The Sangasar internally displaced persons camp in Sullymania province, Iraq, is home to approximately 500 families from the Quandhil mountain region. The Kurdish Regional Government recently allocated land to move IDPs from these temporary tents to permanent land. Photo by Pvt. Jennifer Montagna

Task Force Marne Deputy Commanding General Support, Brig. Gen. Tom Vandal, has made several visits to internally displaced persons camps in Kurdistan and has met with government officials to assist the families who reside in those camps.

Hundreds of families along Iraq’s borders have taken refuge in internally displaced persons camps throughout the past eight years of conflict. The government of Iraq and the Kurdish regional government are looking for long-term solutions, but currently humanitarian support is being provided by non-military organizations and the KRG.

Camp Sangasar, in Sullymania province, is home to approximately 500 displaced families. Most of the individuals fled their Qandhil Mountain homes due to artillery fire. While their current camp is safe from artillery fire, there is another problem caused by the location of the village; it is located on a flood plain.

“Our engagement with KRG officials following the Sangasar visit was to have the KRG allocate space to move IDPs … which will fix the short-term problem,” said Vandal.

For the camp’s residents, returning to their homes in the near future isn’t a safe option. It is believed by government officials and Vandal that the artillery fire was an attempt to clear the village of civilians and that anyone who remains in the area may be labeled as terrorist suspects.

While families at Camp Sangasar wait until they can make a safe return to their homes, the KRG has donated money and is setting aside land for farming.

Several IDP camps in the Dahuk province are in need of different assistance from their government. The people said their main needs are central services, such as water and electricity. Many families also need help maintaining the condition of their homes. Old Iraqi Army barracks have been turned into housing. Some are falling apart, and others are too small for the numerous families they house.

Like their Camp Sangasar counterparts, the residents of Dahuk province IDP camps feel that they cannot safely return home. According to the Dahuk Director of Displaced Persons, some of the families in these camps were forced there by Saddam Hussein’s Regime. Many fled their home city of Mosul due to terrorist attacks.

“These IDPs only remember the conditions when they departed four or five years ago from Ninewa province when there were around 300 to 400 violent attacks per month. Now, attacks are down to 10 to 15 per week,” said Brig. Gen. Vandal.

While security has improved in Mosul, the KRG and GoI are looking for permanent homes. The U.S. Army is assisting them along the way.

“The KRG is more than capable of providing for the humanitarian needs of these people. What we can do is engage senior leadership within the KRG to ensure that they are focused on long-term solutions,” said Vandal.

DVIDS
Story by Pvt. Jennifer Montagna

As convoys escort trucks across the border between Turkey and Iraq, Soldiers take advantage of one of Iraq’s most accommodating cities to rest between missions.

Service members and local nationals at Habur Gate operate a former hotel building, converted into a place where Soldiers eat, sleep, relax and recover while they wait for their next convoy mission.

“[Our] mission is to provide communication for the convoys coming in and out of [Contingency Operating Location] Q-West and other parts of Iraq … [give Soldiers] a resting home for overnight stays and make sure everybody gets supplies,” said Pfc. Andre R. Taylor, a central processing mode operator with the 15th Sustainment Brigade, 13th Sustainment Command (Expeditionary), out of Fort Hood, Texas. “Convoys stop here to pick up their trucks from the [Movement Control Team] yard and head back to where they came from.”

Capt. Estan N. Davis, commander of the Logistical Task Force 15, with Headquarter and Headquarters Company, 15th Special Troops Battalion with the 15th Sust. Bde., said the building operates on a 24-hour schedule.

“We are here to provide a safe, secure, stable environment for the Soldiers that are coming in from the road,” said Davis, a Waterford, Vt., native. “We provide a secure place that they can remain overnight, refit, refuel, re-supply and then head back out.”

Spc. James L. Prince, a convoy driver with 2nd Brigade, 114th B Battery out of Kosciusko, Miss., with the 155th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 13th ESC, said he escorts trucks to ensure their secure arrival to their destination.

“Everybody is somewhat excited to come up here,” said Prince, a Madison, Miss., native. “Basically, it is a place where we can chill, hangout and lay low.”

Davis said the building the Soldiers stay in has a 24-hour dining facility, a Morale, Welfare and Recreation center, a Post Exchange and a gym. The MWR has a TV to watch movies rented from the PX, a pool table, a foosball table, and board games. There are also places to sleep and shower, as well as 24-hour Internet access.

Outside, service members have access to a basketball court and soccer field, on which they challenge the local nationals to play, he said.

The Soldiers running the building try to make it feel as close to home as they can, he said.

Davis said they run a facility sick call twice a day, and 24-hour communications support out of the building as well.

The Soldiers also get opportunities to go outside Habur Gate occasionally, said Taylor, a Killeen, Texas, native.

“We get opportunities like once a month to get out and see the actual city of Zakho,” he said.

Taylor said the morale of the Soldiers is high and the stress is low at Habur Gate because Kurdistan is a low-key area.

Stress also stays low because the Soldiers did not have to train on new jobs like other service members aiding in the drawdown, he said.

“For most of the Soldiers, this is the first time they’ve interacted with anybody outside of the United States on a daily basis,” said Davis. “For the local nationals, some have been here five or six years working here in this building. They have been around Americans and our culture. They understand it and it is easier for them to help the Soldiers relate to being in a foreign country.”

Davis said the Soldiers and local nationals interact well because they both want to learn from each other and make the rotation a success.

“They are mentoring and coaching youngsters that haven’t been here to experience a deployment before,” he said. “It’s really easy to see the kind of impacts that we make here, working in such a tight-knit group.”

DVIDS
Story by Sgt. Ryan Twist

It seems like in many developing countries, groups like orphans and the elderly are almost forgotten about and little attention is paid to them. But not in Iraq. Here, the Kurdistan regional government and the United States Corps of Engineers clearly understand the importance of helping those in need in the Erbil area.

In the heart of the city stood a dilapidated orphanage built in the mid-1960s. The building was a mere structure for the orphans to call home. But in 2007, nearly 40 years after the orphanage opened, the KRG along with USACE closed down the facility, and paved way for a new center for orphans and the elderly, dubbed the Erbil orphanage & senior center.

“This is a packaged project consisting of an administration building, a multipurpose center and resident buildings,” said Younis Talib Jalal, the chief engineer behind the project.

What makes this a unique project is that the local government wanted to give the residents a home-like environment while they stay at the center, Jalal added.

Slated for completion at the beginning of September, the center will be able to provide care for up to 145 orphans and 60 elderly.

“Everything has been thoroughly planned out,” said Ganjeena Jalal Midhat, the project manager for the center. “As a people from Erbil, we like these projects, because they help the citizens.”

And helping the citizens of Erbil this center will do. Boys and girls will be able to interact with each other when using the multipurpose hall. The massive multistory structure will be the meeting point where children can let loose and enjoy themselves from acting in a play at the hall’s stage to getting creative in the art room.

But if they can’t find what they’re looking for inside the hall, then surely they will find it outside on the soccer field or at the pool.

“We talked to the [current orphanage] directors to see what they needed,” Midhat said. “They expressed the need for a swimming pool” so the children can cool off in the summer’s midday heat.

The center will definitely put a big smile on the faces of the elderly. Every detail has been refined to fit the needs of the residents, Jalal said.

The residence for the elderly is equipped with an entrance ramp, an elevator, and handrails to assist them when using the restrooms. The senior center is also staffed with nurses to assist the elderly when needed.

“This is a humanitarian project,” Midhat concluded. “This is a gift for our people.”

DVIDS
Story by Pfc. Adam Blazak