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USAF advisors show Iraqi army leaders base operations

  • Published
  • By Senior Master Sgt. Trish Freeland
  • United States Air Forces Central-Baghdad
TAJI, Iraq --  One of the largest military bases in Iraq sits north of Baghdad in the rural community of Taji. Taji Military Base is home to the country's only national-level maintenance and supply depots. The base was once a military center of excellence in the Hussein regime. Today Taji's streets are lined with battered desert palm trees that provide a glimpse of the base's former beauty. Potholes grab drivers by surprise. Weeds have taken over gates and fences. Some days the base lacks water and electricity.

But amid signs of problems, signs of progress are everywhere. Iraqi contractors are hard at work building new structures to house incoming units. Dining halls, once plagued with unsanitary conditions and food shortages, are now bustling with the laughter of well-fed soldiers enjoying a cup of tea as they share war stories. Iraqi platoons assemble for morning drill, proudly waving their nation's colors.

The new Iraqi Army has charge of the base and is assisted by dozens of advisors supplied by the U.S. Army. An unsung handful of those advisors, are Combat Airmen from the U.S. Air Force assisting the Iraqis with everything from water and fuel distribution to management of dining facilities.

Air Force Lt. Col. Jeri Harvey is deployed to the Coalition Army Advisory Training Team, a division of Multi-National Security Transition Command-Iraq. She's the senior U.S. advisor to the Iraqi Army Taji Location Command commander, Staff Brigadier General Abdul Mahady Sharaque Sabah. She and her eight-person team live and work with the Iraqi Army, sharing everything from security concerns to power outages. Harvey's focus has been to get the general's staff better prepared to help him operate the base.

"What I've seen since I've been here is that everything goes to the general. I'll be in his office and they'll keep coming in and interrupting with this and that problem and there are all these officers just sitting around," said Harvey, a St. Louis, Mo. native.

"I think we're making a lot of progress with his officers and getting them to start doing more. He shouldn't have to direct traffic all the time," she said.

"Colonel Harvey and I are working just like one team, one family," said Sabah. "We meet everyday and sometimes 2-3 times a day and we fix all our problems."


Creative solutions

One problem that concerns both leaders is the availability of clean water. A unique solution was found by the previous advisory team and continued by Harvey's team. Tech. Sgt. Collin Adams, a former utilities advisor, deployed from Hill AFB, Utah, found the answer to the clean water shortage sitting in a warehouse awaiting destruction.

"We were able to get a hold of multiple caches of chlorine seized by the Marines when they were doing their sweeps," said Adams. "They were going to dispose of it."

Instead of destroying the chlorine, Adams put it to use purifying water.

"My main focus was I needed to get disinfected water for the Iraqis and my teammates."

Harvey's team has continued the practice of using chlorine captured from insurgent caches to help the Iraqis disinfect the base water supply.

Heavy construction

There are currently five major construction projects underway at Taji Military Base and numerous smaller projects. They are overseen by 1st Lt. Anthony Behney, a civil engineer deployed to the CAATT from F.E. Warren AFB, Wyo. He's the advisor to the Iraqi Army base engineer on all engineering matters. He walks the grounds of each site daily with Iraqi engineers ensuring local sub-contractors are completing building construction according to standards of safety.

"They're building dormitories for the Iraqi Army that will hold and feed 2000 basic trainees at a time," said Behney. "They're also building a rifle range that consists of seven separate ranges and a 1200 meter 50 cal range."

The way ahead

Sabah, Harvey and their respective teams are only three months into a year-long partnership, but both leaders understand what needs to happen to achieve the common goal of a strong, efficient and independent Iraqi army.

"I believe the days and months that go by will prove the Iraqi Army is a good army. They just need more training and more equipment," said Sabah. "As they get involved in all the missions that are going on, they can do their job as well as the government needs them to."

"The focus right now is to get logistics off the table. We've had to pay more attention to that," said Harvey. "It's a priority for MNSTC-I and CENTCOM and goes a long way to helping the Iraqi Army be fully operational on their own."