Publication:Chattanooga Times Free Press
Date:Sunday, March 27, 2005
Section:Front Page; Page:1

DISPATCH Iraq

By Edward Lee Pitts Military Affairs
Military Affairs

CAMP CALDWELL, Iraq -- Last year 278th Regimental Combat Team soldiers spent four months of combat training with full battle gear in both the humid Mississippi woods and the arid California desert.

Now this year in post-election Iraq, front-line commanders say they are spending a lot of time in the Tennessee National Guard unit's sector along the Iranian border gathering with Iraqis over hot tea -- without their Kevlar helmets and body armor.

"The culture here dictates that sitting down with local leaders is the way you conduct business," said Capt. Mitch Murray, commander of 1st Squadron's Deacon Company.

Working with local leaders to introduce the concept of democracy here is forcing many officers steeped in battle tactics to learn what it is like to be a novice politician in a town riddled with problems.

Capt. Dale Bradley, the commander of 1st Squadron's Cleveland, Tenn.-based Apache Troop, attended six meetings last week. He met with city managers, local sheiks, school headmasters, the City Council, the security council and the local Iraqi hunters association in the city of Balad Ruz.

"I might be able to instruct in an urban planning class," Capt. Bradley said of his eventual return home after a year of debates over sewers, landfills and roads.

Capt. Chris Vineyard, commander of 2nd Squadron's E Troop, has 50 villages in his sector around Forward Operating Base Bernstein and the city of Tuz.

"If I let myself do it, I'd have a meeting every day," Capt. Vineyard said. "I didn't expect to have to deal with mayors and city councils."

He now tries to limit meetings to no more than four a week and has given his lieutenants about 12 to 15 villages each so they can monitor the assemblies of local political parties and village elders as well as local governments.

Col. Dennis Adams, the regiment's commander, said the meetings reflect the evolving role of the Army here.

At first during Operation Iraqi Freedom I, the U.S. military conducted aggressive combat maneuvers to oust then-Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. Operation Iraqi Freedom II followed with U.S. forces working toward stabilizing the security of the country with smaller-scale combat missions. Now, in Operation Iraqi Freedom III, units such as the 278th are focusing on infrastructure improvements and supporting local governments and security forces, Col. Adams said.

THE PEACEKEEPER ROLE

The citizen soldiers of the National Guard are better equipped than the regular Army for such peacekeeping missions, Col. Adams said.

"Our soldiers understand how the civics side interacts with the military side," he said. "We can go back and forth as good as anybody."

Concentrating on rebuilding Iraq does not mean days for the 278th are all handshakes and hot tea. The regiment splits its time between catching insurgents and getting together with locals, Col. Adams said.

"You can get up in the morning and do a combat mission or get up in the morning and do a civil affairs mission," he said.

The regiment's more than 3,600 combat patrols during its first 90 days here total more than half of the 6,000 patrols conducted during the 10 months before when the 30th Brigade Combat Team of North Carolina was here.

Because there still are what the military calls Anti-Iraqi Forces, or AIF, working in towns such as Jalula and As Sa'diyah, Capt. Matthew Smith, the commander of 3rd Squadron's L Troop, said the meetings sometimes include strange company.

"I'm doing a delicate balance between talking to city officials, and yet we still have city leaders that are AIF members," said Capt. Smith. "You sometimes dance with the devil."

He said soldiers found bomb-making material at the home of one City Council member.

Capt. Jim Reed, of Cookeville, Tenn., who commands 3rd Squadron's Iron Troop, said the regiment was not completely blindsided by all the meetings. During training 278th soldiers sat through several simulated visits with U.S. civilians, many of Middle Eastern descent, who played the roles of Iraqi mayors or religious leaders.

Capt. Reed said his unit's sector around the city of Khanaqin requires more political expertise than brute combat force. Soldiers of the 278th there help leaders establish budgets and secure both clean water and reliable electricity.

The gatherings allow the soldiers to understand the culture better and to discover the projects and needs most important to locals, such as road and school improvements, Capt. Vineyard said. The U.S. soldiers then must teach the Iraqi leaders patience and to expect growing pains.

"It is like they expect so much to happen immediately," said Capt. Vineyard, who plans to use his experiences here in the high school history classes he teaches in Rutledge, Tenn. "These people started with having everything being dictated to them. Now they are faced with issues and possible solutions."

Unit commanders said they have grown accustomed to the meetings routine of Iraqi leaders talking fast to one another, with a U.S. translator struggling to keep up, before the room gets quiet as all the Iraqi officials stare at any U.S. commander present for his or her response.

"They are not real confident in some of the things they are having to do now," Capt. Reed said. "It is a new democracy, and they are kind of scared of it. They are smart people, but they have never had the opportunity to be creative or have their own ideas."

Capt. Reed said there are success stories in Iraqi town management. A committee set up by Khanaqin's mayor decided to create mini gas stations around the city, using the back of trucks, to ease the pressure of long gas lines at Khanaqin's main station. Next month Khanaqin officials hope to secure a transformer that will provide electricity 24 hours a day, according to Capt. Reed.

Capt. Smith, of Nashville, said he has cut back on his number of meetings in hopes of empowering the Iraqis to solve their problems alone.

"If I'm there every week, they will continue to rely on me for all answers," he said.

The 278th officers said having this front-row seat in an emerging democracy is changing their perspectives of their own country and giving them a better understanding of the behind-the-scenes work involved in running a modern city.

"In America, a power outage is a huge inconvenience," Capt. Bradley said. "Here if you just have power for 12 hours, that's a blessing. There are way too many people who take their freedoms for granted."

E-mail Lee Pitts at lpitts@timesfreepress.com

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