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An Iraqi mother holds her child at the newly-renovated Alwaiya Maternity Hospital in Baghdad, recently. USACE photo. BAGHDAD — “I feel like I helped rebuild my home.  I was born and raised just four kilometers from this hospital, so it is a special place for me,” said engineer Wathiq Abdul Jabbar during the Alwaiya Maternity Hospital’s ribbon-cutting ceremony here, May 9. In 2004, the hospital had a capacity of only 37 beds.  Equipment failures and structural damage caused rooms and buildings to remain unused for many years.But that has all changed.  The completed, extensive hospital makeover, described as a “skin...

By Journalist Seaman Erica Mater, USNS Comfort Public Affairs ABOARD USNS COMFORT, At Sea (NNS) -- Since March 20, Comfort has performed more than 450 surgical procedures during Operation Enduring/Iraqi Freedom. That's nearly 130 more than the number of surgical procedures Comfort performed during Operation Desert Shield/Storm. While those numbers might not be staggering, they should be kept in perspective. During Operation Desert Shield/Storm, Comfort was deployed to the region for a total of nine months, performing a total of 337 surgical procedures. This time, more than 450 surgeries have been performed in four weeks.