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Interpreter Yousef Alsobaie, right, converses in Arabic with local townspeople about their various concerns at the town of French Quarter, Iraq. Alsobaie is working with the Army Reserve 308th Civil Affairs Brigade from Homewood, Ill, to help reconstruct the town and make it healthier for the civilians to live in. Photo by Spec. Cory Meyman, U.S. Army Reserve Public Affairs Office

Army Reserve Winning Hearts in French Quarter, Iraq

By Spec. Cory J. Meyman / U.S. Army Reserve Public Affairs

THE FRENCH QUARTER, IRAQ — Iraqi kids gathered happily around soldiers and introduced themselves at the Melody Kindergarten near Baghdad International Airport, one of several locations the soldiers assessed during their current efforts to restore the town of French Quarter back to its pre-war condition.

The Army Reserve’s 308th Civilian Affairs Brigade, from Homewood, Ill., checked five main areas -- public health, water and power lines, education, and medical supplies - in the town, said Col. Ron Thorsett.

“We’re here to assess the situation for the reconstruction of this town,” said Thorsett, from Minneapolis, Minn. “We let civilian humanitarian organizations know what is needed to get everything back online.”The brigade’s aim is not to repair the damage and health, but to act as a source of information for organizations such as the Red Cross so the groups can give aid to the town.

“Our nature is to help, but we don’t have all the facilities needed to do it ourselves,” said 1st Lt. John Spurgeon, who is a medical health nurse in his civilian life. “We are the link in-between.”

The soldiers use interpreters to find out what the Iraqis want. This is vital, because the unit needs to learn what the civilians' needs are and also to reassure the townsfolk that the soldiers aren’t out to get them.

“I help the Iraqis realize the United States isn’t trying to colonize Iraq,” said Rida Bensalem, a Kuwaiti interpreter who works with the 308th. He also makes sure the translation from Arabic to English doesn’t get muddled in the process.

After checking the list of needs provided by an interpreter, the 308th determined that the first priority was electricity. The town had a small generator, but it could only be used for two hours a day. Fuel for the generator was also scarce.

The Army Reservists put in a request for a larger generator, as a quick fix while the power lines are being repaired.

Water in the French quarter is not healthy for people to drink and the citizens have no way of purifying it. The brigade has provided some bottled water and is providing resources to dig a well while the water lines are being repaired.

The medical specialists talk of unhealthy water and other illnesses. They are not able to cure serious illnesses and injuries, but they did what they could.

“We tried to find out what they had for medical facilities here,” said Spurgeon. “The only thing we found was one man who could kind of be considered an orderly by American standards.”

The soldiers passed out some medical supplies they found on the way up to the French Quarter to people who were suffering from acute illnesses like skin rashes and toothaches.

The unit decided to find a medical unit nearby who could come here at a certain time each week. Once in place, the townspeople could go a specified site and be treated until the town gets more permanent facilities.

“We can look at minor illnesses, but some of the problems they have are way beyond our scope -- like bone cancer and psychiatric problems,” said Spurgeon. "On the whole, public health is fair," he added.

The reservists who work as police officers in their civilian occupations talked with the people to see if there had been any illegal activities such as looting, gunfire, vandalism, enemy troops, or mines.

A few civilians reported a possible mine, so the brigade had a demolition specialist look at the object. It turned out to just be a large ammo casing from an Iraqi weapon, but it put the civilians’ minds at peace, said Thorsett.

The kindergarten was damaged by gunfire from battles during the war. The walls and ceiling were riddled with bullets, and almost half of the windows had been broken.

An engineer unit was contacted to start fixing some of the damage. Later, on the same day, the Civil Affairs unit got a message saying an Air Force unit wanted to donate $5,000 to help with the reconstruction.

“It’s nice when everything falls in place,” said Thorsett, referring to the donation.

The Civil Affairs brigade knows it will continue to find new problems and items to fix, but the unit looks forward to the challenge.

“ Soldiers who fight have a few weeks of excitement, but then all they usually end up doing is guard duty, ” said the colonel. “We’re the ones who get to go out after winning the war and also win the people over.”

Since returning from Iraq a short time ago I have been answering a lot of questions about the war from friends, family, and strangers. When they ask me how it was over there I find myself glossing over the fighting, the heat,
the sandstorms, and the flies (these last could have taught the Iraqi army a thing or two about staying power).

Instead, I talk about the soldiers I met, and how they reflected the best of America. A lot of people are going to
tell the story of how this war was fought; I would rather say something about the men who won the war. War came early for the 1st Brigade of the 101st Airborne when an otherwise quiet night in the Kuwaiti desert was shattered by thunderous close-quarters grenade blasts. Sgt. Hasan Akbar, a U.S. soldier, had thrown grenades into an officers' tent, killing two and wounding a dozen others. Adding to the immediate confusion was the piercing scream of SCUD alarms, which kicked in as the second Akbar's grenade exploded. For a moment, it was a scene of near panic and total chaos.

Just minutes after the explosions, a perimeter was established around the area of the attack, medics were treating the wounded, and calls for evacuation vehicles and helicopters were already being sent out. Remarkably, the very people who should have been organizing all of this were the ones lying on the stretchers, seriously wounded. It fell to junior officers and untested sergeants to take charge and lead. Without hesitation everyone stepped up and unfalteringly did just that. I stood in amazement as two
captains (Townlee Hendrick and Tony Jones) directed the evacuation of the wounded, established a hasty defense, and helped to organize a search for the culprit. They did all this despite bleeding heavily from their wounds.

For over six hours, these two men ran things while refusing to be evacuated until they were sure all of the men in their command were safe.

Two days later Capt. Jones left the hospital and hitchhiked back to the unit: He had heard a rumor that it was about to move into Iraq and he wanted to be there. As Jones-dressed only in boots, a hospital gown, and a flak vest-limped toward headquarters, Col. Hodges, the 1st Brigade's commander, announced, "I see that Captain Jones has returned to us in full martial splendor." The colonel later said that he was tempted to send Jones to the unit surgeon for further evaluation, but that he didn't feel he had the
right to tell another man not to fight: Hodges himself had elected to leave two grenade fragments in his arm so that he could return to his command as quickly as possible.

The war had not even begun and already I was aware that I had fallen in with a special breed of men. Over the next four weeks, nothing I saw would alter this impression. A military historian once told me that soldiers could forgive their officers any fault save cowardice. After the grenade attack I knew these men were not cowards, but I had yet to learn that the brigade's leaders had made a cult of bravery. A few examples will suffice.

While out on what he called "battlefield circulation," Col. Hodges was surveying suspected enemy positions with one of his battalion commanders (Lt. Col. Chris Hughes) when a soldier yelled "Incoming" to alert everyone that mortar shells were headed our way. A few soldiers moved closer to a
wall, but Hodges and Hughes never budged and only briefly glanced up when the rounds hit a few hundred yards away. As Hodges completed his review and prepared to leave, another young soldier asked him when they would get to kill whoever was firing the mortar. Hodges smiled and said, "Don't be in a hurry to kill him. They might replace that guy with someone who can shoot."

The next day, a convoy Col. Hodges was traveling in was ambushed by several Iraqi paramilitary soldiers. A ferocious firefight ensued, but Hodges never left the side of his vehicle. Puffing on a cigar as he directed the action, Hodges remained constantly exposed to fire. When two Kiowa helicopters swooped in to pulverize the enemy strongpoint with rocket fire, he turned to some journalists watching the action and quipped, "That's your tax dollars
at work."

Bravery inspires men, but brains and quick thinking win wars. In one particularly tense moment a company of U.S. soldiers was preparing to guard the Mosque of Ali-one of the most sacred Muslim sites-when agitators in what
had been a friendly crowd started shouting that they were going to storm the mosque. In an instant, the Iraqis began to chant and a riot seemed imminent.

A couple of nervous soldiers slid their weapons into fire mode, and I thought we were only moments away from a slaughter. These soldiers had just fought an all-night battle. They were exhausted, tense, and prepared to
crush any riot with violence of their own. But they were also professionals, and so, when their battalion commander, Chris Hughes, ordered them to take a knee, point their weapons to the ground, and start smiling, that is exactly what they did. Calm returned. By placing his men in the most
non-threatening posture possible, Hughes had sapped the crowd of its aggression. Quick thinking and iron discipline had reversed an ugly situation and averted disaster.

Since then, I have often wondered how we created an army of men who could fight with ruthless savagery all night and then respond so easily to an order to "smile" while under impending threat. Historian Stephen Ambrose said of the American soldier: "When soldiers from any other army, even our allies, entered a town, the people hid in the cellars. When Americans came in, even into German towns, it meant smiles, chocolate bars and C-rations."

Ours has always been an army like no other, because our soldiers reflect a society unlike any other. They are pitiless when confronted by armed enemy fighters and yet full of compassion for civilians and even defeated enemies.

American soldiers immediately began saving Iraqi lives at the conclusion of any fight. Medics later said that the Iraqi wounded they treated were astounded by our compassion. They expected they would be left to suffer or
die. I witnessed Iraqi paramilitary troops using women and children as human shields, turning grade schools into fortresses, and defiling their own holy sites. Time and again, I saw Americans taking unnecessary risks to clear
buildings without firing or using grenades, because it might injure civilians. I stood in awe as 19-year-olds refused to return enemy fire because it was coming from a mosque.

It was American soldiers who handed over food to hungry Iraqis, who gave their own medical supplies to Iraqi doctors, and who brought water to the thirsty. It was American soldiers who went door-to-door in a slum because a
girl was rumored to have been injured in the fighting; when they found her, they called in a helicopter to take her to an Army hospital. It was American soldiers who wept when a three-year-old was carried out of the rubble where she had been killed by Iraqi mortar fire. It was American soldiers who cleaned up houses they had been fighting over and later
occupied-they wanted the places to look at least somewhat tidy when the residents returned.

It was these same soldiers who stormed to Baghdad in only a couple of weeks, accepted the surrender of three Iraqi Army divisions, massacred any Republican Guard unit that stood and fought, and disposed of a dictator and a regime with ruthless efficiency. There is no other army-and there are no
other soldiers-in the world capable of such merciless fighting and possessed of such compassion for their fellow man. No society except America could have produced them.

Before I end this I want to point out one other quality of the American soldier: his sense of justice. After a grueling fight, a company of infantrymen was resting and opening their first mail delivery of the war.

One of the young soldiers had received a care package and was sharing the home-baked cookies with his friends. A photographer with a heavy French accent asked if he could have one. The soldier looked him over and said there would be no cookies for Frenchmen. The photographer then protested
that he was half Italian. Without missing a beat, the soldier broke a cookie in half and gave it to him. It was a perfect moment and a perfect reflection of the American soldier.

Vincent A. Baiocchetti, Jr.
Educational Technologist
Boeing Aerospace Operations
Davis-Monthan AFB
Telephone:(520)228-9040
DSN: 228-9040
Fax: (520)745-6959