AL RIYADH, Baghdad, Iraq -- As rain threatened the quiet Al-Riyadh neighborhood, Soldiers moved out from Forward Operating Base Union II (formerly FOB Warrior) intent on delivering school supplies to children attending a local primary school.
Soldiers division-wide continue to distribute backpacks containing school supplies and backpacks to children attending Iraqi primary schools throughout Baghdad, the 1st Cavalry Division's area of operations, as part of Operation Virtual Pencil.
The "Killer Bees" of Company B, 1st Battalion, 153rd Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, descended upon the Al-Qaqaa Primary School, in the Al Riyadh neighborhood to deliver over 450 backpacks, Oct. 30.
Although located in a relatively peaceful neighborhood, 1-153rd Soldiers set up barriers at the end of street to discourage any intruders. The school was the second of eight schools in their zone to receive the backpacks. Deliveries to the remaining six schools will be made once additional supplies are received from the brigade or division, according to 1st Lt. Jason DeSoto, a fire support officer with Company B, from Fayetteville, Ark.
Besides providing materials the kids can use, civil military operations projects help achieve a complementary objective. "It allows residents in the local communities to see that we want to help them in rebuilding and help them keep trouble out of their neighborhood," DeSoto said.
Residents of an area may be more inclined to contact military or Iraqi security forces when they observe suspicious activities if they've had a chance to develop a relationship with those forces.
Although this is a relatively good neighborhood, the trouble that we have had has not been from the residents there, it's been from people coming from outside, DeSoto said.
"The people in that neighborhood are really good about identifying to us and to the Iraqi police, anybody that comes in there making trouble, and any anti-coalition propaganda, almost as soon as they see it they call us and let us know about it," he said.
Capt. Slade McPherson, the company's commander from Fordyce, Ark., accompanies his Soldiers on these missions. "It spreads goodwill for us and lets the people, lets the kids know that we're not here to harm them," McPherson said. "I've got a good company, they're doing their job and they interact real well with the community. That's one of the big things I stress, when we go out - you stop and talk to the people and just let them know that we're there to help them."
Once the backpacks were all distributed, teachers invited Soldiers into their classrooms. In one room, students welcomed the Soldiers with a song, complete with cute hand motions. Soldiers greeted the students and shook as many hands as time allowed.
The battalion's chaplain, 1st Lt. Randy Perry, from Macon, Ga., and his assistant, Sgt. Doug "Chappy" Horner, accompanied the group, as they try to do several times a week. Horner, on his third deployment, has also served two tours in Vietnam, in "66 and "69. His first tour was with the 1st Cav. Div. as will be his last tour, since he will retire following this deployment.
On this trip they helped pass out backpacks to the students. Outside the school they gave out some stuffed teddy bears to several children who were too young to attend class.
"This whole thing here is just a part of our overall philosophy of winning the hearts and minds of the Iraqi people, you win the hearts and minds of the children and the parents, then you're working with some good guys, people that have a good heart," Perry said. "We're not here to conquer these people, we're here to help them, to liberate them.
These people here, they're great people, they've just been oppressed and now they're going to get a taste in the future, once we get it stabilized, to live a good life. That's a good thing."
| Date Taken: | 11.15.2004 |
| Date Posted: | 11.15.2004 11:36 |
| Story ID: | 600 |
| Location: | AL RIYADH, IQ |
| Web Views: | 50 |
| Downloads: | 13 |
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