Photo By 1st Sgt. Brent Williams | A team of engineers conduct a site survey April 25, 2008 for the Jihad Civil Services...... read more read more
Subscribe
By Sgt. 1st Class Brent Williams
1st Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division
FORWARD OPERATING BASE FALCON, Iraq — Acceptance letters in hand, nearly 450 Sons of Iraq left their AK-47 rifles at home to register for job-focused training Oct. 6-10, 2008 at the Civil Services Department located in the Jihad community of the Rashid District in southern Baghdad.
The vocational classes, scheduled to begin Oct. 18, 2008, is the newest initiative by coalition forces to assist the members of the Abna al-Iraq (Sons of Iraq) find alternative employment after the security program's recent transition to the control of the government of Iraq, said Capt. Ryan Gavin, commander of Company C, 1st Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, Multi-National Division – Baghdad.
"The Jihad Civil Service Department started as a civil works project meant to create a work force of about 400 locally trained Iraqis that would repair and improve services throughout the area," said Gavin, an armor officer from Kingston, N.Y.
The students participating in the Job Training Focus Program can choose from medical training, clerical and administration training, telecommunications, civil and mechanical engineering, vehicle maintenance and commercial driving, as well as other vocational courses, explained Gavin.
"The program is very important to Rashid," he said. "It has the potential to create a more skilled work force that will then be able to improve services throughout the district.
"It is also important in the transition of Sons of Iraq, as it provides the opportunity to reduce the number of SoIs by transitioning them into the workforce."
Under Gavin's command, the Soldiers of Co. C helped to secure the work site and supervised the construction and renovation of the CSD building and classrooms.
The company also worked with the local community council members to place local Iraqi residents and Sons of Iraq into the training program.
"We have been working with the local councils to try and get the word out that we have these employment opportunities," said 1st Lt. Adam Maxwell, an artillery officer assigned to Co. C, 1st Bn., 22nd Inf. Regt., 1st BCT, 4th Inf. Div.
Gainful employment within the communities is an important aspect to ensuring that security in the muhallahs continues to improve in southern Baghdad's Rashid District, said Maxwell, who hails from Santa Maria, Calif.
"We are trying to get a lot of these guys trained so that they can stay gainfully employed in the future," he said. "The local SoI are attending this class to begin working toward finding employment in other fields and stay off the streets."
Employment initiatives offered in programs such as the CSD will help to keep unemployed Iraqis from falling under the influence of criminal elements and gangs in Baghdad, he explained.
"Regulars" Soldiers of the 22nd Inf. Regt. are also charged with providing local security for the registration process and the first day of the vocational classes, said 1st Lt. Jonathan Muir, an infantry platoon leader from Pittsburgh, assigned to Co. C, 1st Bn., 22nd Inf. Regt.
The Soldiers continue to monitor the SoI involved in the program, ensuring that those registering in the fledgling program are searched and escorted to their classes without incident, explained Muir.
"There's a lot of pessimism among the Iraqi people about the validity of the program," Muir said. "Overall though, the end result is the Sons of Iraq have achieved a lot of security and stability in the country."
When Abna al Iraq Wussam arrived at the CSD in Jihad to register for his classes scheduled to begin later in the week, he said that he was unsure of exactly what the results of the three-month program will yield.
"We will receive vocational training to help prepare the security guards for job opportunities outside the Iraqi security [forces]," Wussam said. "If there are no jobs, then I want to stay in the SoI."
Wussam explained that when he volunteered for the schooling, he did not care about the increase of money he stands to make in the vocational training, where he will be paid $326 per month to attend the vocational classes.
"We just want to make this country better and this area safer," he added.
Wussam also said that he is happy about the CSD program and hopes that more Sons of Iraq in the area will have the opportunity to participate in the training.
"The SoI program was never meant to be a permanent thing," said Capt. Ryan Garling, commander of Co. E, 1st Bn., 22nd Inf. Regt.
Established more than 18 months ago, the Sons of Iraq, a coalition forces-sponsored program involving more than 99,000 concerned Iraqi citizens charged to provide security for their neighborhoods and communities throughout Baghdad and Iraq, transferred to the control of the Iraqi government Oct. 1, 2008 and will eventually be dissolved.
"We are taking care of the Sons of Iraq, who are here right now, and when they need a job later on in life, right after their three-month training course, we give them a job where they will begin making more money than they did in the SoI," he explained.
Coalition forces began working with the SoI contractors in West Rashid, distributing school applications with job descriptions for the different skill sets taught at the CSD, explained Garling, whose unit provides security and over watch for two muhallahs, or neighborhoods, in the Hayy Jihad-area.
Upon completion of the registration process, the students are dropped from the SoI program and enrolled in the vocational training at the CSD receiving approximately $326 per month during the three-month course, said Garling, who supervised the enrollment of more than 190 SoI into the CSD program.
The government of Iraq is paying for the classes, added Garling, who also said that approximately 20 percent of the remaining SoI members employed by the ISF will only make approximately $250 per month.
"The classes they have here were specifically selected as jobs needed in the Rashid area," he added. "These jobs are actually needed to rebuild the area."
Based on the program's success, other CSD programs will be created for the Rashid District and Baghdad, he added.
"Rashid has always been an area of doing prototype work, making something happen and then hopefully letting the rest of Iraq benefit from it," Garling said. "Hopefully they will see success here, and it will continue to east and West Rashid and then eventually head up north."
| Date Taken: | 10.08.2008 |
| Date Posted: | 10.08.2008 04:41 |
| Story ID: | 24665 |
| Location: | BAGHDAD, IQ |
| Web Views: | 120 |
| Downloads: | 112 |
This work, MND-B Soldiers transition Sons of Iraq into job-focused skills training at Rashid District's Civil Services Department, by 1SG Brent Williams, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
No keywords found.
LEAVE A COMMENT