Iraqi police and U.S. Soldiers carry a bag of book bags to a school in the Faylaq neighborhood during their combined humanitarian mission, Dec. 22. Photo by Pfc. Jessica Luhrs

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 to 1st Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division, donated school supplies for children.

This humanitarian mission was a part of a larger mission to reach out to the people in this neighborhood, said Hanna Hasan Husein, a leader at Al-Atyah.

U.S. Army 1st Lt. Russell Raines, the 1st platoon leader for B-Company, 1st Batt., 30th Inf. Regt., whose platoon helped the IP’s and Women’s Organization members in delivering the supplies, believes these combined activities are important to stability in the region.

The progress the IP’s, AAWO and U.S. forces are making in the villages can already be seen, according to Husein. The children are talking to the IP’s and Soldiers, laughing, smiling and at one point the children were singing with the IP’s.

Humanitarian aid plays a huge part in the fight we are in now, said Husein. It allows the people to see the IP are here to also help them, not just conduct raids or combat patrols.

It is important for the Iraqi population to see the IP’s and U.S. forces conducting these types of operations which show that we are allies and not occupiers, according to Raines.

Raines also feels it is a welcome change of pace for him and his Soldiers to be able to help children.

For everyone involved it is a powerful experience, through partnership we were able to improve the lives of these students, Raines explained.

“The IP and U.S. forces mission here is the people of Iraq,” said Raines. “We want them to know we are all here to protect them and keep them safe.”

“Throughout their time here, 1st Batt., 30th Inf. Reg. plans on assisting the Iraqi police and AAWO,” said Raines.

According to Raines, U.S. forces, the IP’s and Women’s Organization will continue to deliver school supplies and other items not available to students.

“This helps the community build a relationship of trust with the IP’s and hopefully a better future,” said Raines.

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Story by Pfc. Jessica Luhrs

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

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Story by Sgt. Joshua Risner

The once shattered windows of the Burhiema Primary School here are now intact, and through them, the children of Burhiema village can be seen smiling as they dig through bags of new school supplies.

The school — once abandoned because of its poor condition — is once again filled with life and optimism as children returned from their summer vacations, Sept. 2, to find their local Iraqi Police, assisted by Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, waiting to greet them with a few surprises.

The IP and Soldiers distributed 150 bags of school supplies to the students, and donated 5,000 pencils to the school.

“These school supplies are so important for the students,” said Basim Al Hoodba, the headmaster of the school.

Hoodba said he was concerned about his ability to teach this year because of a lack of school supplies

“Without these supplies, we couldn’t do classes with the students,” he said.

This is not the first time that U.S. Soldiers have helped this school. First Lt. Patrick Merriss, a platoon leader with 1st Bn., 8th Cav. Regt., assisted in the school supply delivery with the IP and was also here early last spring with his platoon during some structural renovations to the school.

The platoon helped replaced shattered windows, repaired damage to the roof, fixed desks and repainted portions of the school, explained Merriss.

“The situation before the renovation was very bad,” Hoodba said. “The school was abandoned; no students were coming because it was pretty much destroyed.”

But the renovations did more than just revive the school; they reminded the community that IP and U.S. Soldiers are here to help.

“It’s important to see us out in sector helping people,” said Merriss. “It reinforces that we are here to do good things, not bad.”

Merriss believes that outside influences like the media often report on the negative, but they are failing to see the whole scope of combined operations.

“We do a lot to help keep people in the area safe,” he said.

People in the community were glad to see that U.S. forces were accompanied by their Iraqi partners.

“It’s very necessary to see U.S. forces out and supporting our forces,” said Hoodba. “We like to see our forces going out on patrols and in the area with the U.S.”

“We do everything together, combined with the ISF,” said Merriss.

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This year the children of Iraq will have safer, refurbished schools thanks to the work of Renegade Soldiers.

Before Company A, Task Force 1st Battalion, 6th Infantry Regiment, arrived in Sadr City’s Jamilla neighborhood, the schools here were not even used for classes; militants were using the grounds as makeshift hiding places and torture cells. At the few schools that remained open, militants would kidnap children as they went to or from school and hold them for ransom.

“The schools in Jamilla were places of terror, not places of learning,” said 2nd Lt. Nicholas Boykin, Co. A, TF 1-6, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division, which is currently attached to 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, Multi-National Division – Baghdad.

Before repairs could begin, the neighborhood needed to be secure. As Task Force 1-6 arrived in Jamilla, Soldiers immediately improved the security and began chasing the criminals and militants out. The wall built by Renegade and the other companies in the Task Force isolated Jamilla from the rest of Sadr City, scaring many of the militants out of the area and allowing the economy and civil society to flourish.

As Soldiers prepared projects to rebuild and refurbish the schools in the area, Renegade Soldiers saw just how bad things were at the schools of Jamilla. There are 12 schools total, ranging from kindergarten and elementary schools to all-women schools and high schools in Jamilla.

While some of these schools were in fairly good condition, others were in near shambles. Almost all of them had no electrical power and no air conditioning, which is something essential no matter what time of year in Iraq. The desks were broken, the walls were crumbling and bullet holes could be found punched through the windows and rooftops.

For the repairs to begin, MND-B Soldiers conducted a variety of escort missions to bring personnel from the Civil Affairs Team, Task Force Gold, and from the Government of Iraq’s Ministry of Education to scout out conditions on the ground.

After a complete assessment had been made, TF 1-6 initiated projects to completely overhaul the structures. Renegade Soldiers watched as all of the schools underwent a transformation. Government-hired Iraqis went to work and replaced wire and electric facilities, installed air-conditioning units, desks, dry erase boards, new playground equipment and repainted the inside and outside of the schools.

“The rebuilding and transformation of the schools was like night and day. It really showed the neighborhood who was on their side, trying to make Jamilla a better place,” said Sgt. Mario Braxton, Co. A, TF 1-6.

As a result, children across Jamilla will begin the school year in freshly painted rooms, at a new desk with air conditioning and electric lights. For long-term development in Iraq, the school projects form the cornerstone of Renegade’s efforts to improve the lives of the Iraqi people.

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