Multi-National Division-Baghdad Soldiers ensure job is done right

Photo By Sgt. Joshua Risner | Staff Sgt. Bryan Wall (left) from Ball, La., assigned to Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 225th Engineer Brigade, and 1st Lt. Robert Bowe, from Helena, Mont., assigned to HHC, 163rd Combined Arms Battalion, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, check the windows at a school in the Zaidon area, here, Aug. 27. Bowe and Wall are checking to ensure the quality of work is up to standard.  

BAGHDAD, IRAQ

08.27.2009

Story by Sgt. Joshua Risner 

Multi-National Division Baghdad

BAGHDAD — U.S. forces have spent time and money on various civil projects in Iraq, whether building something from the ground up or repairing existing infrastructure.

With U.S. forces providing funding for most civil projects, with Iraqi contractors executing the work, Soldiers have gone from builders to administrators, ensuring that the work is to specifications.

"We're here to check the progress of the work and make sure the quality of work is up to standard," said 1st Lt. Robert Bowe, of Helena, Mont., assigned to Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 163rd Combined Arms Battalion, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division. "We pay half the contract when the work is 50 percent completed and we pay the rest when the work is done."

The quality assurance/quality control team visited four projects in the Zaidon area, here; a water pump station, a water treatment plant and two schools, Aug. 27.

"The area is pretty rural and until last year, a lot of the focus was still on Baghdad proper," said Bowe. "There's a lot of projects we can still do out here."

The al-Zooba water pump station has a new building beside it where none existed before, providing shelter and bathroom facilities.

"Before it was built, the operator would just be out there exposed to the elements," said Bowe. "What happened a lot of times is they would just leave, and no one would be operating the pump station. This way they have a roof over their heads and a bathroom, so hopefully we've solved that problem."

Next, the team headed to the al-Yatama water treatment plant, one that services approximately 100 families, according to Staff Sgt. Bryan Wall, from Ball, La., assigned to HHC, 225th Engineer Bde. "The contract here was to make minor repairs and replace the generator and the filtration system," he said.

From there, two schools: the al-Surat and Zuhair Bin Aby Sulma primary schools, were on the agenda. Bowe and Wall toured the grounds, reviewing the work that had been done there.

"We had a few things to look at here, mainly doors, bathrooms and a perimeter wall around the schools," said Bowe. "On one, we pointed out a few things that still needed to be done but the other one was complete."

The projects show a different kind of partnership between U.S. troops and Iraqis. It is allowing Iraqi contractors to learn and benefit from their American counterparts.

"Most of the work done over here is substandard compared to what we're used to back in the states," said Wall. "But we try to help them out by showing them new ways of doing stuff and new techniques."

• Date Taken: 08.27.2009
• Date Posted: 09.01.2009 01:35
• Story ID: 38207
• Location: BAGHDAD, IQ