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Habur Gate

Photo By Sgt. 1st Class Zane Craig | Sgt. Donovan Whyte, a cook with the 77th Sustainment Brigade's Logistical Task Force,...... read more read more

HABUR GATE, IRAQ

05.12.2011

Story by Spc. Zane Craig

109th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment

By: Spc. Zane Craig

JOINT BASE BALAD, Iraq – After more than eight years of presence in Iraq, Americans have certain images and impressions of the country fixed in their consciousness. While these impressions certainly reflect an increased awareness of an exotic land, Iraq is not entirely an expansive, featureless desert or flat farmland in the land between the rivers.

U.S. forces continue to have a presence in the farthest corners of the country, which includes the high mountains of Kurdistan along the Turkish border to the north. Habur Gate hosts fewer than 20 soldiers, but it is a site of huge strategic importance both for the U.S. military and for the country of Iraq.

“We provide signal support, accommodations and basic services to our soldiers, as well as to convoys, civilian employees and additional service members on missions in the area. We also track fuels that comes in through Turkey for coalition forces,” said 2nd Lt. Gerard Sullivan, commander of the 77th Sustainment Brigade, 310th Expeditionary Sustainment Command’s Logistical Task Force, and a Vernon, N.J., native.

“We’re providing safe, efficient and effective support of theater sustainment,” he added.

The primary strategic importance of Habur Gate to U.S. forces in Iraq is as the point where a large percentage of the petroleum products we use enters the country from Turkey, Sullivan said. It is also a primary route for the importation of civilian consumer goods for the Iraqi people, especially motor vehicles.

Nesting in a lush, picturesque valley far from the violence of the insurgency, Habur Gate presents unique challenges and opportunities for the soldiers deployed there.

“We’re in a location with mountains on either side of us, so the weather is extremely changeable,” Sullivan said. “It cancels a lot of convoys and helicopter flights, making travel difficult.”

Indeed, anyone attempting to reach Habur Gate could experience a wait of up to two weeks at Contingency Operating Site Marez in Mosul to secure a seat on a convoy or helicopter. According to Sullivan, this is no less true now that the helicopter pad was made night operational in early May with the eager assistance of local workers.

“We have a wonderful camaraderie and working relationship with the local Kurds, where we collaborate to provide security and in other areas,” Sullivan said.

Sullivan extended his gratitude to the locals for their unwavering assistance during a recent flood when his whole unit and a contingent of local employees spent an entire day placing the outdoor refrigeration units on concrete blocks. Sullivan said it was a “spontaneous cooperative effort.”

Soldiers at every level interact with local nationals every day during the course of their regular duties at Habur Gate.

“As cooks, we get to work with the locals every day,” said Pvt. Jonard Paduganao, a line chef with the 77th Sustainment Brigade’s Logistical Task Force and a North Plainfield, N.J., native. “We get to exchange stories and that’s why I like being here.”

“It’s a little challenging with the language barrier but some speak English,” said Spc. Christopher Jackson, a rations non-commissioned officer with the 77th Sustainment Brigade’s Logistical Task Force and a Richmond, Va., native.

He added that when you work with someone so closely on a daily basis, you both develop an understanding of what needs to be done to accomplish the mission.

“A good thing about this mission is the sense of responsibility that we have, because there are only so many of us to do what we have to do here and present ourselves well to the locals we see here every day,” said Spc. Horace Austin, assistant motor pool foreman and a District Heights, Md., native.

All of the soldiers and civilian employees live and work in a single, four-story building, known as the marble palace. While the building has some of the services, such as a dining facility and gym, that soldiers stationed on forward operating bases enjoy, it lacks a full-time post exchange and barber shop, relying on intermittent convoys for these services.

“One of the biggest challenges of being deployed, period, is not to become complacent,” Austin said. “Boredom starts to set in, you wonder what’s going on at home. You need to redirect your energy to go from a negative to a positive. That’s the biggest challenge, and we have to draw from each other for that.”

Besides having a close working relationship with the locals, the soldiers of LTF-77 are a small, close-knit group that shuns interpersonal drama out of necessity.

“You know everybody, you know where you need to be, there are no surprises,” said Jackson. “You know what to do and who you’re going to be doing it with.”

“Being up here is challenging, but also rewarding,” said Austin. “We get a lot of high-profile visitors and we try to give them our best, but of course we do our best everyday anyway,” he said.

Command Sgt. Maj. Debbie Schroder, command sergeant major of the 310th Expeditionary Sustainment Command and an El Paso, Ill., native, recently visited Habur Gate during a battlefield circulation where she visits the 310th ESC’s subordinate units stationed throughout the country.

“One of my duties, and one of the things I most enjoy doing, is visiting soldiers,” Schroder said.

During her visit, she also met the chief of the secret police and the customs manager, she distributed water and other provisions in the local community, and she attended a luncheon for local, female business professionals.

“That was kind of unique, because in this culture, I, as a female, can have that interaction, but the male leaders can’t,” Schroder said.

To an even greater degree than soldiers elsewhere, the soldiers at Habur Gate are conscious of the fact that they represent the United States as a whole to the locals with whom they interact on a daily basis.

“Much of my job is diplomacy; as commander, everyone wants to speak with you,” Sullivan said. “As soldiers, we represent the U.S. to these people, and that’s a huge responsibility. Your actions become their impressions of the U.S.,” he said.

As the U.S. military continues to reposture its forces in Iraq, the soldiers of the 77th Sustainment Brigade’s Logistical Task Force at Habur Gate are just beginning their deployment, having been in country less than two months.

“Even as our time here is drawing to a close, we want to reach out to the locals and continue to carry out our mission to the highest standard,” Sullivan said.