We’re building Iraq’s economy

Sallam H’Lakum (Greetings). I write the fourth installment of this on Valentines Day, my 16th anniversary of service in the Army, after having completed live-fire training on a small arms range that’s been built on our forward operating base.
It took two days to get the entire troop through the training as we still have to conduct combat operations; however, it is essential to keep our skills honed so we set up a range to keep them sharp. Range training consisted of each soldier first confirming the zero of their weapon sight, then each qualified on paper targets and we culminated the event with a stress shoot.
Stress shoots are good training for what a soldier may face in the streets. The idea is to first raise the men’s heart rate and then have them fire at multiple targets from several different positions. The soldiers must run a distance before engaging targets, change magazines, use appropriate firing stances depending on the type of cover provided, move from one place to another and discriminate between hostile and non-hostile targets. The event is timed and a competition between members of each platoon makes it fun.
During this event the men were competing for coins from the Gen. Petraeus, the commander of the multi-national force. Gen. Petraeus’ aide left us a few extra coins after his recent visit to give to deserving Bandits who could not receive them personally from the commander of all forces in Iraq. 1st Sgt. Roark and I decided the best way to determine those deserving was to have the troop compete for them. Sgt. Justin Miller and specialists Samuel Hale, Luke Peterson and Thomas Woods were the “top guns” for Red, White, Blue and HQs platoons, respectively.
After the stress shoot it was back to work in the Muhallas. I put the two platoons that will be securing the area tonight after dark to sleep and sent the HQs section out to our Muhalla to invigorate the economy through our micro-grant program.
The micro-grant system is the program we’re using to boost the economy here so that life may return to normal. The program is really quite simple. Several months ago we approached shop owners whose shops were damaged or small and struggling and offered them a small grant to help their shops improve or expand and receive needed repairs. That’s all it really takes to get the word spread in this culture as word of mouth travels quickly. Soon we had dozens of people approaching us every time we went out asking for an application for a micro-grant so that they could open a shop or repair something essential to their livelihood. We took any and all applications they had.
I went through the applications with 1st Sgt. David Johnson, my fire support officer, who additionally serves as my essential services officer. We compared the type of shop someone wanted to open with the number of similar shops already in business while taking into account the age and experience of the applicant and came up with an order of merit list. After I approved the applications they still had to be approved by three levels of command above me. Once the applications were approved and funded we called the applicants and scheduled a meeting to pay them a micro-grant.
Today, 1st Lt. Johnson is paying out our second iteration of grants. Since our tour is nearly up here we need only pay the grants that have been approved to date; when complete we will have given $105,000 to the people of our Muhalla to boost their economy. The program is showing positive results already as more shops open daily and has proved a huge success in the area controlled by our sister troop, Comanche.
Speaking of Comanche Troop, the people of Waterbury may be interested to know that one of their own is a member of that unit. Gabe Chioniere is a specialist in Comanche Troop; he is a 2006 graduate of Harwood Union High School and serves as a sniper in his commander’s (Capt. Bret Hamilton) personal security detachment.
Getting back to the essential services, one of my Bandits asked me a few weeks ago why are we putting so much effort into improving essential services. When I told him that improving the quality of life for the residents of the city is beneficial to us as it gains their trust and drives a wedge between them and our enemy, he asked, “Shouldn’t there be some other agency that does this kind of work?”
I thought a moment before answering that question as I too wondered if there is or should be a separate American agency whose primary function is to assist friendly foreign nations with establishing their democracy, restoring their infrastructure, boosting their economy and legitimizing their government. I replied, “Think of this as a learning experience. If such an agency did exist and didn’t refer to serving in Iraq as a ‘death sentence’ then you would never have had the opportunity to figure out how a city’s water distribution or sewage system works, or how to fix an electrical power grid that’s been dead for a decade, or how to get fuel from a refinery to the people in an organized and fair fashion without several layers of corruption inflating the prices. If such an agency did come to Iraq all we would have left to do would be to provide security for roughly 5,000 families with 450 men and that would be just boring.”
We both had a good laugh and went back to our simple task of fixing everything … yesterday. But in my mind I had to ask myself if the positive things we’ve accomplished here will last what with our own nation’s “fast food” attitude and black-and-white vision of the world, and it’s urgent desire to “bring the troops home.” Will it be too soon for equality or democracy to take hold here now that we’ve established the security? Ask yourself, “How long does it take to establish equality and democracy?”
Shukron and masalama, hebibi (Thank you and goodbye, my good friend).