Iraqi Army recruits graduate at steady pace

Multi-National Forces-Iraq ^ | Lance Cpl. Ben Eberle

[SandRat]

By Lance Cpl. Ben Eberle
1st Marine Logistics Group

The Iraqi Army’s newest soldiers march past an Iraqi and American audience during their graduation ceremony at Camp Habbaniyah Sept. 30.

CAMP HABBANIYAH -- More than 300 Iraqi recruits graduated boot camp in a ceremony here Sept. 30.

The Iraqi Army’s newest soldiers endured five weeks of training to learn the fundamentals of marksmanship, urban patrols, search and clear operations, as well as how to make the transition to a military lifestyle.

A national recruiting initiative plans to bring in 30,000 soldiers by May 2007, said Col. Joel P. Garland, the basic combat training liaison officer for Multi-National Force - West.

“The goal is to get up to 1,850 soldiers per class,” said 45-year-old Garland, from Mission Viejo, Calif., who added that a new training cycle will start every six weeks. “The national response (to the recruiting initiative) has been excellent,” he explained. “Camp Habbaniyah will share some of the national pool.”

Arms swing in unison as the Iraqi Army’s newest soldiers march past a gallery of Iraqi and American officials during their graduation ceremony.

Iraqi soldiers run the training with minimal help from the Coalition Military Assistance Transition Team.

“The (Iraqi Army’s) noncommissioned officers are really stepping up. They’re developing their own schedules and teaching all the classes,” said Army Master Sgt. Kary C. Allen, school commandant and senior advisor at the Regional Training Center here. “The instructors had a lot in front of them, and overall they’ve done an admirable job.”

Allen, a 46-year-old from Atlanta, praised the accomplishments of exceptional instructors, such as Iraqi Army 1st Sgt. Ali Ehmood Sahil.

“I gave theoretical lectures on modern fighting arts and the modern weapons,” said Sahil. “We also teach (the soldiers) how to settle a checkpoint and enter a house or building.

“I am very proud of the graduates,” he added. “These heroes will make for the victory of Iraq and the safety of the Iraqi people.”

To effectively protect their citizens, the soldiers themselves must have the proper equipment. Camp Habbaniyah’s Central Issue Facility provides the graduates with uniforms, boots, sleeping bags, helmets, body armor and eye protection. They also receive military-issued AK-47 assault rifles upon enlistment.

“You’d be surprised, but just having them all in uniform makes a difference. It makes them feel proud, and it helps with unit cohesiveness,” said Army Sgt. 1st Class Harry L. Cook, supply noncommissioned officer in charge of CIF. Cook, 44, is from Fayetteville, N.C.

Some attended the graduation ceremony out of sheer curiosity, but Air Force Maj. Marcus A. Primm, an information-operations planner with MNF-W, came to see the motivation level of the new Iraqi soldiers.

“The sooner the new Iraqi Army comes on board, the sooner our mission will be complete,” said Primm, 35, from Mobile, Ala. “That’ll pay dividends across the board, both for the U.S. and the Iraqi population.”

[SandRat]

FR WAR NEWS!

WAR News You'll Hear Nowhere Else!

All the News the MSM refuses to use!

[oolatec]

I see the training of sectarian death squads continues unabated.

[american_ranger]

Go to hell you dumb bastard. My son is over there and he has already lost 2 killed and 1 wounded out of his squad. We don't need assholes like you encouraging the enemy.

Of course there are bad apples. There are bad apples in our armed forces. It is jackasses like you that always point out the negative and never the positive.

Actions like yours encourages the bad guys and put my son at increased risk.

My apologies to the moderator who will undoubtedly remove my reply to your ignorant rant.

[NordP]

We had dinner out the other night, and sat next to two guys that had two tours in Iraq. I asked them their opinions about how the Iraqi military was doing. They said that so many that signed up, couldn't read and write, and that was a problem. They also said that they could learn, and wanted to learn, but that they really lacked personal discipline. It was mainly just a paycheck, not pride that brought them to the military. We told them that as long as Americans were serving as those to look up to---that personal pride would kick in.

We thanked them for making the World a better place.

FREEDOM: The mission is noble and the cause is just.

[NordP]

Move to France.

[ExcursionGuy84]

You've nailed it straight down, NordP.

[NordP]

God Bless you, your hero son, and your family.

The history books will reflect kindly on your family's bravery and personal commitments in planting the seeds of democracy and freedom to a region troubled for many decades. Your family made a difference.

Your son is contributing to a better World, a brighter future, and shall be known as a Son of Liberty!

Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

NordP

[cookcounty]

My kid's back in Iraq agin too. It really makes me angry as well, especially in this asymetrical world of combat, where politics and press manipulation are central ingredients in waging of war.

These negative Tokyo Rosies are 10,000 times more dangerous to your son and mine than their namesake in WWII. The entire war, from the other side, is predicated on the idea that Americans have no staying power and easily can be made to turn on themselves if one can just get enough blood on the TV screens. The enemy is not fighting for territory or military advantage, they are fighting to bag the brains of a few more weary Congressmen, a few more tired pundits, a few more exhausted arm chair generals bleary-eyed in their living rooms from ten thousand hours of CNN Negspeak.

I don't why they are tired, when I'm the one who wakes up at 3 am every morning worried about whether my kid is dead or alive in Baghdad.

Short-sighted Weenies.

[elmer fudd]

Ever notice that none of the "peace activists" have any contact with the military? They whine about all the deaths, yet the overwhelming majority have never served and have no friends or family members serving. They don't really give a damn at all about our soldiers or the Iraqis either. All they want is to bash Bush and relive the sixties. It's just pure anti-Americanism.