Posted on 02/16/2008 2:09:39 PM PST by SandRat
BAQUBAH — Families displaced from a town near Baqubah were escorted back to their homes by the Iraqi Army (IA) and Coalition forces, Feb. 13, during ‘Operation Fierce Thrasher’. During the operation, Soldiers from Company F, 52nd Infantry Regiment, 4th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division from Fort Lewis, Wash., helped 39 families dislocated due to fear of terrorist attacks return to their homes in the town of Durah.
“Today’s mission was to secure the village of Durah to allow the repatriation of the Sunnis into the village,” said Capt. Troy Mills, commander of Company F.
The Coalition troops were assisted by Soldiers from the IA’s 2nd Battalion, 2nd Brigade, 5th IA Division to clear the town of insurgents and improvised explosive devices.
After the clearing was completed, the IA kept the town secured while the Iraqi police and Coalition forces helped displaced citizens move back to the village. They also helped create a new “Sons of Iraq” (SoI) program and set up five checkpoints for the SoI to operate in the town.
SoI is a splinter group of the highly successful Concerned Local Citizens program rooted throughout Iraq. Program members have proven themselves invaluable to Coalition and Iraqi security forces, pointing out insurgents and weapon caches, and manning checkpoints.
The 52 SoI lived in the village at one time and are bringing their families back in the near future, said 1st Lt. Tyson Kampenhout, platoon leader in Company F.
Although more than 40 percent of the town was destroyed or looted by terrorists, the villagers were very happy to come back to their homes, and they said they were willing to work with Iraqi security forces and the Coalition to keep al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) fighters from reentering the town. The villagers also committed to rebuilding essential services like water treatment, electricity and schools.
“The essential services are pretty low. If anything was already setup, it is not currently operating,” Mills said. “Over the next few weeks, civil affairs and I will be going back into the town to reassess the essential services…and see what we can do to get them running again.”
After the joint forces vowed to help rebuild essential programs and keep the town safe from AQI and sectarian violence, more than 100 displaced families pledged to return to the town in the next three weeks. Some of the families have been living as far south as Baghdad, and had not been back to the town in six to nine months.
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