Civil Affairs soldiers reach out to Iraqis
by Spc. Katherine RobinsonBAGHDAD (Army News Service, April 11, 2003) - U.S. soldiers have helped repair Iraqi wells, provided food to hungry children and brought medical care to suffering families.
The mission of the 422nd Civil Affairs Battalion - an Army Reserve unit out of Greensboro, N.C., now attached to the 3rd Infantry Division -- is to watch and help care for civilians on the battlefield.
"Our mission is to ... alleviate human suffering and to make sure the military doesn't interfere in the civilians' daily lives - make sure they can still water their fields ... they can still buy food and get home safely," said Spc. Ashley Beatty, a chaplain's assistant with the battalion.
Civil Affairs soldiers get the chance to interact with and help the locals in many different ways.
The soldiers have brought doctors to check out the health of Iraqi citizens. They've revisited families to make sure they're all right, and made sure the people could water their crops.
They also helped facilitate a contract with one man, who agreed to give the Army several thousand gallons of water in return for the Army purifying the water and leaving some for the man and his family.
They've even delivered letters from people to their family members.
"I love it," Beatty said. "When I see the little kids it touches my heart."
"We're all focused on the same thing," said Maj. Alvester Coleman, the Civil Military Operations Center commander. "...helping the (noncombatants) we encounter on the battlefield."
Beatty said being a mother and a female helps her relate to the women and the children in a way that males are often not able to. During visits, she sometimes sits with the children, holding them or doing their hair.
"They are very glad we're here," she said. "They're gracious hosts. Every time we come to visit they hug and kiss us, they serve us tea and bread. They thank us for considering them before we even have a chance to help them - for saying 'hey, are you okay? How are you doing?'
Other missions include escorting civilians through military checkpoints and helping them get to their destinations. During one mission, at a checkpoint where 101st Airborne Division soldiers were guarding access to a military area, the Civil Affairs soldiers assisted in searching civilians who were fleeing from the bombing in their city.
One man, who had no identification, was not allowed through, and two, who said they were deserters from the Iraqi Republican Guard, were sent to enemy prisoner of war camps. The rest were escorted through.
In order for the Civil Affairs soldiers to perform their mission, they must be able to breach a massive communication barrier - the language.
The Civil Affairs battalion has two Iraqi linguists, and it also has the help of a soldier from HHC, Division Support Command. Sgt. Raja Valenzuela, a 5-foot-5-inch dark-skinned armorer, spends much of her time on missions with the 422nd. Originally from Morocco, Valenzuela is still fluent in her native tongue, Arabic.
Valenzuela said she relates to the families she helps because her family lived in hiding during the war in Lebanon where her father was assigned with the Moroccan embassy. Her father's job as a diplomat in Lebanon, as well as Holland and then Saudi Arabia during the Gulf War, was partly what inspired Valenzuela to join the Army, she said.
Although she joined as an armorer, Valenzuela said she has always wanted to be a linguist and is glad of the chance to work as an interpreter and interact with the civilians.
"(I like) being able to help in the smallest ways," she said. "And see how (the locals) are happy to see American soldiers around. They feel safe that way."
"These families out here are lacking the basic things that we take for granted," Valenzuela said.
(Editor's note: Spc. Katherine Robinson is a member of the 50th PAD traveling with the 3rd Infantry Division.)
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