The above picture is of our new dining facility. The smurfs in blue to the right are the Indian Patrol Base Construction Team, guys who are contracted to build things around the camp. They are working on the kitchen, to the right of the new mobile home-type building. These two buildings replace the ones burned up by the fire on 30 October.
The last picture is of a boy we met when we visited one of the subordinate battalions. This boy is now an orphan, and he lives there on the Iraqi compound. His father was kidnapped by al Qaida in Iraq, and they attempted to ransom him in order to get the boy’s uncle to work with AQ. The uncle refused, and they killed the father, and then they broke into the boy's house and killed the boy’s mother in front of him. Al Qaida then killed the uncle and told the boy to never come to the area again, and sent him to Mahmudiya (where we are) to live on the street. He has two sisters with another cousin, but he can't go live with them because al Qaida will come for him there. Since then, the Iraqi Army battalion has adopted him, given him a place to live and food to eat, and they are making sure he gets to school.
Security has improved, but there are still extremist groups who are trying to make a comeback, and they do it through extortion, kidnapping, and coercion. People now trust the Army, and they have been turning in extremists and passing leads on to Iraqi soldiers on the street.
This really hit home with me. He is the same age as my daughter, and I can’t imagine the trauma the poor kid has seen in his short life. But the soldiers in the unit proudly displayed him before the Brigade Commander, COL (Colonel) Moshen (the guy without a hat). They want to do good things and see raising this boy as an opportunity to try to mend some of the trauma the country has seen. The boy said he wants to train to be a soldier so he can bring peace to his country. It made me think of how much I take for granted.
Off to work. Take care and thanks for reading.
Ron
No comments:
Post a Comment