Multi-National Division – Baghdad “First Team.....Team First” Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Hurriyah highlighted in market walkthroughBy Sgt. Dustin Roberts2nd HBCT PAO, 1st Inf. Div.

BAGHDAD — In the past year, a neighborhood in northwest Baghdad has overcome sectarian violence and seen vast improve-ments in security, essential ser-vices and civil capacity.

The Iraqi media saw firsthand, May 11, that through partner-ship with the local government, Iraqi Security Forces and the 1st Combined Arms Battalion

“Vanguard,” 18th Infantry Regi-ment, 2nd Heavy Brigade Com-bat Team, 1st Infantry Division, citizens of the Hurriyah neighbor-hood of northwest Baghdad are witnessing an improvement in their community.

In a walk-through of a busy market street, various Iraqi televi-sion stations met with civic, tribal and security leaders, and 2nd HBCT leaders, to see a cleaner environment and thriving shops.

“We’re trying to show the people of Hurriyah, the people who live outside of Hurriyah and throughout Baghdad, the secu-rity, civic and essential service improvements in Hurriyah,” said Capt. Nathan Williams, a native of Raleigh, N.C., commander, Company A, 1st Bn., 18th Inf. Regt. “There is a lot of miscon-ceptions out there that security is bad and the area hasn’t been pros-pering recently.”

From 2003-2006, when the se-curity situation was compromised by al-Qaeda in Iraq and other spe-cial group criminals, many Iraqis moved away from Hurriyah and have not had the opportunity to see that the neighborhood has un-dergone a continuing makeover.

“We’re trying to spread the word that things have improved so people can come back to Hur-riyah,” said Williams. “This is a great opportunity to get the word out to the public.”

Because the word came from the neighborhood’s leaders and the local media, it is likely the people of Iraq will find Hurriyah’s improvements more credible.

“Just like in our country, the message doesn’t always get out. It has some sort of shaded lens on it if it comes from us,” said Lt Col. John Vermeesch., a native of Roscommon, Mich., commander of the “Vanguard” Battalion. “If it comes from their own people then it’s more believable and genuine.”

Vermeesch said Hurriyah has turned around because the part-nership between the Iraqi and

U.S. Soldiers means more than manning checkpoints.

“The 1st Battalion, 22nd Bri-gade, 6th Iraqi Army is an incred-ibly effective and efficient unit and they have done great things in partnership with Company A,” he said. “They conduct continuous combined area reconnaissance, combined raids against known targets and they patrol the streets together every day.”

Williams added that the popu-lation of Hurriyah also sees street sweepers cleaning up trash and much of the sewage from the past has been removed.

The Vanguard Battalion works with the beladiyah, or the branch of government which deals with public works, to improve essen-tial services.

“Essential services are good, but they need to get better; spe-cifically sewage in [one of the areas],” said Vermeesch. “That is something we are working with the beladiyah to try and im-prove.”

When the video camera turned off and the interviews were over, Vermeesch said the Iraqi people said the citizens of Baghdad will have a better idea of the situation in Hurriyah.

“Today’s event met our intent and I believe that the right mes-sage got out to the people of Iraq that Hurriyah is a safe and stable city,” he said. “As we’ve known from the beginning, with regard to sectarian violence, so goes Hurri-yah, so goes the rest of Baghdad and I think the right message got out to Baghdad.”

Col. Joseph Martin hands out pencils to Iraqi children in the Hurriyah neighborhood May 11.

Civic, tribal, and security leaders as well as Iraqi media walk a market street in the Hurriyah neighborhood.

Photo by Sgt. Dustin Roberts, 2nd HBCT PAO

Photo by Sgt. Dustin Roberts, 2nd HBCT PAO

PAGE 2 May 13, 2009

Engineers find common ground during joint construction missionBy 1st Lt. Michael CirilloCompany A, 46th ECB PAO

BAGHDAD — Engineers as-signed to Company A, 46th Engi-neer Combat Battalion (Heavy), 225th Engineer Brigade, along with Iraqi Army engineers, made numerous upgrades to electrical grids, grounded countless show-ers and living quarters and moved hundreds of tons of trash and de-bris from roadways throughout Baghdad May 4.

The 23rd IA Brigade Com-mander, Lt. Col. Akram had a vision to refit existing concrete guard towers with wooden safety platforms to increase the safety of the Soldiers on his base and re-quested American engineer tech-nical expertise and oversight.

Prior to starting the project, the four guard towers had rick-ety 15-foot ladders that stretch to the top of the tower. One IA Soldier was recently injured in a fall because of the unsteady lad-ders. The new ladders protect the Soldiers.

“The construction of two safety platforms per tower breaks a Soldier’s fall at a much safer six feet,” said Capt. Lisa Landreth, commander, Company A, who is a native of Fair Play, S.C. “Em-placing these safety platforms

significantly reduces the risk of injury and increases the ability of Soldiers to extract a casualty in the event of an emergency.”

San Antonio native, Sgt. Mark Jordan, a team leader, 2nd pla-toon, Company A, 46th ECB (H), spearheaded the joint wooden safety platform project and took the opportunity to give the Iraqi Engineers some much-needed training on the use of power tools while simultaneously making sure that the guard towers were upgraded to standard.

By using an interpreter, the U.S. and IA Soldiers were able to overcome the language barrier, one of the more challenging as-pects to the project.

“Having to use an interpreter to translate everything made things go a little slower than nor-mal,” stated Jordan. “But, once [the 23rd IA Soldiers] understood what I was saying, the platforms were built quite easily.”

With the platforms complete, the Iraqi Soldiers can perform duties in their guard towers more confidently. Additionally, they have pride and a sense of own-ership of the towers they helped make more structurally sound and in their ability to pick up car-pentry tools and get to work.

San Antonio native, Sgt. Mark Jordan instructs a team of 23rd Iraqi Army Engineer Regiment Soldiers on how to outfit their concrete guard towers with wooden safety platforms. Prior to starting the project, the four guard towers had rickety ladders going to the main guard platform at the top of the tower. At 15 feet above the ground, a fall could seriously injure a Soldier.

Sgt. Mark Jordan, team leader, 46th Engineer Com-bat Battlion (Heavy), 225th Brigade, climbs the ladders to the top of the newly reno-vated guard tower. “Teach-ing sustainment operations is what it’s all about,” stated Jordan. “This gives the Iraqi Army the ability to conduct these missions on their own once we leave.”

Photo by Capt. Lisa Landreth, 46th ECB (H)

Photo by Capt. Lisa Landreth

IPs, MPs discuss future security expectationsBy Maj. Jeff Parker8th MP Bde. PAO, MND-B

BAGHDAD — Across Iraq, Coalition forces and Iraqi Se-curity Forces are aggressively changing their missions to implement the new security agreement guidelines.

With this as their focus, the senior leaders of the Karkh Patrol Directorate Iraqi Police and Police Transition Team partners of the 93rd Military Police “War Eagle” Battalion, 8th MP “Watchdog” Brigade, Multi-National Division – Baghdad, conducted face-to-

face talks, May 5, to discuss the future of the Iraqi Police and their security responsibili-ties to their communities, their government, and the future of their country.

“I hesitate to talk about the future before it’s here, but I’m very optimistic,” said Col. Mu’ayid, Karkh Patrol Direc-torate commander.

Mu’ayid supervises more than 200 officers and over 7,500 Iraq Police, throughout 15 Iraqi Police stations on the western side of the Tigris River in Baghdad.

This was the second meet-ing for many of the Iraqi Po-lice and their partners of the “War Eagle” Battalion, based out of Fort Bliss, Texas. The purpose of the meetings, ac-cording to Lt. Col Thomas Byrd, commander, 93rd MP Bn., 8th MP Bde., MND – B, and a native of Marion, Ohio, is to further discuss issues and concerns that we all may need to address.

Byrd and his PTT teams are slated to work with local Iraqi Police officials of the traffic and patrol sectors, as well as

working with the Iraqi Nation-al Police in an effort to contin-ue their partnership to ensure a safe and secure Iraq. After each department is engaged by the battalion over the next month, an all-inclusive confer-ence will be scheduled.

“Normally, I ‘m work-ing with these officers on the streets of Baghdad,” said 1st Lt. Brian Celatka, the Karkh Patrol Directorate PTT officer-in-charge. “But today, it’s nice to share information, discuss policing and build upon al-ready strong relationships.”

PAGE 3 May 13, 2009

Cav Round-Up radio newscast availableMND-B PAO

BAGHDAD — The Cav Round-Up is a three-minute radio newscast from Baghdad covering military units and events across Multi-National Division — Baghdad.

Today’s Cav Round-Up # 65 was pro-duced by SGT Lisa Heise, MND-B Pub-lic Affairs Office.

The May 12 newscast includes the following two stories:

1. The National Guard Soldiers at Joint Security Station Istiqlal fire the Ex-

calibur. Desert Dragon M777Howitzer is spe-

cial to Soldiers. Weapon pinpoints urban targets very well. This is the first time the weapon has been fired in Iraq. SGT Erik Fardette, Multi-National Division-Bagh-dad Public Affairs Office.

2. Soldiers with the 8th Military Po-lice Brigade meet with Iraqi Police from the Karkh district to discuss their respon-sibilities to their community.

Watchdog Brigade and Iraqi police of the Karkh district talk of the future of the

police and of concerns they have. They met to discuss and share information about responsibilities to the community, country and government. This is second meeting involving 15 Iraqi police sta-tions.

To hear the Cav Round-Up, click on the following links:

NIPR LINK: Cav Round-UpSIPR LINK: Cav Round-UpCheck out more news at the 1st Cav-

alry Division’s homepage:www.cavcountry.net

Iron Brigade exceeds retention missionSpc. Jamie Vernon2nd BCT PAO, 1st Armd. Div.

BAGHDAD — The 2nd ‘Iron’ Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division, Multi-National Division-Baghdad, has deployed to Iraq on three occasions since March 2003 for a total of 42 months; more than any other Army unit during the same time frame. That fact has not hindered the brigade from meeting its retention goals

“The mission was to reenlist 758 Soldiers but we’re actually at 120-125 percent right now. We reenlisted 928 Soldiers so far with another 70 ready to re-enlist,” said Sgt. 1st. Class Ga-rold Largent, of Saint Joseph, Mo., the brigade’s senior career counselor.

The unit boasts above aver-age retention rates for this time period, as put out for every bri-gade combat team Army wide. According to the Army reten-tion goals, units should be at 58 percent while the Iron Brigade is at 122 percent, an extraordi-nary 64 percent above the re-quirement.

“It’s my fourth deployment and it’s not that common,” said Largent. “It’s usually at 100, 110 Soldiers (the amount who reenlist). There is sometimes an influx at the end of rotation, especially for a lot of first-term

Soldiers: they made a deploy-ment, it’s not that bad, and they reenlist,” said Largent.

Soldiers from all different military occupational special-ties decided to extend their time in the Army while they were de-ployed to Iraq. The Army paid $6.5 million in bonuses to Iron Brigade Soldiers who reenlisted while deployed to Iraq. The bo-nuses were tax free; another in-centive for Soldiers to reenlist.

Many Soldiers reenlisted to-wards the end of deployment be-cause they were about to finish their assignment, and through reenlisting can choose to stay in Germany or choose another duty station of their choice.

“I was really bent on getting out, but during the deployment I reenlisted back in September to stay in the Army for another five years,” said Sgt. Jamal Davis, of Tuskegee, Ala., who is currently on his third deployment. “After this deployment I’ll go back to Germany and then (change duty stations) to Fort Sill, I reenlisted for a (non-deployable) position, so I would like to get an instruc-tor slot down there, and then after that it’ll be wherever the Army takes me.”

Davis also felt that this reen-listment option will allow him to enjoy the benefits the Army offers Soldiers along with the

ability to spend more time with his family.

“It’s between the assignment and the economy, being what it is right now, the Army is giving me all these free benefits, medi-cal and what not,” said Davis. “For me personally, it comes into play, but another thing— I guess you could say is spend-ing time with my kids because I have two kids. Spending time with them will be a big change because the only thing that they know right now is that daddy goes to work and daddy de-ploys.”

Although there are many reasons Soldiers reenlist, there are different trends that are consistently present in Soldiers who do.

“For many Soldiers it was just being part of the Army team, camaraderie, esprit d’ corps, basically just team,” said Largent.

Soldiers also reenlisted for a chance to switch to a different military occupational specialty, to change from their current duty to something they would enjoy more.

“I was infantry in the Marine Corps, and I was shot while I was in Fallujah and that’s why I was discharged,” said Spc. Daniel Barbours, of Bullard, Texas, a member of 1st Battal-

ion, 6th Infantry Regiment. “So I came in the Army as a 94A, (land combat electrician) and I was spending a lot of time doing guard tower duty, and not going out much. Then I started going on patrols with the tankers and I was like, ‘start sending me out on patrols’. So I reenlisted and re-classed as 11B (infantryman), and received a $5,000 bonus.”

Although it is up to each individual Soldier to make the decision to reenlist, the com-mand climate and their attitude towards their Soldiers plays a large part in each Soldier’s deci-sion to reenlist.

“The reflection of retention is a reflection on the command. When Soldiers don’t reenlist it’s a command influence so it’s more based off of command guidance,” said Largent.

The Iron Brigade is one of many other brigade combat teams in the Army that have had excellent retention rates this year, leading to an overall excel-lent year for retention through-out the Army.

“The first quarter of fiscal year 2009 was the most success-ful in Army history and we met 249 percent of our goals,” said Sgt. Maj. of the Army Kenneth Preston during a visit to MND-B headquarters in Iraq earlier this year.

PAGE 4 May 13, 2009

Iraq 3-Day

Weather Report Today

98° F | 77° FTomorrow 100° F | 80° F

Friday100° F | 73° F

On This Day In Military History1863 — Union General Ulysses S. Grant advances toward the Mississippi capital of Jackson during his bold and daring drive to take Vicksburg, the last Confederate stronghold on the Mississippi River. In April, Grant had moved his troops down the Mississippi River and around the Vicksburg defenses, landing south of the city before moving east into the interior of Mississippi. He intended to approach Vicksburg from the east to avoid the strong Confederate defenses on the riverfront. Grant, however, had to contend with two Rebel forces. John C. Pemberton had an army defending Vicksburg, and Joseph Johnston was mustering troops in Jackson, 40 miles east of Vicksburg. Grant’s advance placed him between the two Southern commands. He planned to strike Johnston in Jackson, defeat him, and then focus on Vicksburg when the threat to his rear was eliminated. On May 12, Grant’s troops encountered a Rebel force at Raymond, Mississippi, which they easily defeated. The following day, he divided his force at Raymond, just 15 miles from Jackson, and sent two corps under William T. Sherman and James McPherson to drive the Confederates under Johnston out of Jackson, which they did by May 14. Grant also sent John McClernand’s corps west to close in on Pemberton in Vicksburg. A few days later, on May 16, Grant defeated Pemberton at Champion’s Hill and drove the Rebels back into Vicksburg. With the threat from the east neutralized, Grant sealed Vicksburg shut and laid siege to the city. Vicksburg surrendered on July 4, and the Confederacy was severed in two.

Here’s an invitation to play Wordplay!Find words inside of words.Today’s word is: TECHNICALProper nouns do not count, nor does the word shown.Words should be at least 6 letters long.Try to find 13 words. Good Luck!

Last issue’s wordplay: Courage argue, cargo, cougarrogue, rouge, grace

DiD you know?

Chuck Norris does not sleep. He waits.

Famous Feats of Chuck Norris

GRANT

Multi-National Division - BaghdadPublic Affairs Office

Commanding General:Maj. Gen. Daniel Bolger

Public Affairs Officer:Lt. Col. Philip Smith

Public Affairs Chief:Master Sgt. Nicholas Conner

Editor:Spc. Howard Alperin

Staff Writers:Sgt. 1st Class Ron Burke

Sgt. 1st Class Joel QuebecStaff Sgt. Mark BurrellStaff Sgt. Jon CuppStaff Sgt. Peter Ford Sgt. Joshua Risner

Sgt. Jon SolesSpc. Laura Johnson

Spc. Phillip Adam Turner

The Daily Charge is an authorized publication for members of the U.S. Army. Contents of The Daily Charge are not official views of, or endorsed by, the U.S. Government, Department of the Army, or the 1st Cavalry Division. The appearance of advertising in this publication, including inserts or supplements, does not constitute endorsement by the Department of the Army, the 1st Cavalry, or The Daily Charge of the products and services advertised.

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Pvt. Murphy by Mark Baker

PAGE 5 May 13, 2009

PEGASUS OASIS DFAC HOURSBREAKFAST 0530 TO 0830

LUNCH 1130 TO 1330DINNER 1700 TO 2000

MIDNIGHT CHOW 2300 TO 0100SUNDAY ONLYBRUNCH 0730 to 1330DINNER 1700 to 2000

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“You aren’t learning anything when you’re talking.”

— Lyndon Baines Johnson, 1908-1973

36th President of the United States

Quote For Today

Trigger’s TeasersThe objective of the game is to fill all the blank squares in a game with the correct numbers. There are three very simple constraints to follow: Every row of 9 numbers must include all digits 1 through 9 in any order. Every column of 9 numbers must include all digits 1 through 9 in any order. Every 3 by 3 subsection of the 9 by 9 square must include all digits 1 through 9.

Every Sudoku game begins with a number of squares already filled in, and the difficulty of each game is largely a function of how many squares are filled in. The more squares that are known, the easier it is to figure out which numbers go in the open squares. As you fill in squares correctly, options for the remaining squares are narrowed and it becomes easier to fill them in.

Yesterday’s Answers