Iraqi Civil Defense Corps
In July 2004 the new Iraqi government changed plans to leave the Iraq Civil Defense Corps as a largely passive defense force and converted it to a National Guard.
The Iraqi Civil Defense Corps falls under the authority of the Ministry of National Security Defense. It is charged with the internal defense of the country. Members of the ICDC are tasked as linguists, drivers, HUMINT, Disaster Relief, HA, providing fixed site security, and route/convoy security under the command of Coalition Forces. The Iraqi Civil Defense Corps are tasked with the following missions: Joint patrolling with Coalition Forces; fixed site security; route security; natural disaster aid, and general assistance.
The ICDC was not controlled by the local Iraq government. It was a CJTF-7 initiative controlled by Coalition forces. CPA Order Number 28, Establishment of the Iraqi Civil Defense Corps, September 3, 2003, established this temporary security and emergency service agency for Iraq to complement operations conducted by Coalition military forces in Iraq,
New recruits into the Iraqi Civil Defense Corps are mostly non-military. They tend to reflect local government demographics.
The Iraqi Civil Defense Corps is comprised of 15,000 men divided along 18 battalions of 846 men. Members of the ICDC wear solid brown uniforms, are armed with AKs and equipped with jeeps and trucks, iwth 2 jeeps and 12 trucks per battalion. They are paid according to the New Iraqi Army pay scale by Coalition forces under a 1-year renewable contract.
The Iraq Civil Defense Corps [ICDC] is the cornerstone to building the new Iraq. Iraqi Civil Defense Corps soldiers are Iraqi citizens who remain in their communities and are integrated into the coalition military units. New recruits receive three weeks of intensive combat training. They first learn basic commands in English, the rules of engagement, and how to set up a control point. From there, they practice troop-leading procedures, crowd and riot control, and squad movements. During the final training week, trainees qualify on their AK-47 rifles.
Although on the surface it may seem inconsequential, the Iraqi Civil Defense Corps needs new uniforms. Trainees wear uniforms of the old Iraqi army -- something they hate and are anxious to disassociate themselves from. The uniform is currently tan. A brown uniform is to be issued in the future. Shia personnel will not however wear the tan uniform because of the color's association with the former regime of Saddam Hussein. The ICDC also has baseball-type caps in red, blue, and black with ICDC in block letters.
As of mid-October 2003 more than 6,000 members of a new Iraq Civil Defense Corps were employed. Nationwide, Iraq's Civil Defense Corps stood at about 4,700 trained soldiers by 29 October 2003. Wolfowitz told the House Armed Services Committee in late September 2003 that plans call for expanding the force to 15,000 by January 2004.
Coalition soldiers relinquished security and guarding responsibilities of Objective Jaguar, an ammunition supply point, to the soldiers from Delta Company, part of the Iraq Civil Defense Corps in a ceremony 01 October 2003. The 12-square-kilometer supply point had been guarded by 2nd Battalion, 320th Field Artillery Regiment, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) for the last five months. The soldiers of the ICDC underwent two phases of training by American soldiers. First, they spent two weeks in a basic training camp at Camp Claiborne in Mosul. Soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 44th Air Defense Artillery Regiment, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) trained the Iraqis in marksmanship, drill and ceremony and other military disciplines. After a period of leave for the Iraqis, soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 320th Field Artillery, took the soldiers to Objective Jaguar, outside of the village of Al Hatra, for another week of training.
The Iraqi Civil Defense Corps performs a range of duties, including fixed-site security, route/convoy security, patrols, cordons, establishment of checkpoints, and other tasks under Multinational Force command arrangements. As of 13 February 2004, more than 25,000 Iraqi Civil Defense Corps personnel had been hired and trained, and 3,600 were undergoing training.
Under CPA/ORD/73 of 22 April 2004 the Iraqi Civil Defense Corps, to include all associated personnel, facilities, and equipment, established pursuant to CPA Order Number 28 was transferred to the Ministry of Defence as a component of the Iraqi Armed Forces.
As of 30 Apr 2004. See CENTCOM Briefing
