi engi­neer, places a tube into a water canal to bring water into a solar pow­ered water puri­fier dur­ing a cer­e­mony attended by local sheiks, vil­lagers and Sol­diers of the 1^st Com­bined Arms Bat­tal­ion, 63^rd Armor Reg­i­ment, 2^nd Brigade Com­bat Team, 1^st Armored Divi­sion, Multi-National Divi­sion — Bagh­dad in Luti­fiyah, Feb 28. The water puri­fier will bring clean potable water to nearly 200 peo­ple in the vil­lage which is part of the Mah­mudiyah Qada.

LUTIFIYAH, Iraq – Local sheiks, vil­lagers and Sol­diers of the 1^st Com­bined Arms Bat­tal­ion, 63^rd Armor Reg­i­ment, 2^nd Brigade Com­bat Team, 1^st Armored Divi­sion held a cer­e­mony, Feb. 28, for the instal­la­tion of a coalition-funded, solar-powered water fil­ter to purify the village’s water.

The $5,300 project was funded by the Commander’s Emer­gency Relief Program.

The water puri­fier was deliv­ered and set up adja­cent to a water canal on a farm and some of the local sheiks as well as vil­lagers gath­ered near the canal to view a demon­stra­tion on how the puri­fier works.

“This is an impor­tant con­tri­bu­tion that means a lot to the Iraqi peo­ple. We have worked with the coali­tion [forces] in the past, and I’m glad our rela­tion­ship is con­tin­u­ing,” said Sheik Hamid Turkey, a local area tribal leader.

Local area lead­ers chose the loca­tion in Luti­fiyah because the water puri­fier will be avail­able for use by 150 to 200 peo­ple who will now have access to clean potable water. The local lead­ers also chose the sight because of secu­rity rea­sons. It has the direct over­sight of Sons of Iraq check­points, so con­cerns of it being stolen are minimal.

The water puri­fier is cost effi­cient because it is charged by the sun, and allows the local Iraqi peo­ple to have clean water avail­able to them, which they did not have in the past.

“I think it’s really great for the Sol­diers of the scout platoon/sniper sec­tion to be able to give this water fil­ter to a group of local nation­als who do not enjoy the same priv­i­leges we have had grow­ing up [in the United States]. I had not seen any­thing like this fil­ter before. The sys­tem is really cool,” said Spc. Kevin Stroud, a Sol­dier of the scout pla­toon, and a native of Dal­las, Texas.

Nad­hel, an Iraqi engi­neer takes a drink of puri­fied water from a canal in Luti­fiyah, Feb. 28.

1–63 CAB has part­nered with local sheiks in the vil­lages of the Mah­mudiyah Qada, which includes Luti­fiyah, for the emplace­ment of six solar pow­ered water puri­fiers in the past sev­eral months. The 1–63 CAB troops plan to place more water fil­ters in the future in dif­fer­ent areas of the Mah­mudiyah Qada, and have other future projects planned for the Luti­fiyah area as well.

“It is impor­tant to help the Iraqi peo­ple have sources of clean water. It is also ben­e­fi­cial for the rela­tion­ship we’re try­ing to build, because it is a sign of trust to them,” said 1^st Lt. Henry Brew­ster, scout pla­toon leader, Com­pany A, 1–63 CAB and a native of Youngstown, Ohio.

DVIDS
Story by Jamie Vernon