While carrying two machine guns, Spc. Bernice Garcia, a Houston native and Chinook door gunner with Company B, 3rd Battalion, 227th Aviation Regiment, 1st Air Cavalry Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division, finally exits the Chinook after a long shift. Photo by Sgt. Samantha Beuterbaugh

Females are becoming more and more prevalent in military flight crews. Being a woman in a male-dominated field can be an intimidating obstacle for many to overcome. However, Staff Sgt. Katie Replogle and Spc. Bernice Garcia have managed to find a way to to fit in with their comrades on the flight line.

“I never thought I could do something like this, and I proved myself wrong,” said Garcia, a Houston native and Chinook door-gunner with Company B, 3rd Battalion, 227th Aviation Regiment, 1st Air Cavalry Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division.

Door gunners have a physically demanding job; and the job makes Garcia feel strong and capable despite her small stature, she said.

When someone boards her aircraft, Garcia can be seen directing passengers, repacking and strapping down baggage, and ensuring the passengers are safely belted in for take off.

Before this deployment, Garcia was serving as a supply clerk. Her command asked for door-gunner volunteers and she immediately jumped at the opportunity. She admits that she had second thoughts once she was clued in to the labor-intensive job description of a Chinook door gunner, but decided to do it for the experience.

“I never took the Chinooks seriously,” Garcia said. “Now, I realize how big of a responsibility we have.”

A former member from Garcia’s chain of command, 1st Flight platoon crew chief, also with Company B, Staff Sgt. Christopher Suiters, said, “Honestly, I don’t look at her as a female. I ask everyone, ‘Can you do your job?’ Garcia does her job excellent.”

Spc. Bernice Garcia, a Houston native and Chinook door-gunner with Company B, 3rd Battalion, 227th Aviation Regiment, 1st Air Cavalry Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division, tests her radio, Jan. 21, before taking her position in the window to scan her sector. Photo by Sgt. Samantha Beuterbaugh

Although she feels that being a door-gunner is a good experience, Garcia admits to missing her office job sometimes.

As a door-gunner, Garcia is responsible for ensuring the safety of those on the Chinook, including manning the 240B machine-gun. Replogle is responsible for actually maintaining her helicopter.

Replogle, a Richland Springs, Texas native and Blackhawk crew chief standardization instructor with Company C, 3rd Battalion, 227th Avn. Regt., grew up working on cars while living with her father. She has always been interested in vehicle maintenance, so coming into the aviation field as a helicopter maintainer suited her well.

“You have to be self-sufficient and can’t expect anyone to do your job,” Replogle said.

Although Replogle has advanced to crew chief instructor, she is still required to run missions and is expected to watch a sector as a gunner, while in flight.

Climbing in and out of the window to get to the gunner’s seat in a Blackhawk can be strenuous, so she has ramped up her physical training and now trains seven days per week.

“If I can’t lift something, I’ll never hear the end of it,” Replogle said. “So the gym is very important to me.”

Replogle said she can bench press more than her 1st Sgt. and out-leg presses every guy in the company.

“Sometimes, I think [the 1st Sgt.'s] sole purpose for going to the gym is so he can out-lift a girl,” she added, grinning.

While Replogle continuously works to build her physical strength, she hasn’t lost her femininity. The helmet she wears displays Toby Keith’s signature, in pink.

Both women agree that there is not a lot of room for sensitivity in the aviation field.

They also agree that they are up to the challenge.

Women must try to do things as men have tried. When they fail, their failure must be but a challenge to others—Amelia Earhart.

DVIDS
Story by Sgt. Samantha Beuterbaugh

Iraqi girls perform a skit for Iraqi officials and Soldiers during a re-opening ceremony at Yassamin School, Nov. 5. The project was a joint effort between Government of Iraq officials and U.S. forces. Photo by Sgt. Joshua Risner

Education is essential for a child growing up in the world today. That is no less true in Iraq, where schools are a building block for a child’s future.

Three schools were officially re-opened here, Nov. 5, thanks to Multi-National Division Baghdad Soldiers.

The Shab Female School, Yassamin School and Monte Tenaybo Schools were in shambles before they came to the attention of Army civil affairs Soldiers, according to Staff Sgt. Frank Halstead, from Brooklyn, N.Y.

“All three schools had to be completely redone because they were a mess,” he said. “They had to be painted and cleaned, the wiring had to be redone and the walls on the outside needed repair. Basically they were just the shells of buildings.”

So Halstead and his fellow civil affairs Soldiers took up the contracts and set to work. They arranged for the repairs to be made and periodically checked the work to make sure things were being done to their specifications.

“We had to make sure they were done up to standard,” said Halstead. “Finally it all came together and the people have schools now.”

On opening day, the students gathered to sing songs and perform skits for the Soldiers and officials who came to see the work come to fruition.

“It feels pretty good because today you actually get to see the kids’ reactions – it’s not just a bunch of older people standing around talking to each other,” said Halstead. “The kids were happy, they looked like they wanted to be in school, to me that’s a good thing.”

1st Lt. Lacey Rector (right), from Willoughby Hills, Ohio, talks with students and teachers at the reopening ceremony for the Shab Female School, Nov. 5. Photo by Sgt. Joshua Risner

For 1st Lt. Lacey Rector, from Willoughby Hills, Ohio, assigned 1st Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, the girls at Shab Female School were a welcome sight.

“It’s nice to see females because you don’t see them very often over here,” she said. “It’s nice to see that they are being educated as well.”

The project is another example of the continued commitment of U.S. forces to helping the Iraqi people, according to Halstead.

“We’re there to help them not to hurt them,” he said. “They know if their children are being educated then that’s going to help them in the long run. They appreciate it.”

With three more schools operational in the Baghdad area, more children are getting the chance to better themselves and their communities by getting an education. It is one more thing that U.S. forces are doing to make Iraq a better place.

Col. Maria Zumwalt (left), a native of Bayamon, Puerto Rico, chats with students of the Shab Female School, Nov. 5. Zumwalt is the commander of Brigade Special Troops Battalion, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division. Photo by Sgt. Joshua Risner

DVIDS
Story by Sgt. Joshua Risner

Lt. Col. Hugh R. McNeely, deputy commander of the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, listens to Mr. Mutafa as he explains the capabilities of the Mullah Abdullah Power Plant and the areas that need improvement. Photo by Pfc. Jared Sollars

Improvement of essential services is just one of many areas that U.S. Forces focus on to bring stability to the Kirkuk province of Iraq.

Lt. Col. Hugh R. McNeely, deputy commander of the 2nd “Black Jack” Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, recently visited the Mulla Abdulah Power Plant to see how the plant would be affected by one of its suppliers of natural gas cutting back for a month to perform maintenance.

The visit was also an opportunity for McNeely to tour the facility and discuss the needs of the plant with the plant’s manager, assistant manager, chief of technical engineering and chief engineer.

When asked by McNeely if the North Gas Company’s reduction of gas production would affect the power plant’s production of electricity, Mr. Mansor, the plant manager, replied, “We see no problems because the North Gas Company is our backup now. As long as we can continue to use A’agil Oil Field with no problem, it would be fine.”

The area of concern was that a lack of fuel for the plant could cause electricity shortages in the nearest major city, Kirkuk.

“The Mulla Abdulah Power Plant is a key part of electrical power generation in Kirkuk and contributes to the Iraqi national power grid,” said McNeely.

The plant was built in the 1950s and would be capable of producing 402 megawatts of electricity per day were its equipment completely functional and operating at peak efficiency. It currently has 18 turbine units – six are 10-year-old models, and the remaining 12 are 28-year-old models. Due to the limited capabilities of the equipment, the plant is currently only producing an average of 220 megawatts per day.

“Their newer turbines are sound pieces of machinery, whereas the older turbines are not as reliable,” said Sgt. 1st Class Charles R. Bennett, the noncommissioned officer-in-charge of the provincial reconstruction team.

One of the plant’s newer turbines is down due to rotor damage and under repair at the Dibbis Power Plant. Two of the older turbines are down permanently and being used for parts to keep the other turbines running.

“The employees at the plant are being very innovative on the upkeep of their equipment,” said Bennett. “They’re tooling themselves for success.”

The plant employs approximately 300 people, but plant management has asked the Ministry of Oil and Electricity to allow them to employ more engineers. They have also asked for more equipment – a bucket truck, a crane and four pickup trucks – which have not yet been delivered.

DVIDS
Story by Pfc. Jared Sollars

Al Hawd villagers work to clean up the streets for a trash cleanup project that started the week of Sept. 13. The project has employed 100 local residents to complete the cleanup. Photo by 1st Lt. Josh Swartsel, 1st Battalion, 12th Infantry Regiment.

Citizens of the Hawd and Ijimissa villages here recently began a month-long cleanup effort to remove trash that has been accumulating in the streets for some time.

U.S. Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 12th Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division are assisting in the effort.

The project was conceived by the Mayor of Qayyarah, Mayor Saleh, as part of a larger urban renewal effort by the district to improve the quality of life for citizens of the upper Tigris River valley.

“We pretty much take trash collection for granted [in the U.S.]. Al Hawd and Ijimissa don’t have the same kind of service level, and so it falls on these people to pick up the trash themselves,” said Staff Sgt. Kiel Carino, a section sergeant in Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1st Bn., 12th Cav. Regt.

The project was coordinated through local contractors who are providing trucks to take the trash to the local city dump, and basic tools to assist in clearing the roads of trash and debris.

Approximately 100 local residents have been employed for this project. The site managers are hiring workers to clean up areas where they live to create a sense of ownership in the neighborhoods.

“When I spoke to one of the site managers, he had a very detailed plan for how he was going to go about clearing the streets in an organized fashion,” said Carino. “You could tell that this was something he’d put a lot of thought and effort into.”

Headquarters Co. Soldiers then met with local leaders at the Qayyarah City Council. Mayor Saleh told the local leaders that, as civic leaders, it was up to them to ensure that their communities kept their streets clean and litter-free.

The workers have already started clearing trash in parts of the two villages and are making a significant impact on the area.

“There’s already an undeniable difference in the appearance of the streets in Al Hawd and Ijimissa,” said Capt. Lance Blount, Headquarters Co. commander. “Corners and ditches that used to be overflowing with waste are now completely clean. It’s a great improvement for the local community.”

The cleanup project is set to be complete by the end of September, ending in a ribbon-cutting ceremony that will give the local civic leaders an opportunity to showcase their clean streets as a model for the entire Qayyarah area.

“It is hard work like this that is going to make Qayyarah a real success story,” said Blount.

MNF-I
By 1st Lt. Josh Swartsel
12th Infantry Regiment