Photo By Staff Sgt. James Hunter | 1st Lt. Andrew Bowling, a native of Medfield, Mass., listens on to the concerns of an...... read more read more
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By Sgt. James Hunter
2nd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division
BAGHDAD – Daily, Soldiers from the Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, 1st Battalion, 320th Field Artillery Regiment, patrol the streets of the Iraqi family village. The area, near the Victory Base Complex, is relatively safe, and is home to citizens from all throughout Iraq.
Once the war kicked off in 2003, many families fled their homes to come to this once abandoned orphanage on the outskirts of Baghdad.
Their mission is simple – keep the Iraqi people within the village safe and work with their local council to improve the quality of life for these struggling residents.
1st Lt. Andrew Bowling, a native of Medfield, Mass., said he believes a great deal of them were once wealthy, but when the war began they fell on hard times and needed to flee their area because of the fighting, leaving behind their lives and jobs.
The Soldiers of HHB are working tirelessly with the local council to improve their everyday lives in anyway they can.
They are currently conducting a census to gather as much information about the village as possible. This gives them a better understanding of who lives where, how many people live in the household, the occupation of those presiding, which in turn, helps gain a better understanding of the village as a whole.
Once a week, they meet with the panel of council members. These men are important, well respected people within the community.
They talk about many of the issues and concerns of the community, and try to work out ways to solve their problems.
The big problem right now is they are trying to keep the strangers out, said Bowling. A lot of the strangers are drug addicts and dealers, who flee to IFV because they believe it is a good place to hide out.
Many are believed to be criminals escaping from Kadhamiyah, Shulla and Hurriyah, said Bowling. They want to keep these men out, away from the good people of this quiet, stable area.
The council wants these men away from their area for the safety of their people.
"They do cause legit problems," Bowling said. "The drug addicts come in and give drugs to the kids. They are a pretty legit threat to their safety."
In the meantime, they plan to lock up the empty homes to keep away those fleeing away from their criminal past.
When they first began patrolling the area just over a month ago, trash littered the streets, said Pfc. Blake Widner, a native of Bristol, Tenn. However, the Soldiers organized two Iraqi family village Earth Day events, aimed at picking up the trash within the community.
Nearly 100 men, women and children gathered to police the littered streets, said Widner.
"If they want us to help, they've got to put in a little effort into it as well," said Widner. "If they want it clean, they have to do a little bit of it themselves. It's starting to look better one step at a time; it's getting cleaner and cleaner."
While continuing to work with the local council, they are also moving house to house conducting a census, aimed at providing a better living condition for all the local residents.
| Date Taken: | 07.09.2008 |
| Date Posted: | 07.09.2008 09:02 |
| Story ID: | 21321 |
| Location: | BAGHDAD, IQ |
| Web Views: | 393 |
| Downloads: | 342 |
This work, Top Guns patrol Iraqi Family Village, attend council meetings weekly, by SSG James Hunter, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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