2nd Platoon issues soccer balls to 'Shanty Town'

Courtesy Photo | A "Shanty Town" child shows off the soccer ball he received from the Soldiers of 2nd Platoon, Company A, Task Force 1st Battalion, 6th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division, which is currently attached to 3rd BCT, 4th Infantry Division, Multi-National Division – Baghdad. The Soldiers routinely visit this neighborhood in the Sadr City District of Baghdad to help its inhabitants.  

BAGHDAD, IRAQ

09.29.2008

Courtesy Story

3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division

By 1st Lt. Martin Suarez
3rd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division

BAGHDAD, Iraq – Multi-National Division – Baghdad Soldiers helped contribute to the Iraqi soccer craze by issuing soccer balls Sept. 26, 2008 to the impoverished community, nicknamed "Shanty Town" by the troops.

Named "Shanty Town" by the Soldiers of 2nd Platoon, Company A, Task Force 1st Battalion, 6th Infantry Regiment, the community is located in the Sadr City District of Baghdad and is home to many residents that work in the industrial park and children that live to play soccer.

Since many residents are too poor to purchase soccer balls for their children, 2nd Platoon Soldiers took the initiative and acquired soccer balls from the psychological operations team to distribute them to the kids.

Upon arrival in the Shanty Town, children were chasing the Mine Resistance Ambush Protected vehicles as they set their security.

"Every time we patrol through the Shanty Town, the children know there are items of interest in the vehicles," said Sgt. John Norton, a Jourdanton, Texas, native, who serves as an MRAP section leader for 2nd Pltn., Co. A, TF 1-6 Inf., 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division, which is currently attached 3rd BCT, 4th Infantry Division.

Once 1st Squad dismounted the vehicles, children swarmed the Soldiers as the soccer balls came in sight.

"It was like a mosh pit," said Spc. Samuel Whitman, a Charlotte, N.C., native, describing the children pushing to grab a ball.

Even though the soccer balls brought a brief surge of happiness to the community, the residents claimed that the sewage problems are dangerous to their children's health and more food rations would be beneficial. The Soldiers of 2nd Pltn., as well as TF 1-6 Inf., are committed to initiate more projects to improve the everyday lives of the people of the Shanty Town.

• Date Taken: 09.29.2008
• Date Posted: 09.29.2008 04:38
• Story ID: 24261
• Location: BAGHDAD, IQ