A Day in the Life

07.19.2004

Courtesy Story

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BAGHDAD, Iraq -- "I have no doubt that this country is going to stand up and do fine," said Maj. Danny Hassig. "I see it in the neighborhoods and the leaders there rising to the top. There are children here now who won't have to grow up in a nation at war. From this taste of freedom, these children are going to grow up strong. That's my take on it."

Hassig has perhaps a better peak at what may actually lie behind the curtain of a freshly sovereign Iraq, since he juggles myriad tasks in the streets here during his daily duties as a team leader for one of the battalion's 22 Basic Combat Team assigned to the 478th Civil Affairs Battalion, from Miami.

The Magic Bus

The first order of business for Hassig's team today is delivering a bus his unit "acquired" to the Deaf Mute Institute of Baghdad. I think the colonel (Lt. Col. XXX Westbrook, commandant, 350th Civil Affairs Command -- Hassig's higher headquarters) just got tired of me requesting vehicles, so one day he told me about this old bus and tossed it out as a bone. I told him we"d take it," Hassig said.

The bus had been sitting around since the war and although intact, had been picked clean of whatever parts the looters had managed to unfasten. Instrumental in getting the bus to "make music" again was Staff Sgt. Jaime Rodriguez, 413th Civil Affairs Bn., from Lubbock, Texas.

"It didn't have any batteries or starting switch," Rodriguez said, "but I crawled underneath and fixed a few things and we got it running." He downplays his role in the effort, but aside from being a policeman in his civilian occupation, he is also a trained and skilled mechanic. He is proud, however, of the renovation costs.

"Zero dollars," Rodriguez said. "It didn't cost anything." "We just used some old fashioned horse tradin," Hassig added. As the bus pulled through the gate in the walls surrounding the deaf Mute Institute, the director, Sabeha Akzar Habeeb, greeted the soldiers. More than a dozen children ran to see the bus and meet the soldiers. Speaking through a translator, Hassig told Habeed the bus was complete and ready for the Institute's use.

Hassig said he was moved by the traces of tears of joy in Habeeb's eyes when she saw the bus, freshly painted and boldly featuring the school's name in Arabic writing on the side.

"She said something that translated into "I feel like I could fly,"" Hassig said. The children all scrambled around the infantry soldiers from the 1st Cavalry Division who provide security escort on the unit's convoys and were rewarded with small toys and candy. Habeeb was all smiles on the festive occasion. Through a translator, Habeeb expressed her sentiments about Hassig and the civil affairs soldiers she has come to know well.

"She said everywhere she looks she sees the help Hassig and the other soldiers have provided to the institute and at every public meeting she attends, she tells the councils how he has helped here." She explained the needs of the Institute to Hassig and he made everything happen like magic! (He snaps his fingers) and it was like a punch to the people who didn't want to help them in the past regime because she was not a member of the Baath Party, but she was fighting to get these things for the children and couldn't.

"Now, she does not have to be a Baath Party member and she can be the director and leader here and help the children. Everything is good now, because of Maj. Hassig." Hassig said the school has 136 children from ages four through 16 and that the sewing factory in the facility offers lifetime employment after schooling is completed. Under Saddam, the sewing factory worked on Iraqi army uniforms. Soon, Hassig hopes, he will be successful in assisting the Institute to secure contracts from hospitals, as well as the newly formed Iraqi national guard and domestic security forces.

The Institute was established in 1951, but never had transportation to pick up children from their homes and bring them to and from the special school. The civil affairs soldiers also rounded up office equipment and supplies, and the 1st of the 153rd Infantry Bn., 1st Cavalry Division, scraped, repaired and painted the entire building and grounds.

Hassig laughed at the "payoff" he made to Westbrook for the bus. "First," he said, "I don't believe there was a soul in the Green Zone who believed we'd ever get that bus running, so after we did, we loaded it with infantry soldiers and took them over to the KBR dining facility [reputed to serve the best food in the Green Zone]. Well, when you receive something, you want to give something back, so in the best Iraqi fashion, we stopped and bought a fresh loaf of Iraqi bread and made a big presentation to the colonel as the down payment and the final payment. He smiled, we smiled and we drove away."

The Stork ManThe Maternity Hospital and Referral Center of Baghdad is also benefiting from Hassig's efforts. Every year, there are as many as 10,000 births in the city, but due to the less than ideal situations in many of the hospitals and health care facilities, many children are lost.

"Since 1960, the Maternity Hospital has assisted pregnant women and taken referrals from complicated pregnancies," said Dr. Enas Taha Al-Hamdai. "We are in dire need for much help and support for equipment because our equipment is so old, but we have great support from Maj. Hassig and his group." Al-Hamdai is the deputy director of the facility's obstetrics and gynecology section.

"He has helped us with many pieces of equipment and instruments that we really need in our seven operating theaters. He also brought us this pelvic laparoscopy instrument we need for dealing with female infertility cases and treating tubal factors."

"We stopped these treatments about one and one-half years ago when our main instrument was stolen just prior to the war, so we started to have a long, long wait for treatment in infertility cases," said Al-Hamdai. She said the hospital sees 30 to 40 couples per day, except Friday (a Holy Day) and that the new laparoscopy technology will provide the hospital with the ability to assist those couples struggling with infertility. "He has found a way for us to help those infertile couples," Al-Hamdai said.

"Just between us here -- my colleagues -- we have a trade name for him because he has been so much help and is so courageous and fighting to help us with our patients. We call him The Stork Man!" Dr. Ahmed Hussin in also grateful for what Hassig has been able to provide the hospital in the way of other supplies and equipment.

"We are deficient in some equipment and many, many drugs in the hospital, 'said Hussin. "It depends on the help of the Red Cross and others who provide the hospital with these materials."

Smiles From Sick Children Next

Hassig had a few bags of Beany Babies and things kids from Hassig's hometown of Bluntstown, Fla., sent here for the civil affairs soldiers to distribute, so the convoy headed for Baghdad Children's Hospital. Hassig said his teams are augmented with infantry soldiers on every mission. "They love civil affairs missions where they get to see the children," said Hassig. "I think when we're with them here, we're reminded of our children at home. Yeah, we're soldiers but we have hearts too. We want to do the right thing."

"Our team is very excited to be helping the children of Iraq," said Rodriguez. "The impression we make now is what's going to last forever. I think the future looks a lot brighter." The soldiers traveled through seven wards of children, giving each child a small, cuddly toy in hopes of brightening their day. Many parents too, who often remain with their children, were amused, if not amazed to see the soldiers offering the toys, but accepted them with smiles and apparent understanding of the troops' good-willed intentions.

"This is really cool," said Spc. Micah Roberson, A Company, 1/9 Cav, who is attached to the civil affairs team for force protection and convoy security. "This is the first time I've come out on a mission like this and hand out stuff to the kids. They're all smiling -- it's awesome!"

GAS! GAS! GAS!

Through the Civilian-Military Operation Center Hassig is also involved with the construction of a new gas station in the Karadah district near Baghdad University, which has resumed its educational programs after closing during the war. It's basically a flattened stretch of dirt now, with ditches ready to receive the pipelines from the storage bladder to the pumps, but it's come a long way. "We've been working on the gas station since we got here six months ago," Hassig said. "In this area, there are more than a million people -- and there are three gas stations, one built in 1951, one in 1969 and one in 1967."

Hassig said that although gas is very cheap compared to U.S. prices, the shortage of fuel facilities in Iraq creates lines up to 50 vehicles long. "That's on a good day," he said. "On another day, lines can be as long as a mile -- can you imagine waiting in a line that long? We get upset if two or three cars are in front of us."

Hassig said Iraq suffers from a lack of infrastructural distribution for its plentiful fuel and that black market fuel dealers often attempt to undercut already cheap prices at what few pumping stations are in operation. He hopes the gas station will be in operation before his tour in Iraq is up and will find comfort and yet another sense of accomplishment for having assisted Iraq start anew.

"I think 90 percent of the people here are just like us -- they all like ice cream -- they just want a safe place to live and raise their family and somewhere to work," said Hassig.

New Business Is Good Business

As soon as Hassig enters the CMOC office facility, he is approached by one of the young Iraqi liaison-translators, who tells him about a friend exploring the possibility of getting a loan sponsored through the agency. Not short on energy or temper, Hassig is nevertheless quick on the draw to respond.

"Have him go through the loan application" he says. "He has to attach his financial assets and liabilities. He has to have a business plan with his projected market share and competition. He needs to outline everything about his past experience, submit the application and we'll take it to the private business development office.

"Yes," the young man replies. Another couple arrives and wants to know what to do about land and property that was taken from them under Saddam's regime. They heard they could get help here. Hassig refers them to an official who handles Iraq-specific situations and wishes them success in their endeavor. He assures them the official will assist them after they provide the necessary paperwork, i.e. property deeds, titles and related materials establishing ownership.

It's a new Iraq emerging from beneath an era where actual ownership -- save for one man and his family, was often absent. After a brief moment of excitement when a CBS TV crew arrives and wants to know where the interview for Dan Rather is to be conducted, then discovers they are at the wrong location and depart as quickly as they arrived, another long, diverse day is slowly winding to a close for Hassig.

Despite all the smiles and joy he is bringing to the people of Iraq he is helping, every time he leads another convoy through Baghdad's streets, he is simultaneously endangering his own life. "In March," Hassig began, "We were at an Iraqi police station conducting training. As we left, we saw a couple young kids talking to some other soldiers there. Just a couple minutes later, we received a report that the police station was hit by two RPGs [Rocket Propelled Grenades]. Two police officers and two children were injured, so it's dangerous out there, but you can't let that danger prevent you from doing your job."

Hassig said that only yesterday, he heard that three insurgents appeared in a neighborhood in one of the unit's operational zones with an RPG and were chased by the local civilians, apprehended and turned over to the police. "Talk about a milestone!" Hassig said. "We cheered in the vehicle for those civilians and the fact that they stood up and took charge of their own destiny. The highlight was that they took those guys down in their own neighborhood -- trying to make Iraq a better place for them and their families."

That same day, Hassig received additional reports that an Improvised Explosive Device was found and two potential Vehicle-born IEDs were reported in the same zone.

"This country will win," Hassig said. "The Iraqi people are going to win -- the terrorists and insurgents are not going to win." From riding through dangerous streets and highways to help the people of Iraq, Hassig is making a difference, just ask those Iraqis whose lives he touches, every day.

• Date Taken: 07.19.2004
• Date Posted: 07.19.2004 11:17
• Story ID: 126