Chapel staff bolsters morale, mission focus from a unique perspective

Servicemembers stationed in Baghdad explore the Victory over America Palace during a tour of historic buildings within Victory Base Complex, Jan. 29. The Sather Air Base Chapel runs tours of historic sites on a regular basis. Visit the chapel for more information on the tour and combat fishing. (U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Levi Riendeau)

Chapel staff bolsters morale, mission focus from a unique perspective

A lone tour guide stands in a ball room waiting for tour patrons to catch up the main tour group at Victory Over America Palace, Baghdad, Jan. 29. The Sather Air Base Chapel runs tours of historic sites on a regular basis, but time is running out as U.S. forces return portions of Victory Base Complex back to Iraqi military forces. (U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Levi Riendeau)

Chaplain assistant bolsters morale, mission focus from a unique perspective

Published Feb. 2, 2011
By Tech. Sgt. Jason Lake
321st Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs

BAGHDAD -- While the chapel staff here offers worship services and a seemingly endless supply of steaming hot coffee, there's one thing that sets it apart from all the rest.

As the 447th Air Expeditionary Group's only chaplain assistant for the hundreds of servicemembers here at Sather Air Base, Staff Sgt. Angela Ward provides a historic glimpse of why servicemembers are here in Iraq.

Every few weeks, the five-year Air Force veteran who is serving on her first deployment takes servicemembers on a cultural tour around Victory Base Complex to see some of former ruler Saddam Hussein's nearby palaces and political party getaways.

"Out here I really get to do my job - boosting and maintaining the morale of the troops out here," said Sergeant Ward, who was five years old when the United States and coalition partners expelled Saddam Hussein's forces from Kuwait during Operation Desert Storm in 1991. "The tour gives people information you wouldn't normally get, or sit down and read about."

In 1997, Saddam Hussein ordered construction of Victory over America Palace, to celebrate his "victory" against the United States following Operation Desert Storm. The presidential palace, which connected to a smaller Victory over Iran Palace, was slated to open sometime in 2003, but was permanently closed after U.S. and coalition forces bombed the palace in the opening stages of Operation Iraqi Freedom the same year.

While most the palace remains intact, servicemembers on the chapel's palace tour catch an up-close and personal glimpse of the effects of a Joint Direct Attack Munition bomb.

"Victory over America Palace was one of 70 palaces in Iraq," Sergeant Ward told more than a dozen servicemembers on the chapel's tour Jan. 29. "This is where the JDAM punched through - here in the grand ballroom, which is nicknamed the football room by American troops because its 100 yards long and 55 yards wide."

Standing beside a pile of twisted rebar and marble rubble, Sergeant Ward shared factoids, cultural information shared from local Iraqis and even some of the urban legends about Saddam Hussein.

"[Saddam] was a germophobe," Sergeant Ward told servicemembers while standing beside one of the very few remaining murals of the deposed ruler. "He would take a bath two or three times a day. [Supposedly] one of Saddam's idols in life was Adolf Hitler."

For people like Chief Master Sgt. James Wood, a Reservist deployed here from the 56th Aerial Port Squadron at March Air Reserve Base, Calif., the tour through places like Victory over America, Flintstone Palace and Baath Party House reinvigorated their sense of mission as U.S. forces continue to mentor, train and advise their Iraqi partners in a post-Saddam era.

"From a professional standpoint, it made me feel that the mission here was justified and that we needed to help those who could not help themselves," explained Chief Wood, who serves as the 447th Expeditionary Logistics Readiness Squadron chief enlisted manager. "Personally, it gave me additional motivation to complete our mission."

As U.S. military forces continue to draw down and return sections of the greater Baghdad area to Iraqi military forces, Sergeant Ward said opportunities to see historic cultural sites near Baghdad international airport will soon fade away.

"Baghdad is never going to be the way that it is right now," she said. "Whatever things you think you want to do later here, you should go and do it now because you might not get the opportunity to do it later."

Lt. Col. Jerry Gonzalez, a 15-year Air Force veteran, remembers the decade in which the U.S. Air Force and coalition partners enforced no-fly zone overwatch in the northern and southern portions of Iraq after Operation Desert Storm. The colonel deployed from the 21st Logistics Readiness Squadron at Peterson Air Force Base, Colo., encouraged Airmen to get out and see historic sites like the palaces to gain a better appreciation for what has been a 20-year mission for the U.S. Air Force.

"I thought the tour was a culturally rewarding experience and would highly recommend our service members deployed here to take every opportunity to visit these historic sites," said Colonel Gonzalez, a Killeen, Texas native. "It gave me a broader perspective and greater appreciation for what we and our coalition partners did here and the significance of establishing and building a lasting strategic partnership with Iraq."