Nice story for a slow Sunday! OT

This stuff never makes CNN, but some good things *are* happening!

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3rd ID Soldiers help ready Iraqi Forces

Story by Spc. Ben Brody, 2nd Brigade Combat Team

Staff Sgt. Mark Scott, 3/7 Cav., inspects an Iraqi Army Soldier's rifle with the
Soldier's platoon sergeant. The IA Soldiers lined up for pre-combat checks
before heading out on a security patrol from Camp Volunteer, Iraq, Feb. 22. U.S.
Army photo by Spc. Ben Brody CAMP VOLUNTEER, Iraq – As the new Iraqi government
continues to develop, the fledgling Iraqi Army is beginning to hold its own and
take increasing responsibility for securing the country, with the support of
U.S. troops.

Soldiers from 3rd Squadron, 7th Cavalry, are helping to train 305th Battalion,
an Iraqi Army unit, on areas ranging from basic Soldier skills to effective
leadership.

The Soldiers of the 305th are stationed at Camp Volunteer, in Baghdad, and are
responsible for securing the peace in two mid-sized sectors of the city.

“We’re focusing on basic combat and patrolling skills for junior Iraqi Soldiers,
and helping develop (noncommissioned officers) and junior officers into good
leaders,” said Capt. James Turner, A Troop, 3/7 Cav., commander. “Iraqi Soldiers
are like any other Soldiers – they do very well under good leadership.”

Previous coalition units have taught these IA troops how to first function as a
platoon, then as a company. Now, 3/7 will oversee the 305th learning how to
react as a battalion.

“I don’t foresee any major obstacles, beyond the normal hiccups when you
integrate two different units,” Turner, a North Branch, Mich., native, said.
“The best thing at this stage is watching the Iraqi Soldiers really internalize
the training and the mindset that they are fighting for the good of their
country.”

Language barriers slow the training down, but 3/7 has interpreters and some
Iraqi Soldiers speak very good English. One such individual is 1st Lt. Yarub
al-Taweed, 305th,security platoon leader.

“Our unit has come a long way over the past year – and our responsibilities have
increased accordingly,” al-Taweed said. “When we formed the unit, we didn’t have
vehicles or armor, and now we’ve got (body) armor with plates, trucks and heavy
weapons. We’ve had a lot of success on patrols because of our training, but
mostly because we know the areas, we know the people and speak the language.”

He said the success of the recent elections has raised public opinion of the IA
considerably.

“Different people have different views of us, but before the elections, we were
not very popular with Iraqis,” al-Taweed said. “The elections gave us a chance
to prove that we can protect people and want a secure Iraq. Now we are enjoying
some more support. What they will think tomorrow, I don’t know.”

The young officer said he hopes to eventually see the cities secured by police,
and the Iraqi Army defending the country’s long, porous border.

“People can see we are working hard,” he said. “If you are good and fair to the
people, they will be good and fair to you.”

As a small assembly of IA troops prepared to leave Volunteer for a security
patrol, A Troop’s Staff Sgt. Mark Scott helped them check their weapons and
vehicles.

Scott, along with the Soldiers’ platoon sergeant, inspected the pickup trucks’
fluid levels and condition. The two made sure the drivers knew how to perform
preventive maintenance checks and services to Army standard.Staff Sgt. Mark
Scott, 3/7 Cav., instructs an Iraqi Army Soldier as he performs a pre-combat
check on his vehicle at Camp Volunteer, Iraq, Feb. 22. U.S. Army photo by Spc.
Ben Brody.

“Your mission is a patrol, but before you can accomplish that, your mission is
to make sure everyone is ready,” Smith told the NCO through an interpreter.
“Make your Soldiers do the right thing and eventually they’ll do it on their
own.”

Scott, a sniper section NCO from Syracuse, N.Y., has spent time teaching IA
leaders to utilize army rank structure to their advantage.

“What we saw was the officers trying to micromanage everything down to the
individual Soldiers,” Scott said. “I told them, ‘let your first sergeant manage
the company’s Soldiers, let a platoon sergeant handle his platoon, let the squad
leaders take care of their squads.’ Now the commander sets company policy, and
the first sergeant enforces it, which works much better.

“There are some promising leaders in the 305th that really believe in what
they’re doing,” he added. “I’ve got a first sergeant, who goes by the nickname
‘Wolf,’ who keeps his troops in line like no other. You can just tell by looking
at him – he’s the man.”

Scott and others from 3/7 will continue to work with the 305th throughout the
year, and further refine the battalion’s capabilities.

Hopeful for the future of Iraq, al-Taweed said he thinks the terrorists he
fights will gradually disappear as people find jobs and can enjoy their
freedoms.


John H

On the 'PocoLoco' out of Deale, MD,
on the beautiful Chesapeake Bay!

"Divide each difficulty into as many parts as is feasible and necessary to resolve it."
Rene Descartes

Thanks John,
heres something else too!
http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/2/102005mf.asp


(AgapePress) - Rick from Winona, Mississippi, called my state-wide talk
radio program this week. Sometimes, you get a phone call that ought to
be read in the broader market.

On the program that day we were discussing the report that some
Europeans were disgusted with the Super Bowl commercial of American
soldiers getting applause in an airport. The critics thought it too
extreme in its patriotism and a possible incitement to further war.

At any rate, Rick (he asked us not to use his full name) called to talk
about his experience coming back recently from the fields of war. His
words (and they are worth your time reading, only lightly edited):

"I heard you talking about the Super Bowl commercial. I'm a Marine, a
re-con Marine. I just got back from overseas, the second week of
December, actually. I was injured overseas, so that's why I'm home now.

"But the whole time I was [there, in recovery] we watched the news to
see what's going on. And we saw the protests, and we saw what the media
was saying about what's going on, and we were worried about what we
were actually going to face when we came home. We didn't know what to
expect, to be honest with you. From the news media we were seeing, the
whole country was basically telling us we're a bunch of jerks.

"I thank God that the troops that are there don't see the news
coverage. I thank God every day, because there'd be ten times the
number getting killed, just because it would so un-motivate [sic] them.

"Back to the story: there were seven other soldiers that came home with
me that day. We flew into JFK, and we were talking on the way back:
What's going to happen? What will we be facing? Is it going to be like
the Vietnam era, are there going to be people spitting at us?

"We didn't know. We had that much trepidation about it.

"We get into JFK, we step out of the breezeway into the main terminal,
and directly in front of us was an elderly gentleman carrying a bag.
And he immediately stopped, set his bag down, and the first thing we
all thought was, 'Oh, Lord, here we go already.' He just stopped and
looked at us for a second, and then tears came to his eyes and he
saluted us.

"And -- I'm breaking up now [editor's note: with tears] -- every one of
us just started crying like babies. Everybody in the terminal -- I kid
you not, at least two to three hundred people -- just started clapping,
spontaneously. To me, it was so much worth what we were doing, to
realize that people over here actually get what we were doing. We
weren't over there because it's fun. We're over there doing a job.

"When I saw the Super Bowl commercial, I just started bawling like a
baby again because that was something totally unexpected. We had no
idea that people actually appreciated what we're doing, from what we
see on the news. We thought we were going to come back and get eggs
thrown at us. It was so refreshing to know that what we were seeing on
the news is just a bunch of garbage that's being concocted by the
media, that 99.9 percent of the country doesn't believe that way.

"I have a couple of more months of recovery. I got hit with a
concussion and have some internal damage, but I'm feeling up, doing
well, and hopefully I can get back over there with my boys."

It caused some tears in this talk show host's eyes to know there were
tears in his. Appreciation, smiles, handclaps -- they can go a long way
when a nation is at war, regardless of what the media and some
Europeans might think.