Coalition Vet Clinic Helps Iraqi Brick Factory Thrive

American Forces Press Service ^

[SandRat]

NARHWAN, Iraq, April 8, 2008 – An industrial complex in Iraq has quadrupled its employment and productivity over the last three months, and a team from Multinational Division Center is helping the companies keep their labor force healthy.

Assisted by a brick factory worker, Army Capt. Rory Carolan, senior veterinarian and agriculture advisor with the civil affairs team, 3rd Infantry Division, examines a donkey at the Narhwan, Iraq, brick factory complex. Courtesy photo   
(Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available.

Army Capt. Rory Carolan, a veterinarian from Maryland, and soldiers from the 3rd Infantry Division’s 1st Battalion, 10th Field Artillery, 3rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team, treated more than 250 donkeys recently that will be used in the absence of motorized vehicles at the Narhwan Brick Factory Complex.

Healthy donkeys were needed for the increase in hauling and to support production.

Army Lt. Col. Bruce Baker, an economist with the civil affairs team, G9, 3rd Infantry Division, who led the initiative, realized that healthy donkeys were needed after heavy fuel oil became available to fire the kilns and bring the brick factory complex to full operating capacity.

After coalition forces engaged the Iraqi Energy Ministry on behalf of business owners at the complex to deliver heavy fuel oil, employment rose from 3,500 to 15,000. The donkeys became essential to haul straw and mud, as well as the newly-formed bricks. The challenge for Baker was to get the mostly malnourished donkeys able to keep up with the work the newly available oil was going to make.

Carolan, senior veterinarian and agriculture adviser with the civil affairs team, G9, 3rd Infantry Division, specializes in treating equine species – horses, ponies and donkeys. After a briefing from Baker, Carolan traveled to Narhwan to hold the clinic.

“This Narhwan clinic was unique, given the number of donkeys to be examined and treated,” he said. “Many of the donkeys were malnourished and obviously mistreated. Some suffered from pressure sores, hematomas and neglect. Some collapsed of exhaustion and died before our eyes.

“Others were well-cared-for, well-fed and well-groomed by owners who respected their worth,” he said.

Carolan, with the help of soldiers from 1-10th FA, examined, wormed, measured and weighed the donkeys. More donkeys by the hundreds are waiting to be treated in follow-on clinics.

“The vet clinic was the right thing to do before an increased volume of brick orders kicked in,” Carolan said. “In our clinic, we were able to examine and treat donkeys in need of care. We were able to encourage owners giving excellent care to their donkeys. We were able to teach the best way of care and feeding donkeys.

“That is where we can have the most impact, teaching the owners how to properly feed and care for the animals,” he continued. “Higher production at the factories will be achieved with the improved standards of care employed.”

(From a Multinational Division Center news release.)

Related Sites:
Task Force Marne/Multinational Division Center
Multinational Corps Iraq

Related Articles:
Iraqi Brick Factory Approaches Pre-war Capacity

	Army Capt. Rory Carolan, senior veterinarian and agriculture advisor with the civil affairs team, 3rd Infantry Division, examines a donkey essential to the operation of the brick factory complex in Narhwan, Iraq. Courtesy photo   Download screen-resolution    Download high-resolution
	Donkeys wait to be examined at the brick factory complex vet clinic in Narhwan, Iraq. Courtesy photo   Download screen-resolution    Download high-resolution

[SandRat]

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[trumandogz]

Building democracy, schools and hospitals yes.

But Brick Factories?

[SandRat]

Well,.. ya gotta have bricks to build the schools and hospitals.

[Gandalf_The_Gray]

But Brick Factories?

You need bricks to build "schools and hospitals" and pretty much everything else.

Regards,
GtG

[trumandogz]

The Iraqis have been taking care of donkeys for thousands of years.

I am sure they can tend to their donkeys without out help.

I simply do not want to have to read about a U.S. serviceman that was hit by a sniper while tending to a donkey.

[ASOC]

Iraq makes 5 BILLION a DAY in oil profits.

Let’em buy Ford trucks...

Enough is enough...$435 Billion in costs is enough.

/rant

[AnAmericanMother]

Well, actually, veterinary science has advanced considerably. Proper care and feeding will work wonders with these animals.

And as for 'taking care of donkeys for thousands of years' -- back in the day, when the U.S. was mostly horse-powered, horses were treated by the ignorant as a disposable resource (probably by the ancestors of the same idiots who run their cars without oil, etc.)

It cost millions in terms of lost productivity and unnecessary expenses (do you have any idea how difficult it is to dispose of an equine carcass?)

Proper care of these donkeys will directly increase productivity. They don't come trained, and it takes them about 2-3 years to mature enough to do a full day's work.

Converting donkey-power over to trucks would price the bricks out of the market for too many purchasers.

Those are the GOOD looking donkeys in the photos, btw. Probably all owned by the same guy, because he has given them all the same "trace clip" to remove their winter coats below the trace line. That is the work of a knowledgeable owner - leaves the hair for protection where the harness or pack frame rests, while keeping them cool and free from mud on their legs and belly.

[bukkdems]

“The Iraqis have been taking care of donkeys for thousands of years.

I am sure they can tend to their donkeys without out help.”

The company decided it needed donkeys, and has flourished since employing them. Now they are recruiting and giving health care to their working donkeys, because they need them. Arabs are terrible to their animals, and any time an American can train a Muslim to be more compassionate, and see the economic benefit of treating an animal humanely, I support that COMPLETELY!!!

[Enchante]

We have plenty of extra donkeys we could send over to help in that factory — all of our Democrats in Congress to begin with.......

[trumandogz]

Let’em buy Ford trucks...

Damn Straight. And then force feed the donkeys to the inmates GitMo and tell them it is pork.

[trumandogz]

Arabs are terrible to their animals, and any time an American can train a Muslim to be more compassionate, and see the economic benefit of treating an animal humanely, I support that COMPLETELY!!!

I am just not all that sure that treating a donkey to PETA Standards in worth the live of an American Serviceman.

[notpoliticallycorewrecked]

I like how you think......