Staff Sgt. Sabrina Barragan, 15th Sus. Bde. ammo supply sergeant and Brownsville, Texas, native does dips during part of a CrossFit training session in the new Headquarters and Headquarters, 15th Special Troops Battalion, 15th Sus. Bde. Crossfit gym, Oct. 28. Photo by Sgt. Matthew Cooley

The Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 15th Special Troops Battalion, 15th Sustainment Brigade, completed a gym in the company area here in mid-Oct. specifically for CrossFit.

CrossFit is a high intensity physical training program the Army uses created by Greg Glassman, a former gymnast, that combines strength and cardio exercises in a circuit training format.

Master Sgt. Marcus Woody, a Moody, Texas, native and maintenance noncommissioned officer in charge, along with Sgt. Mike Martin, a Las Vegas native and ammo supply sergeant, built the small gym.

The pair are the company’s CrossFit instructors and planned to create the gym here long before either arrived in Iraq.

“It’s actually better than I thought it was going to be,” Woody said.

Woody explained that the company supported the idea from the beginning and said the room was larger than what they had hoped for.

He admitted that they would have settled for something outside.

Currently, the gym contains floor mats, a complete home gym, dumbbells, a barbell and bench, two treadmills, a dip and pull-up station, medicine balls, and kettle bells.

Before receiving new medicine balls, a soccer ball was cut open, filled with sand, and taped up for use instead Woody explained.

Woody said he plans to hang a rope from the ceiling and get rings to hang from the pull-up bars. He also plans to have an outside area for flipping tires and carrying full buckets.

“No money has changed hands at this point,” he added, as everything has been donated, improvised, or brought from the U.S.

Keri Frank, a system integration manager for 15th Sustainment Brigade and Lafeyette, La., native, lifts dumbbells during part of a CrossFit training session in the new Headquarters and Headquarters, 15th Special Troops Battalion, 15th Sus. Bde. Crossfit gym Oct. 28. Photo by Sgt. Matthew Cooley

“We can do about 80 percent of the workouts with what we got here.”

Why such a fuss about CrossFit?

“It works. It’s high intensity,” Martin said.

“When you [lift weights], all you’re doing is building muscle, nothing else,” he explained.

CrossFit is intended to make someone healthier all around and includes nutrition and lifestyle choices Martin said.

CrossFit has two main categories of workouts: Heroes and Nasty Girls, named after heroes who have died while deployed and girl’s names, he said. Hero work outs are the most challenging.

“Force multiplied by distance over time equals power,” Martin said, explaining the CrossFit formula.

“We want maximum power of output.”

Soldiers and even Army employed civilians workout in the new gym with Woody and Martin.

“It’s very intense. It’s crazy. It’s a good workout,” Staff Sgt. Sabrina Barragan, 15th Sus. Bde. ammo supply sergeant and Brownsville, Texas, native said.

Barragan said that she started CrossFit at an NCO school and was the primary reason she was able to score around 270 out of a possible 300 on an Army physical fitness test only four months after having a child.

Ken Patterson, a field support engineer for 15th Sus. Bde. and Baltimore native had his own reasons for doing CrossFit.

“Every day is different. You never get bored.”

DVIDS

In the largest Iraqi investment so far here, two Iraqi brothers opened a $500,000 retail mall at this remote logistics base in northern Iraq, July 28.

The Al Rwad Mall is not the first of its kind here — there are several Turkish-owned shopping centers on the base — but it is the first Iraqi-owned and operated mall on the base.

“Through a coordinated effort, the Iraqi-Based Industrial Zone retail section, along with brothers Nibras and Mustafa Khudir, were able to accomplish opening a large Iraqi-owned shopping center that will surely provide services for American Soldiers and Iraqi forces into the future,” said Capt. Allen Legere, officer in charge, IBIZ retail section, 2nd Battalion, 198th Combined Arms, 16th Sustainment Brigade.

The mall, located at the corner of 8th Street and Indiana Avenue on Q-West, consists of an electronics store, a carpet store, an antique and souvenir shop, an athletic apparel store, a clothing boutique, a barber shop and salon, a free internet café for Soldiers, a gift shop, and a snack shop.

The brothers plan to add a bicycle repair and sales shop, a muscle therapy salon, and a coffee and beverage area around the shopping center, and said they plan to offer outdoor movie nights on their terrace.

Nibras Khudir, who runs Al Rwad in Irbil, Iraq, said he opened the branch on base because he supports the U.S. Soldiers in Iraq.

“Frankly, I’d like to help the U.S. Army and help the U.S. Soldiers,” Nibras said, through his brother, who translated. The venture is not the first for Nibras at Q-West. He also ran a small internet concession on the base.

“The Al Rwad Shopping Center is the largest Iraqi-owned facility on Q-West,” said Legere. “And it has provided numerous jobs for local Iraqi’s wanting to work and contribute to their own villages. Since many of the workers live in the surrounding villages, the center helps provide economic growth and stability to the local area surrounding Q-West.”

The business also reflected the growing solidarity in a country once divided along sectarian lines. Nibras pointed out that he had hired people of many different backgrounds, including Arabs, Sunnis, Shiites, Kurds and Turkomen to work at his center.

Legere said the opening of the business is good for Soldiers.

“As the IBIZ retail OIC (officer in charge), I have heard a lot of talk by the other vendors about updating their stores and offering better services and prices to the Soldiers and civilians living and working on base,” Legere said. “The opening of a new shopping center of this size will allow customers to shop at more competitive prices.”

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Story by Sgt. Keith Anderson

As part of the events and communications team here, I am called upon to be part of base Morale, Welfare and Recreation events. Sometimes these missions are a chore, sometimes they are exciting, but they are always a learning experience.

The road crews (or roadies) are the technicians who travel with a band on tour, usually in sleeper buses, and handle every part of the concert except for actually performing the music with the musician. Sgt. Nollette recounts his experience as a roadie during a performance of the rock band Quietdrive at Q-West Feb. 23.

I have escorted Indy racecar drivers to the PX (post exchange), watched over Comedy Central comedians as they slept, set up garbage cans and fire extinguishers at a flea market, and provided warming beverages at an early morning fun run. None of these prepared me for my latest mission as a roadie for the rock band “Quietdrive.”

Quietdrive is a pop rock and punk band based out of Minneapolis, Minn. They have been together since 2002 and have toured in the U.S., Europe, Japan and now Iraq. They have had their music in the “American Top 40,” and their song “Time After Time,” a cover of a Cyndi Lauper song, is featured on the soundtrack of the 2006 feature film, “John Tucker Must Die.”

My night as a roadie started with picking the band up at the airport. They came with 900 pounds of drums, guitars, speakers and other equipment.

I and four other Soldiers, Sgt. 1st Class Shawna Snodgrass, Morale, Welfare and Recreation non-commissioned officer in charge, Staff Sgt. Martin Chen, helpdesk non-commissioned officer in charge, Department of Public Works, Sgt. Christian Gabriel, projects non-commissioned officer in charge, DPW, and Spc. Phillip Stosser, cable technician, were assigned to move their equipment from the airport to the MWR indoor theater where they would be performing.

The entire band and everyone else involved pitched in and helped load equipment. In very short order the gear was stowed safely on the truck and the band members were on the VIP bus. When we arrived at the theater, again everyone pitched in to help unload the equipment.

Then the real activity started. Speaker covers were pulled off and then the speakers were mounted on their stands. Microphone stands were telescoped into position at various points around the stage.

“Do you think I can get a rug for my drums?” asked the drummer, Brandon Lanier.

At the time I was wondering why he needed a rug. As the flurry of activity continued, I went in search of a rug. The staff at the MWR quickly found a rug and it was brought to the stage. Brandon directed where it should be placed. I finally had to ask what the rug was for. He told me that it keeps the drums from scooting across the floor and out of reach as he plays. Like I said, you learn something new with every mission.

Another learning point was the hundreds of feet of cable that a band needs for all their

equipment. The cable was housed in several large black duffle bags. We opened the bags and Robert Conner, the band’s sound engineer, directed us in stringing cables from every microphone, drum — there were five just for the drums! — guitar, speaker, mixer, and power outlet.

They had obviously done this before, because each cord had a place and a path to follow and the band walked amongst these trip hazards as if they were not there.

After all the equipment was set up, our job as roadies was done until after the concert. They started their sound check and for about 20 minutes we were serenaded by guitar riffs, drum solos, and the words “check, check, one, two, check,” sung in a variety of notes.

At one point, Droo Hastings, Quietdrive’s bass guitarist, was trying to fix some “tinny” sound he was hearing when he played. I, of course, couldn’t hear anything tinny. The sound crew must have been able to hear it, because in short order they had a smiling Droo bumping his way through the rest of his sound checks. And then the music began.

They played well. Some songs I recognized and others were new to me. I enjoyed it all. As I looked around the theater, I could see heads bobbing and knees pumping in time to the music.

Quietdrive played for just under an hour. Once they were done, they signed pictures and greeted Soldiers. We call this part the “meet and greet.”

After everyone left, we assisted the band in tearing down the equipment. This time all the cables needed to be coiled and stowed into the duffle bags, guitars nestled into their cases and microphones put back into their boxes.

Everyone again lent a hand and all the chores were done quickly. We drove the band and their equipment back to the airport. We only had to wait about 20 minutes before the helicopters showed up. Loading the equipment onto the helicopters was done in the same manner as everything else to this point, as a team effort. Then at 10 p.m. we waved goodbye to the band members of Quietdrive and my night as a rock band roadie came to an end.

The total time the band was here at Q-West was 3.5 hours, but the memory of meeting a rock band and being part of their roadie crew will last a lifetime.

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By Sgt. Paul Nollette
181st Brigade Support Battalion