Iraqi national police give Sha'ab schools clean slate

Photo By Lt. Col. Michael Humphreys | The Iraqi national police's 3rd Battalion, 4th Brigade, from the Al Sharuffi Mosque station in Sha'ab, delivered dry erase boards and markers to grateful teachers at the Yafa School for Girls in the Sha'ab neighborhood of the Adhamiyah district of Baghdad Oct. 20, 2008. 1st Lt. Evan Munson, a native of Glendale, Ariz., a platoon leader in the 1st Combined Arms Battalion, 68th Armor Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, Multi-National Division-Baghdad, helped the NP acquire the dry erase boards as well as other school supplies for the Yafa school and other schools in the area.  

BAGHDAD, IRAQ

10.23.2008

Story by Lt. Col. Michael Humphreys 

3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division

By Maj. Mike Humphreys
3rd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, Multi-National Division-Baghdad

BAGHDAD – As a further symbol of progress, students of the Yafa School for Girls in the Sha'ab neighborhood of the Adhamiyah district of Baghdad have parted with the analog ways of messy chalk and green boards to a modern, though maybe not yet digital, form of student-teacher connectivity.

The Iraqi national police's 3rd Battalion, 4th Brigade, from the Al Sharuffi Mosque station in Sha'ab, delivered dry erase boards and markers to grateful teachers at the school Oct. 20, 2008.

1st Lt. Evan Munson, a native of Glendale, Ariz., a platoon leader for Company E, 1st Combined Arms Battalion, 68th Armor Regiment, helped the NP acquire the dry erase boards as well as other school supplies for the Yafa school and other schools in the area.

"We figured out we could really do some good here by helping out with some pretty basic needs," Munson said. "And by allowing the NP to deliver the supplies, we put them in the lead in their neighborhood."

Munson and his Multi-National Division – Baghdad Soldiers from the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, discovered the need for marking boards, pens, pencils, paper and other school supplies while on a joint patrol with his NP partners. Munson's platoon and the NPs stop and talk with residents, business owners and even teachers about how things are going and what will help make the situation better.

Munson said events like this go a long way to establish a connection between the Iraqi residents and their security forces and it builds the confidence of these national police at the same time.

"Huge steps were taken in building trust and respect between the Iraqi security forces and the local civilians within the neighborhood," Munson said.

Capt. Adai, chief of the Sharuffi NP station, said he welcomes more missions like this to let local citizens know the national police are part of the solution to a better and safer Iraq.

Munson and his platoon will continue to patrol the streets of their piece of Sha'ab along with their partners in the national police to identify more ways that Munson's Soldiers and Adai's NPs can answer the call for help.

• Date Taken: 10.23.2008
• Date Posted: 10.23.2008 04:30
• Story ID: 25432
• Location: BAGHDAD, IQ