Stryker Brigade News

More than two years later, projects that grew from that meeting came to fruition Dec. 28 as Mohammed and representatives from Task Force Band of Brothers cut the ribbons on a newly-opened chicken farm, granary and well.

“This is a great day for my village,” said Mohammed.

Walking across the village, Dr. Mohammed pointed out a small rubble-strewn lot. Pieces of plastic and other debris clung to broken bricks and mud.

“This used to be my house,” said Dr. Mohammed.

Across the way, on the front porch of a neatly-kept, smooth brick house, a woman expertly tossed dough for Iraqi flatbread.

This is Mohammed’s new residence.

“(The coalition forces) are doing great things here,” said Mohammed.

He explained that people in his village still talk about improvements to the roads the British forces made when they occupied the country in World War I as part of the offensive against the Ottoman Empire.

For many generations, the people will talk about these projects as the actions of the coalition forces, said Mohammed.

Past the old foundation and across the road from a pen of bleating sheep, Mohammed and Maj. Daniel Jones, Military Transition Team 33 staff advisor, from Columbia, S.C., cut another ribbon to open a new granary, another project that began under the auspices of Wellman’s team and has now come to fruition.

The villagers purchase bags of un-milled corn and grind it into two thicknesses – slightly coarse for animal feed, and finer for flour. Muslim Ali Hassen, who operates the mill, is “the poorest man in my village,” said Mohammed.

With the income from his work grinding the flour, Muslim hopes to build a new house for his family.

Soldiers from various units on Q-West including the 4th Battalion, 11th Field Artillery Regiment, and the 101st Sustainment Brigade, watched as Muslim dipped into the open bags of grain to show the difference in the textures of the milled products.

A local mukhtar, or elected head of a village, Mohammed, from the neighboring village of al Safah, joined the tour as Dr. Mohammed opened the tap of a tall, blue well before ceremonially cutting the ribbon.

In the field next to the well, irrigation sprinklers sprayed out streams that glinted in the sun where the village is growing a crop of wheat. After the harvest, they will plant a crop of vegetables as an experiment with the water quality.

After opening the village projects, the Soldiers visited the local school, which the village completed with the help of the Soldiers from Q-West.