Stryker Brigade News

...With the new 40 kilometers of fiber optic cable connecting Mosul to Dohuk, a city to the north, communications between people will be greatly improved.

"This is a very historic day," said Lt. Col. Welton Chase, commander, 501st Signal Battalion, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault). "This is the beginning of a network that will tie into banks, universities and schools. It's really a wonderful day."

The fiber optic cable was laid in 24 days by Iraqi engineers and contractors. A feat that usually takes 45 days, said Sulaiman Aljubori, transmission section managera chief engineer of Mosul.

The workers worked hard from sun up to sun down, accomplishing the job even with difficulties that popped up.

"The weather was the main problem, the trenches would fill with mud," Aljubori said.

The fiber optic cable was a portion of 300 km donated by a telephone company in America, Chase said.

With the network foundation laid in different businesses will be able to better communicate and flourish, enticing more businesses to relocate to the Mosul area and increasing jobs, Chase said.

The improved communication will also enhance public service organizations such as, hospitals, schools, and airports will be able to do more as well, he continued.

The 101st helped the project by acting as a liaison between the engineers and the American company that gave the fiber optic cable for free. They also supplied technical and logistic support, Chase said.

"We had a dream and (the soldiers) supported us, got the money and the cable," Aljubori said. "This project is very important because it is the window to the north."

"We're just glad we can help Mosul reach its potential," Chase said.

The next mission for the Iraqi engineers and coalition forces will be the laying of cable from Mosul to the city of Erbil, to the east