Photo By Sgt. Robert Yde | Before allowing her into the distribution area, Staff Sgt. Alejandro Arellano marks...... read more read more
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By Sgt. Robert Yde
2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division Public Affairs
BAGHDAD – Residents of the Al Kindi neighborhood lined up to receive food, water and shoes during a humanitarian assistance mission conducted by the Soldiers of Company E, 1st Battalion, 5th Cavalry Regiment, Aug. 16.
The company, which is attached to 4th Squadron, 9th Cavalry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, focused on getting supplies to some of the poorest families in the central Baghdad area, according to their top non-commissioned officer, 1st Sgt. Kenneth Patrick.
"They're the less fortunate right now," the Oakland, Calif., native said. "A lot of people are living in tents and living in burnt down buildings and things of that sort."
Patrick said that there are 140 families living in the targeted area and that his Soldiers were able to provide supplies to almost half of those families.
"We dropped off water, beans, noodles, sugar – minor necessities, but ones we thought could feed families up to five," he said. "We were able to drop off about 60 packages of those today."
Each individual food item was pre-packaged into five-and-a-half pound bags, and each family was given one bag of beans, one bag of noodles, one bag of sugar and one case of bottled water.
"We estimated that a normal family would probably use about five-point-five pounds of sugar in about two weeks time, so we felt that if we broke everything down into five-point-five pounds then we would be able to feed up to 60 families of four to five people for at least two weeks," Patrick explained.
Having the items pre-packaged and ready to be handed out also provided for a quick and orderly distribution, he added.
After receiving their food and water, families with small children were also able to pick through a box of shoes to find one pair of shoes for each of their children.
Patrick said that this was the first humanitarian assistance mission that his Soldiers have conducted, and he credited much of the mission's success to the assistance that the village's chief provided them.
The mission was unannounced to the residents of the village, so one platoon was sent out early to begin setting up security and locate the chief to let him know their intentions. The chief quickly got the word out to his village, and as families came through and received their supplies, he recorded each family's name to ensure that during future humanitarian assistance missions the families who had not received supplies this time would be the first ones to receive them next time.
"The chief made it real easy for us to pass out the supplies," Patrick said. "As he facilitated each family through, he ensured that each family was only getting the supplies they needed versus the same family coming through two or three times or something like that. So it was a great assistance. He also kept all the records of the families that came through so next time the 80 families that didn't get any food today will be the ones that we bring through the line first."
Patrick said that his company plans on conducting a similar type of humanitarian mission sometime during the next month to ensure that the other families in the area receive the same types of supplies. He said that missions such as this one help build a partnership between the Soldiers and the villagers.
"It brings us together. By us coming in and showing good nature and good faith to the community today, it gives them a little trust in us and shows that we're out there to try to help them," Patrick said. "We also gain trust in them because nothing (negative) happened on the mission and it was a successful mission."
| Date Taken: | 08.17.2007 |
| Date Posted: | 08.20.2007 07:27 |
| Story ID: | 11877 |
| Location: | BAGHDAD, IQ |
| Web Views: | 124 |
| Downloads: | 110 |
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