Iraqi national police distribute backpacks, smiles

Photo By 1st Sgt. Brent Williams | Children of the Um Al-Bahananh, Al Tahdi, Al Sedjad and Anbad Al Rahman Schools in the...... read more read more

Photo By 1st Sgt. Brent Williams | Children of the Um Al-Bahananh, Al Tahdi, Al Sedjad and Anbad Al Rahman Schools in the Abu T'shir community of the Rashid district in southern Baghdad form up for their teachers Oct. 14, 2008 after receiving a brand new back pack complete with school supplies and a novelty toy. Iraqi security forces working with local community leaders and the neighborhood advisory council coordinated the event with Soldiers of the 7th Squadron, 10th Cavalry Regiment, and Company D, 404th Civil Affairs Battalion, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, Multi-National Division-Baghdad, who provided the school bags for the children.  see less | View Image Page

BAGHDAD, IRAQ

10.16.2008

Story by Sgt. 1st Class Brent Williams 

1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division

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By Sgt. 1st Class Brent Williams
1st Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, Public Affairs Office

FORWARD OPERATING BASE FALCON, Iraq – Multi-National Division-Baghdad Soldiers, community leaders and Iraqi security forces conducted a backpack and school supply hand-out to boys and girls of the Um Al Bahananh, Al Tahdi, Al Sedjad and Anbad Al Rahman Schools Oct. 12, 2008 in the Abu T'shir community of the Rashid district in southern Baghdad.

The event was one of four school supply distributions conducted Oct. 12-16 in the Abu T'shir, Saha, Mechaniks and Five Farms areas, located in southeastern Rashid, said Capt. Neville McKenzie, a detachment team leader from Wappingers Falls, N.Y., assigned to Company D, 404th Civil Affairs Battalion.

"This is an opportunity for the national police and the neighborhood advisory council to provide school bags for the [students] here in Abu T'shir," said McKenzie, who is attached to the 1st Special Troops Bn., 1st Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division. "This is a good opportunity for them to show the community that they are working for them and that they support them, and a good chance for the community to see the good that they can do for them as well."

The 404th CA Detachment, stationed at Fort Dix, N.J., provided the school bags collected from MND-B at Camp Liberty to distribute to schools throughout the East Rashid community, said McKenzie.

Leaders from the 7th Squadron, 10th Cavalry Regiment, 1st BCT, 4th Inf. Div., stationed at Fort Hood, Texas, and deployed to Forward Operating Base Falcon in the Rashid district, worked with national police training teams and local community leaders from the neighborhood advisory council to coordinate for ISF participation in the separate events, said McKenzie.

Community events, such as the backpack and school supply distributions, help to build the relationship of the local ISF and legitimize the Iraqi government in the eyes of the Iraqi people, he added.

"It shows that the ISF are here to provide security and are looking out for the well-being of the people of Abu T'shir," said Maj. Robert Burgess, NPTT advisor, assigned to the 6010 NPTT, 1st Infantry Division, stationed at Fort Riley, Kan., and deployed to Baghdad to train and mentor Shurta Wadaniya, or NPs, in support of MND-B and Operation Iraqi Freedom.

"It's a fairly new battalion, but they're main role in all of this is to provide security for the people of Abu T'shir," said Burgess, referring to the new 3rd Battalion, 3rd Aburisha Brigade (National Police), the Iraqi ministry of interior's newest "Feather" or light NP unit, charged with providing security for Baghdad and the citizens of East Rashid.

The Iraqi NPs of the 7th Bde., 2nd NP Div., working with the Aburisha Shurta Wadaniya, distributed more than 900 school bags and school supplies to the students at four schools serving seven neighborhoods in Rashid.

"The district council supported by the coalition forces, distributed this morning school bags for all students in the elementary first grade," said Najim Abdallah Hussein, the principle of 560 students at Al Masafee Takmeliya School located in eastern Baghdad. "The girls got girly-style bags and boys got boyish-style bags, and that was done with the help of the CF."

Najim also said that he would like to see the CF and ISF distribute bags to the other grade-school children attending the elementary schools.

Capt. Ryan Burcham, commander of Troop A, 7th Sqdn., 10th Cav. Regt., 1st BCT, 4th Inf. Div., said that like the squadron's other troop commanders, he works very closely with the local leadership council in his operating area, to meet the needs of the entire community, which includes neighborhood school projects.

The school supply distribution provides Soldiers the chance to relax and the opportunity to help the local leadership in showing the people that U.S. Soldiers are working with the ISF to support the people.

"This is great," said Burcham, a native of San Diego, Calif. "Just these little things that are really easy for us to do, go a long way with reaching out to the community and building a relationship with the local community."