News roundup:
*Bill Ardolino of The Long War Journal takes his readers along on a night patrol with U.S. soldiers and members of a Baghdad neighborhood watch called Sons of Iraq:
Co-founded seven months ago by local leaders and members of the 82nd
Airborne, the Al Sadria branch of the neighborhood watch is composed of
about 250 members who are paid by and coordinate with American units.
The branch is responsible for a series of predominantly Shia
neighborhoods in central Baghdad that include part of the Shorja
Market. Though leader Faris Abdul-Hassan refers to his group as “the
first Shia Awakening” against criminals and terrorists, he refuses to
hire anyone with sectarian allegiances.
According to Ardolino, with a decrease in the number of U.S. troops, the Sons of Iraq have been successful in shouldering the burden of peacekeeping in their own section of Baghdad. While the final goal is integration with the Iraqi police, many in the Sons of Iraq are weary of high infiltration rates within the police by members of the Mahdi Army. See a photo slideshow of the patrol here.
*The Marine Corps Times reports that the Navy plans to expand the number of mobile psychiatric teams embedded within Marine units. A bit of context: the Marine Corps doesn't have its own medical services, but rather relies on the Navy to provide personnel (the Marine Corps is part of the Department of the Navy). The units, known as Navy Operational Stress Control and Readiness (or OSCAR), should number at 23 within two years. The purpose is to provide initial psychiatric counseling to Marines while they are still serving out in the field:
“We want to put mental health professionals with our small-unit
leaders,” Navy Surgeon General Vice Adm. Adam Robinson said. “We think
if we can train them there. Tere’s a real synergy that can come. We can
be there to help with treatment, training and surveillance.”
*One doesn't see much reporting out of Basra these days, but the New York Times Baghdad Bureau blog has an interesting piece today. An Iraqi member of the Times staff took a four-day reporting trip to Basra to see just what the situation is there. Some selections:
I stopped for a while and I saw many Iraqi Army cars riddled with
bullets. I saw troops deployed everywhere I looked: on the roof of
every high building, every road intersection, occupying government
offices that before were occupied by political factions.
I was shocked when I saw traces of the fight, which was clear on the buildings close to the main streets.
As an Iraqi from the south who knows exactly what was going on, with
the militias controlling everything in particular cities or ports, I
did not expect that the Iraqi forces – which are majority Shia - would
be able to confront the militia influence.
There was a new feeling. I had never seen before the Iraq Army,
without hesitation, accusing the Mahdi Army of being involved in all
the disorder there.
One of the soldiers told me: “The Mahdi Army are a group of criminals, they will destroy everything if we don’t stop them.”
In the past, I have never seen soldiers dare to say anything about
them. I felt the reign of fear is broken, and that is it. Exactly the
same feeling as when the Baathist regime fell.
*Military.com recently posted an article taking a look at the rise in per capita income within military communities:
The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan could be behind the jumps in income,
according to experts. Combat pay and re-enlistment bonuses for
professional soldiers, combined with the activation of National Guard
and Reserve units, put more money in the bank accounts of personnel
shipping out of Fort Bragg, said David G. Lenze of the U.S. Commerce
Department's Bureau of Economic Analysis, which issued the income data.
According to the piece, in North Carolina two major military communities ranked first and second in areas of the state with the highest per capita growth. The first of these, the Fort Bragg area, saw personal income rise more than $8,900 over five years. Military towns in Georgia and Tennessee saw these numbers rise by between 35 and 37 percent.
Loading Menu