Story by: Staff Sgt. Craig Zentkovich
The 2nd Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division, Brigade Troops Battalion, is comprised of Soldiers from the signal, military intelligence, military police and engineer communities.
Their mission is a non-lethal one -- to support to the 2nd Brigaded Combat Team by providing communications, intelligence, police and engineer assets.
The latter, engineer support, is critical in the coalition's continuing effort to rebuild and improve Iraq's infrastructure, according to Lt. Col. Jamie Gayton, 2-3 BTB, commander.
Gayton, a career engineer officer, along with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, serve as project assessment, construction management and quality control.
He sees the multitude of engineer projects in the brigade's sector, specifically Sadr City, as an opportunity to garner support from the local populace.
"(Iraqis) are looking for someone to grab onto to make things better," he said. "More importantly, they need to know that we'll follow through with the projects."
In Sadr City, more than $380 million has been put into improving the quality of life for two million Iraqis. Sewer, trash, power and water projects in the area either under way or completed exceed 100, Gayton said.
"(Sadr City and) Baghdad east of the Tigris was ignored by Saddam's regime."
Predominately Shia, the area was the "have-nots" of the capitol, according to Gayton.
One of the major problems in Sadr, as well as the rest of the sector, is an inadequate sewage system or complete lack of one.
"What has been our major obstacle to this point is discovering which areas do or don't have a functioning sewer system," said 1st Lt. Joshua Conary, 2-3 BTB, brigade wastewater officer. "Poor record keeping in the past â?¦ and years of construction and paving over existing manholes has made (discovering sewer lines) especially difficult."
Sadr City has one main sewer line, with multiple lateral lines from each neighborhood that feed into it.
The gravity line, which rests 10 -- 15 meters below the surface, is three meters in diameter and runs from the geographic center of Sadr 15 miles south to the Rustimiya North Sewer Treatment Plant, one of only two plants east of the Tigris.
The problem, according to Gayton, is a lack of sewage lines that run from homes to the main sewer line. "For the most part," he said, "(residents") sewage runs from their home into street trenches."
Ten miles southeast of Sadr City, in Mahalla 745, a street and sewer project was recently completed to the delight of residents. One of the locals stated (through an interpreter) he had lived in the neighborhood for more than 15 years and never had a subterranean sewage system, paved streets or curb stones.
This elation is spreading, albeit slowly, to other parts of Baghdad, including Sadr. There, the Office of Transition Initiatives, a branch of the U.S. Agency for International Development, hired more than 12,000 residents to clean up the streets and free them of trash.
Gayton said, "When residents start to see positive things, there's a snowball effect."
The push for power in Sadr City has been ongoing since heavy fighting in the sector came to an end in June. Of the 83 sub-divided sectors of Sadr, 15 of them either have power contracts in the works or are completed.
For the remaining sectors, a $121 million contract is in the works. The contracts cover parts and labor for utility poles, transformers, and lines that run directly to panel boxes in homes.
Currently, 12 sectors of Sadr have been contracted to have potable water piped to residences, four of which are nearing completion. A contract is prepared and awaiting funding for the remaining sectors. "There is a large number of residents, children specifically, who become very ill because they drink non potable water," Gayton said, adding that these projects will eventually remedy the problem.
All infrastructure repair projects in the city are funded from a combination of Iraqi government, U.S. government, and non-government organization funds.
They utilize local contractors and laborers from the immediate area which, according to Gayton, is a motivating factor in ensuring the area is free of insurgents.
"We tell local leaders that we can't contract the (infrastructure improvements in their area) if there's violence toward coalition forces," Gayton said. "The local leaders take it upon themselves to deal with insurgents."
In addition to visiting work sites, USACE and the 2-3 BTB project teams receive feedback daily from maneuver units that patrol each area.
Spartan BCT units like 3rd Battalion, 15th Infantry Regiment, who regularly patrol Sadr City, speak with its local leaders and advisory council daily, to not only gauge the presence of insurgent forces in the area, but to assess the quality of life for the residents.
Units also check with locals to ensure the contactors and laborers are doing what's in the neighborhood's best interest.
Overall, Gayton feels that improvements throughout Eastern Baghdad are going very well, much to the credit of the Iraqi people.
"Right now â?¦ our job is to help Iraqis help themselves -- to show them the path to success," he said. "They're doing the work to rebuild their country."
Gayton concluded, "That's the only way we'll be successful -- to establish a safe, secure environment through helping them improve their daily lives."
| Date Taken: | 04.05.2005 |
| Date Posted: | 04.05.2005 09:34 |
| Story ID: | 1482 |
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| Web Views: | 61 |
| Downloads: | 13 |
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