Posted on 08/09/2007 5:37:19 PM PDT by SandRat
YUSUFIYAH — In the farmland south of Baghdad, quality medical care is hard to find.
Even if residents can afford it, Soldiers often bar them from the treacherous road to Baghdad.
The dusty roads, once devoid of any security presence, are now lined with razor wire and punctuated with Iraqi army and Coalition checkpoints, making it as difficult for farmers to travel as it is for armed insurgents.
In an attempt to raise the quality of life in Quarghulli village, Soldiers from Company C, 4th Battalion, 31st Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division, set up a clinic in a local schoolyard and invited residents to come in for treatment.
In the blazing heat, Soldiers rigged camouflage netting to shade the villagers waiting for treatment. Troops providing security from gun trucks traversed their machine guns across surrounding fields, as loudspeakers broadcast the Soldiers’ invitation in a prerecorded Arabic message.
“This is a regular mission for us, because it’s one of the best things we can do to improve peoples’ lives without spending a ton of money,” said Capt. Shane Finn, commander, Co. C 4-31 Inf. Regt. “This is something any rifle company can put together on the spot, and it goes a long way toward building trust with the people here.”
Finn, from Clinton, N.Y., said medical operations have become a “battle drill,” a mission that has been rehearsed and executed so often that it does not require significant planning before each one – all the Soldiers know their role.
Quarghulli is a small village, but it is more densely populated than much of the surrounding area. Iraqi families made their way through the village to the school, most of them seeking aid for stomach ailments caused by drinking canal water.
Both the Soldiers and the villagers had something to gain from the operation. As residents collected medicine and school supplies, village sheiks and local medical providers came to speak with Finn.
“The sheiks say that as we push al-Qaeda fighters out of the area, local doctors and nurses are becoming more capable of caring for Quarghulli’s people,” Finn said. “That’s the end state – Iraqis taking care of Iraqis.”
The infantrymen and medics conducting the operation knew most of the people coming in for treatment, and the Iraqi men greeted some of the Soldiers by name.
Two well-known local brothers, age 17 and 20 but both under 4 feet tall, showed up, to the Soldiers’ delight. The two left with a new soccer ball and water-treatment pills.
“The medical ops help Soldiers understand the village’s culture, and they get the locals accustomed to us in a good way,” said Co. C, 4-31 Inf. Regt.,1st Sergeant David Simpson, from Dallas Center, Iowa. “They know that they can come to us if they need help – lately we’ve been seeing 30 to 50 villagers a week at our gates.”
While the purpose of the operation was to diagnose and treat sick Iraqis, a handful concerned citizens – local citizens not assigned to the Iraqi Security Forces and recruited to fight al-Qaeda – appeared and briefed the Soldiers on some of their recent successes.
“Say what you want, but IED attacks have been way down since we started working with concerned citizens,” said Pvt. Keith Wray, a 4-31 Inf. Regt. medic. “It’s definitely safer here than it was.”
The operation placed a special emphasis on talking to the local women to assess village conditions, said Sgt 1st Class Lita Fraley, 478th Civil Affairs Battalion.
“With the roads blocked by checkpoints, it’s easier for women to get through without a hassle – so a lot of the traveling men used to do is now falling on the women,” said Fraley, from Houston. “The citizens think it’s about time to open the roads back up.”
In about five hours, Soldiers treated 176 Quarghulli residents and demonstrably strengthened their relationship with the village. The evidence: five hours in a former insurgent hotbed without a single gunshot, explosion, thrown rock or shouted curse. The village was all smiles.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.