Photo By Sgt. 1st Class Jon Cupp | As combat engineers from the 502nd Engineer Company, 92nd Engineer Battalion, 20th...... read more read more
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By Staff Sgt. Jon Cupp
1st Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division Public Affairs
TAJI, Iraq – Spc. Matthew Harrison, a combat engineer with the 502nd Multi-Roll Bridge Company, glanced at the place where the bridge used to be and shook his head. Just a couple of days prior, al-Qaida operatives using a suicide vehicle-borne improvised explosive device had blown up the structure leaving a nearly 50-meter gap over the water and disconnecting local residents here from a major highway Aug. 14.
"The terrorists must be getting pretty desperate to be doing things like this and it's ironic because they're not really hurting us (coalition forces) so much as the Iraqi people," said Harrison. "They're hurting innocent civilians who are just trying to live their everyday lives. The people they affect most are those who are just trying to go to work, to their local mosque, to the market or are traveling to take their children to school."
Then smiling, Harrison looked over at his Iraqi army comrades, combat engineers from the 3rd Brigade, 9th Iraqi Army Division (Mechanized) and his fellow Soldiers from the 502nd who worked together to construct a new bridge section Aug. 15-19.
"I feel really good about that," the Seattle native said pointing to the joint effort, in which the Iraqi engineers took the lead in rebuilding the structure. "This is a really big deal because it's going to help increase logistics as well as helping the Iraqis, who rely on the bridge, back to their lives after a brief intermission."
As the work continued, the Iraqi and U.S. Army engineers lifted the bridge sections with chains that hooked to a crane and once in place the engineers put each section together using their various tools of the trade. Within a matter of days, the bridge would be complete once again and the city reconnected.
"It makes me proud to see that we're helping the Iraqis to help themselves," said Spc. Jeffrey Losung, a combat engineer for the 502nd En. Co., who hails from Coquille, Ore., of the opportunity to work with his Iraqi counterparts in such a major operation. "I'm also satisfied knowing I've helped the Iraqi people."
Keeping Iraqis connected to the world as well as supply routes open for military convoys is an extremely meaningful task, according to 2nd Lt. Nicholas Soroka, a platoon leader with the 502nd.
"This is one of the most crucial missions in Iraq," said Soroka, a native of West Chester, Pa., whose troops recently spent time training the Iraqi army engineers from the 3rd Bde., 9th IA Div. (Mech.) on how to build bridges.
"We've trained the Iraqis on this type of bridge specifically and now they're doing the actual mission," Soroka said. "It's been a really good opportunity in practice to give them experience."
"They're doing really well and they've had no problems keeping up with us," added Soroka. "Building bridges is our main job, but they've (the Iraqi troops) just learned this and it's really impressive seeing them work and how much they've progressed in just a few short weeks. This has been particularly beneficial toward their transition."
As their work shift ended at the bridge site, Harrison and his engineer comrades reflected on the job that they had done and in a way saw their efforts as not just about rebuilding a bridge, but more about rebuilding a nation.
"When you see how well the Iraqi soldiers are doing you know that the Iraqi people are making great progress towards the building of their own country," said Harrison.
| Date Taken: | 08.20.2007 |
| Date Posted: | 08.20.2007 11:59 |
| Story ID: | 11887 |
| Location: | TAJI, IQ |
| Web Views: | 663 |
| Downloads: | 539 |
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