Good News From Our Troops

[Soldier4Christ]

It is a well known fact that the good news of the things that our Troops are doing in Iraq, Afghanistan as well as various other places around the world do not make it into the media. Instead what we see in the media is all the negative aspects that surround our Military. It was pointed out to me in another thread that people needed to hear more about these good things. For this reason I will be posting news articles as I get them here. Some of these articles are written by the Soldiers themselves that are not professional journalists. Not all of them are necessarily Christian related but will be quite honorable and Christian-like.

[Soldier4Christ]

New York Civil Affairs Unit 'Supplies' Village

By U.S. Army Spc. Jeremy D. Crisp
Multinational Corps-Iraq

BAGHDAD, Iraq, June 2, 2005 — A New York Army Reserve unit is doing their part to provide the citizens of Iraq with humanitarian aid, and a village on the outskirts of Baghdad is reaping the benefits.

The 353rd Civil Affairs Brigade, Staten Island, N.Y., was activated with one goal in mind: to help rebuild Iraq through humanitarian and government restructuring projects. One area where these soldiers are working toward that goal is in a community originally built to house workers constructing Baghdad - formerly Saddam -International Airport.

“From schools to hospitals, law, agriculture, water - everything from A to Z, we do it,” U.S. Army Lt. Col. Roberto L. Garcia

Iraqi “French” Village got its name from the nationality of the workers that took up residence there during airport construction. After the completion of airport, the French left the village and it is now home to the airport’s Iraqi employees and their families.

Of the 60 resident families in French Village, many don’t have some of the basic amenities that would be expected in a normal town, such as a full sewer system, electricity, running water and adequate school supplies. The 353rd Civil Affairs Brigade is working to change that.

U.S. Army Lt. Col. Roberto L. Garcia, 353rd Civil Affairs Brigade government team chief, has been in Iraq since September, and he said the basic mission of his unit is to help restore the country of Iraq.

“From schools to hospitals, law, agriculture, water - everything from A to Z, we do it,” said Garcia, a Chicago resident and windy-city police officer.

The brigade works with Iraqi French Village council members to discuss concerns in the area, and a large part of Garcia’s agenda revolves around relief missions that provide the local children with school supplies and toys donated by American citizens.

On a visit to the village school May 17, Garcia found the children in the middle of final exams. The troops waited until the teachers gave the okay and all the children were done with their tests. Pencils, clothes, toys and notebooks were the order of the day, and as the last child received his bag of school supplies, Garcia deemed it another successful mission. He said the reception hasn’t always been as gracious.

“When we first showed up last year they didn’t know what to think,” Garcia said.

“The children were quiet and shy,” Garcia said. “Now you see the change in the kids. Initially they were a little scared; now they smile and are happy to see us.”

Along with providing students and teachers with needed supplies, the brigade has worked with the Multinational Corps-Iraq Chaplain’s Office in order to bring technology to the village school.

“About 2 ½ months ago, the (Multinational Corps-Iraq) Chaplain’s Office donated eight computers to the school,” Garcia said. “Our (communications shop) then jumped on board and began helping out.

“They’ve been going with us for the past month now, and not only have they been giving instruction to the teachers, they’ve also been networking the computers,” Garcia said. “This is where the kids can put the headsets on and train on given courses together.”

Garcia said his communications staff taught the teachers how to set the curriculum and gave them the “basic stuff that they need.”

“The teachers have picked it up real quick,” Garcia said.

For their efforts, the reputation the 353rd Civil Affairs Brigade has left in the village has paid dividends.

“Village residents will come up to us at our council meetings and tell us ‘this person might be a bad guy,’ or ‘we know something that the bad guys are doing to a convoy,’” Garcia said. “They do that because they have confidence in us and know that we are the good guys.”

Master Sgt. Paul G. Ayotte, operations planning team noncommissioned officer-in-charge, 353rd Civil Affairs Brigade, said something as little as a toy can make a difference. “They remember stuff like that,” he said.

Ayotte, from Winona, Minn., said, “They’ll remember that we weren’t bad; we just tried to help.”

On tap next for the brigade work in the village is a water treatment project.

“We are working with the (Hawaiian National Guard’s 2nd Battalion,) 299th Infantry Regiment to expand the village water pipe from 4 inches to 8 inches,” Garcia said.

He added that the two units are working to get a water tower built along with a water filtration system.

“We just keep moving forward,” Garcia said.

[Soldier4Christ]

Iraqi children and their teacher stand outside their mud and straw schoolhouse located in Al Sulayhat Village during recess. The Iraqi Ministry of Education with assistance from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Gulf Region, Southern District, and Soldiers of the 56th Brigade Combat Team, 36th Infantry Division, hopes to be able to replace as many outdated mud and straw school house in southern Iraq with more modern schools. (Army photo by Master Sgt. Lek Mateo, 56th Brigade Public Affairs Office)


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Texas Soldiers help open doors to education for Iraqi children


 By Master Sgt. Lek Mateo
56th Brigade Combat Team Public Affairs Office
Texas Army National Guard

AN NASARIYAH, Iraq (5/16/2005) — Soldiers of the Texas National Guard are involved with a building project here that they hope will open doors to opportunity and prosperity for the Iraqi people.

The Iraqi Ministry of Education has partnered with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Iraqi army and Soldiers of the Texas Army National Guard’s 56th Brigade Combat Team, 36th Infantry Division, to help lay the foundation for the future of the Iraqi children by constructing seven new schools in southern Iraq.

Richard W. Riley, of Plymouth, N.H., a project engineer for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Gulf Region Southern District, explained that the new schools were built to replace the existing school houses in several rural villages in the area that were in very dilapidated conditions.

Riley added that, before the projects broke ground, most of the children had to go to overcrowded schoolhouses that were made of mud and straw to receive their education. He explained that, during the rainy season, the uneven dirt floor would turn into mud and cake onto the children’s bare feet even as they tried to learn their lessons.

Although the Corps is involved with several major Public Works projects in Iraq as part of the Iraqi Reconstruction and Relief efforts, Riley said that helping to build schools is one of the most fulfilling things that he has ever been involved with.

“We’re trying to make the lives of the Iraqi people a little better … especially for the children,” Riley said.

Maj. Brian Stevens, of Cedar Park, Texas, a civil affairs officer of the 56th BCT, knew he had a daunting challenge ahead of him when he took over the management of the projects that were in various stages of construction from his counterpart with the New Hampshire National Guard’s 197th Field Artillery Brigade. He said that, despite the trials of having to overcome language and cultural barriers, the partnership between the USACE and the Iraqi Ministry of Education is a positive thing and the projects he is seeing to completion will have a lasting impact.

“Anytime you open up a school, you are putting the needs of the children up front because it is about them and giving them a great place and a great opportunity to learn and grow and do great things for their country,” Stevens said.

Muhammed Baji, a retired Iraqi educator, has taught many lessons in life to his young pupils during his 35 years of teaching. But the one lesson that he has always tried to emphasize to the children that he meets today is that, without a proper education, a person cannot grow and prosper.

“The future is for our children, and not for us,” Baji said. “We want to see them on the right path of life with education.”

Adil Abdurrida, who is also a former English teacher, was overcome with emotion seeing a new school houses open its doors for class for the first time in the village where he grew up.

“I was very happy for our children because I know now that their future will be alright,” Abdurrida said.

A father of three, Abdurrida related that Iraqi parents know that education is “so important in their child’s life and want their children to have the opportunity to learn the basic skills of reading and writing and arithmetic.”

He added that education is needed to help improve Iraqi society and make it stronger, and that will allow their children to be exposed to the world and make Iraq more open.

“Iraq needs doctors, scientist and engineers to help the people of Iraq,” Abdurrida said. “So we look to our children because they are the future.”

[Soldier4Christ]

This is good news for our Troops that are returning as well as all other Veterans.


 HOUSE PASSES APPROPRIATIONS BILL H.R. 2528, WITH VETERANS HEALTHCARE, INCREASE OF $1.64 BILLION

 Washington, DC –  Today by a vote of 425-1, the House passed H.R. 2528, the Fiscal Year 2006 Military Quality of Life Appropriations Act.  The bill provides an increase of $1.64 billion over FY05 funding levels for veterans healthcare.

“The $1.64 billion increase will allow veterans to receive the quality healthcare and medical services that they so richly deserve,” said Chairman Buyer.  The bill also provides significant funding for veterans’ specialty mental health programs, including PTSD treatment.  “America’s warriors and their families can rest assured that VA will be funded at an increased level in order to treat battlefield exposures to shock, trauma and the stressors of combat,” Chairman Buyer added.

Chairman Buyer has worked to increase funding for veterans in several areas:

VETERANS HEALTH ADMINISTRATION

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       Veterans Healthcare funded at $1.64 billion above FY05, a 9 percent increase and $1 billion above the budget request.  Veterans Healthcare and medical services are funded at $21 billion.
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      Veterans healthcare has increased by 18 percent over the last two years.
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      Funds $2.2 billion specifically for veterans specialty mental health programs, including PTSD treatment, which includes a $100 million increase over current funding, in recognition of the wartime needs of returning servicemembers.
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      Doubles funding for mental health research.
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      Increases major veterans health facility construction funding by 33 percent.
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      Includes $10 million for a new revenues improvement demonstration program that will allow the VA to more readily collect 3rd party billing/funds.
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      Maintains the partnership between the VA and States for cost-sharing in caring for veterans in State nursing homes.

VETERANS BENEFITS ADMINISTRATION

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      Funds cost-of-living increase (COLA) for service-connected veterans and survivors.
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      Increases readjustment benefits funding by 26 percent, primarily to fund expanded education and training benefits for Reserve personnel ordered to active service and changes in the Montgomery GI Bill education program.
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      Funds pension, and burial benefits.
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      Funds administration and supervision of VA insurance programs, such as SGLI – Servicemembers Group Life Insurance, to ensure benefits will be paid in a timely fashion upon death of participating servicemembers and veterans to their designated beneficiaries.

NATIONAL CEMETERY ADMINISTRATION

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      Funds operation and maintenance of VA’s national cemeteries, as well as land acquisition for new cemeteries in Bakersfield, CA; Birmingham, AL; Columbia-Greenville, SC; Jacksonville, FL; Sarasota, FL; and southeastern PA.
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      Funds cemetery expansion and improvements at Ft. Rosecrans, CA.
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      Funds State Cemetery Grants Program.

INSPECTOR GENERAL

Office of Inspector General (OIG) – The bill provides $70,174,000 for the Office of Inspector General, an increase of $1,021,000 over last year's funding level. The funding increase will assist OIG in overseeing the quality of health care services, identifying internal control vulnerabilities in benefits payment processes, and detecting waste, fraud and abuse through extensive review and analysis of VA databases and matching initiatives.
 

[Soldier4Christ]

Army engineers help transform Najaf Teaching Hospital
By Lt. Col. Stan Heath

June 7, 2005

NAJAF, Iraq (Army News Service, June 7, 2005) – The Najaf Teaching Hospital has been transformed over the past nine months from a run-down facility that harbored militia into a full-time operational clinic, under a project managed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

In September, insurgents used the hospital during the battle for Najaf and the building sustained considerable damage. It is one of 20 hospitals in Iraq under renovation and nine have already been completed.

The Najaf hospital was built in 1982 and is a 420-bed facility with 13 operating theatres capable of surgical specialties for eyes, thoracic, cancer treatment and dialysis.

“The hospital contains 200 medical school students, 50 pharmacy students and 100 residence doctors,” said Dr. Safaah Al Ameed, hospital manager. “We employ 1,250 people here.”

This transformation from a September battleground to a viable patient facility is a result of a lot of hard work and renovations.

“Dr. Safaa has been a close partner in all that we have done since we took over the management of this project.” said Val Schaffner, project manager on the hospital. “I knew it would be a great relationship when the first time I met him he turned over to me his entire and only set of 20-year- old original plans for the entire building.”

Phase one of the project began in September 2004 and was completed in February 2005. It was a major cleanup of the basement and first floor. Parsons Inc. repaired walls, ceilings and floors, said Capt. Josh Miller, Camp Hotel resident engineer who oversees the hospital project.

Phase two repaired heating, air conditioning, plumbing and mechanical components that serve the hospital’s 1st floor, provided security grills on windows, and a vehicle access control gate, Miller said. He said the goal for phase two was to quickly advertise and award a local contractor a small 30-day, competitively bid contract, including repairs needed to outpatient services to open to the public again quickly. The outpatient clinic opened to the general public April 18.

Phase three is undergoing contract bidding now and will repair and renovate the hospital’s basement (includes industrial kitchen, laundry, and mechanical rooms), 2nd through 7th floors, major utility penthouses on the 8th and 9th floors, and as many out-buildings in the hospital campus as we can do with funds available. Outlying buildings include a 4 story doctors’ residence facility, morgue, sewer treatment plant, workshop and storage building, garage, entrance gate and other options.”

The total cost of the Najaf project is just over $ 15 million.

Col. John Ottenbacher, the Camp Hotel surgeon, also plays a key role to assist Dr. Saffaah and Najaf. He has been working directly with Saffaah since Feb. to help him find key instruments that are missing from the hospital’s inventory.

“The hospital needs surgical supplies such as endoscopes, cancer treatment medications, and cardiac monitoring equipment,” Ottenbacher said.

Ottenbacher meets with Saffaah and other hospital officials every Wednesday to help them with patient advice and services.

The hospital’s outpatient clinic has seen approximately 200 patients daily since it opened last month. By fall Saffaah expects 1,500 patients per day.

“Our clinic will feature specialists in the areas of General Surgery, Orthological Surgery, Dental Surgery, Breast Clinic, Diabetes Clinic, Cancer Clinic, Neurology, Endoscopy, Ultrasound, X-rays, Plastic Surgery, Ear/Nose and Throat, Medical Rehabilitation, and Laboratory Services,” Saafa said.

“We appreciate the assistance from all of the agencies that helped us so far [by supplying equipment and medicine], to include the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Higher Education. And we are ready to cooperate with anyone willing to assist the hospital in the future,” he added.

Funding for the hospital facility rehabilitation does not include funds for the hospital equipment, so these items are being pursued through other avenues.

[Soldier4Christ]

A parent says thanks to Shane Childers

By Phillip Hamilton
The Paris News

Published May 29, 2005

The war in Iraq has been fought on two fronts — the one over there and the one over here.

It is a war of rocket-propelled grenades and missiles over there, while it is a battle fought with words over here. It is the wind-whipped hot desert sand that gets to the soldiers in Iraq, while it is the media-fed liberal anti-war campaign that beats down those at home who defend our nation’s presence in Iraq and President George W. Bush’s decision to take out Saddam Hussein and bring freedom to that country.

Liberals say Operation Iraqi Freedom was supposed to only be about protecting the world against Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction. After no WMDs were found, they ask, “Why did we go?” and “Why are we still there?” They argue that the war in Iraq is about oil, not people.

Lt. Carey H. Cash knows the truth.

Chaplain to the 1,000-plus U.S. Marines with the Fightin’ Fifth, Cash was with the first ground force to cross Iraqi borders. He was with the 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment as they fought their way through the streets of downtown Baghdad to take Hussein’s splendid presidential palace.

I just finished reading “A Table in the Presence,” Lt. Cash’s account of how God was with the Fightin’ Fifth on their push to Baghdad. While the book primarily focuses on the spiritual condition of the troops, on page 144, I found a gut-wrenching reason why it is the worth the lives of so many of this nation’s sons and daughters to bring democracy to the people of Iraq.

The story unfolds on Day 19 of the ground war, just a day before the bloody battle for central Baghdad. Coalition units were just beginning to enter the regions surrounding the city.

“Just 200 meters down the road, hundreds of Iraqi citizens crowded a traffic circle, cheering wildly, tearing down a billboard of Saddam Hussein that had marked the entrance to the city for years,” the chaplain writes on page 143. “We could all feel the adrenaline rush as we watched the first passions of freedom unleashed, still well aware that hard-core resisters were also present.”

As you turn the page, Lt. Cash tells of another frantic crowd just a few blocks away that pointed wildly in the direction of a building at the end of a dead-end road.

“Several men, shouting the words ‘pree-zun, pree-zun,’ held out their hands at knee level, palms facing down,” the chaplain writes. A sickening thought ran through the soldiers’ minds: “Are they trying to tell us there is a prison full of children?”

The more the soldiers watched the people gesture, the more they became convinced these people were not a wild mob.

“These were parents, pointing in the direction of a building where they believed their children were being held,” Lt. Cash writes before recounting the soldiers’ experiences as the gates to the prison flung open.

“Suddenly there was the sound of screaming — not the screaming of adults or women, but of children,” he writes. “Then, like a river bursting through a weakened bank, as iron gates swung open a mass of frail children came pouring out onto the stone terrace and into the arms of their waiting parents. They were malnourished and filthy, many of them wearing nothing more than rags for clothing. There were dozens at first, and then there were hundreds, mostly males between 8 and 15.”

Lt. Cash tells of how the children flooded the street “kissing them on each cheek and then jumping back into the arms of mothers, fathers, sisters and brothers.”

It was later learned that the prison had been established years ago by Hussein’s Baath Party as a jail for the sons of parents who refused to support the regime.

“What kind of place is this? we asked each other. A children’s prison?” Lt. Cash writes. “We had heard that Saddam’s regime often jailed and murdered members of his own party who hinted at disloyalty. U.S. forces everywhere had already seen the evidence of torture, mass executions and clandestine assassinations. But children?”

Tears flowed from my eyes as I read page 144 and the pages that followed. As a parent I cannot imagine the horror of having a child locked up nor the elation felt as the Marines freed their children.

Men like 2nd Lt. Shane Childers, a member of the Fightin’ Fifth and the first Marine killed in Iraq, died so that those children might be free. He, and many others like him, have died with honor since crossing into Iraq.

I haven’t the words on this Memorial Day weekend to adequately express my gratitude for soldiers like 2nd Lt. Childers who have given their lives for the cause of freedom. I cannot convey my thanks to those who remain in Iraq to preserve the freedom that has been brought to that county.

However, as I look into the eyes of my three children this weekend, I’ll have a much better understanding of why it is important to remember those who have died in the battle for freedom.

The war in Iraq isn’t about WMDs or oil; it’s about people — little children held in captivity. Sign me up to continue the fight on the home front.

[nChrist]

Pastor Roger,

I read these stories with a great deal of pride in our men and women of the Armed Forces. I also remember many stories that my son told me about - what he called non-combat missions. If our liberal news media didn't have other agendas, we would hear more about what's really going on in the world. I really appreciate you sharing with us.

Brother, I'm very happy to join you in thanks and appreciation to our men and women who are making a huge difference around the world, all while preserving our freedoms and protecting us at home. All of my family and friends pray for them every day. The least we can do is thank them from the bottom of our hearts.

Love In Christ,
Tom

Psalms 118:24  This is the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.

[SelahJoy]

Hi to everyone from the United States who is serving in Iraq!

From my heart, I want to tell you how very proud I am of you!  I believe the stories about all your good works in Iraq.  I know that your hard work is doing good for the Iraqi people.

My son was there for one year and he sent me e-mails and pictures with stories about the lives you have helped by being in the country.  He told me about the schools being built and the water systems getting cleaned up.  He told me about Iraqis he met and how they worked together.  I learned that you are training the ING in protective services so they can protect their own and you can come back home.  Mostly, my son shared about the children.  One day, he grabbed a little boy who was in harms way----even though he really wasn't supposed to be distracted from his duties----but he saved that child's life.  I have a picture of the little boy and he looks full of life and hope!    My son told me about a little girl who needed life-saving surgery.  She and a parent got visas, round-trip airfare to and from America, and surgery, all because an American unit cared enough to pull the strings that made it happen.  This little girl's case is now in Iraq to teach doctors how to do the surgery for other children.  There are many other examples of good reports too.

I want you to know that there was a definite point in time, a marked day in my life, when I commited to pray for each of you everyday.  Since I don't know your names, I usually pray for the different fobs and towns by name.  The point is that I am praying for you and I know there are people all over the U.S. praying for you too.

If there is ever anything that you need or want, please remember where this letter came from, because if I can be of service to you, I would be honored.  

Love, selahjoy*