Military Intelligence officer brings together Iraqi Army, Air Force

Photo By Kimberly Hackbarth | An Iraqi Air Force officer explains the exterior surveillance capabilities to and Iraqi Army soldier during a tour of New Muthana Air Base, July 20. IA intelligence soldiers were invited onto the air base to become better acquainted with their IAF counterparts. The tour, arranged by soldiers with 4th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, was a culmination event after months of training with U.S. Army and Air Force.  

BAGHDAD, IRAQ

07.31.2010

Courtesy Story

4th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division

BAGHDAD – Nearly four years ago, a horseback-riding instructor walked into a Temecula, Calif., recruiter’s office looking to prove a point: she wasn’t too girly for the Army.

Now at the end of her first deployment, 1st Lt. Kimberly Brown’s work isn’t about proving anything to anyone; it’s about improving the capabilities of the Iraqi military.

Brown, a Long Beach, Calif., native, was the mastermind behind a gathering of Iraqi Army and Iraqi Air Force intelligence officers at the New Muthana Air Base.

The 6th IA Division officers had never met up with their IqAF counterparts even though the Iraqi air base is a mere 15-minute drive from their compound.

“Seeing the Iraqi Army and Air Force working together at that low of a level—it’s not something you see every day,” said Brown, the 4th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division collection manager. “As far as we know, it hasn’t happened yet on the operational level within the 6th IA and from what the 87th (Iraqi Air Force) Squadron guys said, this is the first time.”

Brown stood by and smiled as she watched IqAF teach their sister service about the King Air 350, one of the unit’s intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance assets.

The 6th IA Div. currently relies on U.S. forces ISR assets that soon will dwindle in number with the drawdown of forces.

This drawdown makes it essential for the two groups to frequently interact because the Air Force-owned ISR assets are critical to Iraqi Soldiers on the ground conducting missions.

Brown explained she thinks their service-specific missions had kept them apart in the past.

“I think they’re both so focused on their individual missions and [they’re] progressing so quickly,” said Brown. “However, they’re progressing in their [own] lane.”

Both U.S. and Iraqi service members packed into the cabin of the aircraft and learned about the surveillance capabilities and how it is used to monitor any situation on the ground from the skies.

During the visit, groups took turns inside the aircraft and IqAF officers on the ground explained exterior features to interested IA officers, which Brown said she was very happy to see.

“It shows that they respect each other,” she said. “They want to help each other and they want to work together for the good of this country and the good of the people around them.”

The catalyst for the event occurred during the course of several routine briefings on intelligence collecting with their Iraqi counterparts, where Brown and her team stumbled upon some useful information.

“We found out that the Iraqis had their own ISR assets and we started digging around into it,” she said.

She began working with Capt. Sean Reynolds, an Iraqi Training and Advisory Mission- Air Force member, to request Iraqi ISR and eventually became a part of an Iraqi ISR working group.

The group, made up of U.S. intelligence and operations officers from brigade level and higher, regularly discuss how to assist the Iraqis in acquiring and using ISR assets.

“We have strengthened our partnership through this working group,” said Brown.

Through the ITAM-AF, she asked if it would be possible for them to give the Iraqis training to supplement the briefings she and her Soldiers had been giving for the past five months.

The idea of a static display of an ISR aircraft came about and was proposed to the ITAM and IqAF, who agreed to display the King Air 350.

Two weeks after Brown’s request, the Iraqi Soldiers took their first steps onto the Iraqi air base.

Following the day’s event, Brown returned to her desk in the brigade tactical operations center and went back to her duties with the knowledge that her initiative led to a new line of communication between the two services.

“It was very rewarding,” said Brown. “Even if I don’t make a difference to the masses, I know that the effort that we have put forth here will make a difference in the lives of individuals and those individuals are what can affect the masses.”

Brown, a reserve Soldier on a three-year Active Duty Operational Support assignment with 4th SBCT, 2nd Inf. Div., said she hopes to maintain her active duty status because she loves what she does and the people she works with.

However, the horseback-riding instructor underneath the Army uniform hopes to someday work in an equestrian unit in the military, joining together her love of animals with being a Soldier.

• Date Taken: 07.31.2010
• Date Posted: 07.31.2010 15:39
• Story ID: 53753
• Location: BAGHDAD, IQ