Rebuilding piece by peace

Soldiers on mission to build a better future for war-torn country

Chris Rosenblum

While helping to fix Iraq’s todays, Command Sgt. Maj. John Jones often meets its tomorrows.

Jones, from Julian, is with the 56th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 28th Division, a Pennsylvania Army National Guard unit deployed last fall. The senior enlisted adviser to the brigade commander, he visits soldiers in the field daily, checking on their conditions and equipment.

On his rounds, he regularly encounters Iraqi children — each a reminder of work to be done.

“Honestly, the children are the future,” Jones said recently from Camp Taji, just north of Baghdad. “When you see the kids out on your travels, you have to believe that’s the future, and that’s why we’re here.”

Since arriving early last month, the brigade’s soldiers have patrolled desert towns and countryside with Iraqi forces and worked to patch communities torn by six years of fighting. Security may have improved, but sporadic attacks persist. One on Feb. 21 killed Staff Sgt. Mark Baum, of Telford, and seriously wounded fellow brigade members Spc. Keith Maul, of Portage, and Sgt. Matt Gibbons, of Altoona.

“It is still a dangerous country,” Jones said.

Sgt. 1st. Class Matt Nedrow, of Bellefonte, sees it up close with Bellefontebased Company C, 112th Regiment, 2nd Battalion. His 2nd Platoon operates around Nassir Wa Salam, a remote town midway between Baghdad and Fallujah.

“The people we come into contact with vary greatly,” he said in an e-mail. “Most are openly friendly with the Americans. The kids wave and smile; it’s a bad sign if they throw rocks.”

Making progress

They heard Iraq long before they saw it.

During advanced training last November in Louisiana and California, brigade soldiers learned from Arabic speakers acting as Iraqis.

“Sometimes they were the enemy, sometimes community leaders, mostly just citizens,” Nedrow said. “In that training, events are all linked together. When we did something the ‘citizens’ didn’t like one day, there was a protest at our front gate the next.”

In late January, the brigade flew out of Fort Dix, N.J., to Kuwait. First stop in Iraq was Camp Liberty, where orientation consisted of joint patrols with the 21st Division soldiers being replaced.

Nedrow lives in Joint Security Station Nassir Wa Salam, formerly called Camp India. It’s an old Iraqi army compound that looks as if it once could have been a resort. Today, however, the buildings are damaged, the pools stand empty and the sewers don’t work.

On the bright side, Nedrow has electricity and running water in his quarters, and the base has been relatively safe.

“All in all, conditions could be much worse,” he said.

For some of the locals near him, they are. The local electric supply, he said, is “above average” compared to the rest of the country. But the water supply remains dicey, while trash removal and sewer lines are “virtually nonexistent.”

Despite the problems, Nedrow said Iraqis in his area seem pleased by the security provided by coalition forces, the Iraqi army, the Iraqi police and the Sons of Iraq, a “kind of a neighborhood watch with guns.”

“One civilian we spoke to said that’s due to the fact that we have broken the back of the terrorists and they’re grasping at straws; a tribute to the men we’ve replaced,” Nedrow said. “I pray that’s true and we can continue to help this area progress.”

Giving support

Back home, Jones works as a state prison corrections officer.

But in his spare time, he’s a longtime Bald Eagle Area High School assistant baseball coach. His dugout experience has served him well while talking with brigade soldiers only a few years older than his players.

“I can relate to some of the younger kids,” said Jones, who has 32 years with the National Guard.

The brigade has had one memorial; he doesn’t want another. His job, he said, is to keep former carpenters, electricians and police officers “on their toes,” making sure “they’re doing the right things and paying attention.”

Out in the field, driving along narrow streets, relying on interpreters, they’re on their own. At any moment, roadside bombs, grenades or small-arms fire can strike.

“It’s hard to put in words what we see every day over here,” Jones said. “But I can tell you one thing, it’s got to be harder on the families home. ... The families back home really deserve the credit, too, that they support their soldiers over here. Without them, it would be tougher.”

Chris Rosenblum can be reached at 231-4620.