Courtesy Photo | A small boy waves to American Soldiers from 317th Engineer Company as they move...... read more read more
By Sgt. Brian Moore
BAGHDAD —American and Iraqi engineers from 317th Engineer Company and 17th Iraqi Army Division worked together to finish construction of a road leading into Joint Security Station Deason in February, and took advantage of some training in the process.
Upon arrival to Joint Security Station Deason early in the month, the American Soldiers met their partners from 17th IA, soldiers they would be working with throughout the duration of the project.
"Some of our Soldiers had never met Iraqi Soldiers. The Iraqis were eager to learn what we had to say and teach. And we were eager to learn from them," said Sgt. Steve Balamut, 317th Eng. Co. and Assistant Project Manager for this mission.
Some of the equipment, such as the rollers and graders, had to be inspected by the maintenance section of 317th first to ensure it was in good working order before being allowed to leave Victory Base Complex. Once inspected, they loaded the heavy construction equipment onto flatbeds and chained them down because the equipment can't move at highway speeds, which poses a potential hazard to Iraqi motorists.
On the first day, while waiting for gravel, the engineers taught a preventive maintenance class with Iraqi engineers on the roller, grader and bucket loader.
By the second day, 36 dump trucks escorted by the Iraqi Army arrived full of gravel; the same for the next day. Seven loads were dumped onto the first lane while the rest was dumped onto a stock pile.
Iraqi and U.S. engineers worked together to grade gravel while others watered it down for compaction. Still others operated dump trucks and bucket loaders to move gravel from the stock pile.
Leaders from both camps praised the U.S. and Iraqi engineers for working together to build a critical road while building camaraderie in the process.
| Date Taken: | 02.24.2010 |
| Date Posted: | 02.24.2010 09:55 |
| Story ID: | 45795 |
| Location: | BAGHDAD, IQ |
| Web Views: | 246 |
| Downloads: | 190 |
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