IRAQ: SOLDEIRS OF US. 588 ENGINEERS DESCRIBE THEIR YEARLONG SERVICE IN IRAQ AS "TREMENDOUS"

Record ID: 648533

  • Title: IRAQ: SOLDEIRS OF US. 588 ENGINEERS DESCRIBE THEIR YEARLONG SERVICE IN IRAQ AS "TREMENDOUS"
  • Date: 19th March 2004
  • Summary: (U6) BAQUOBA MILITARY BASE, 65 KM NORTH OF BAGHDAD, IRAQ (MARCH 17, 2004) (REUTERS) 1. WIDE OF U.S. SOLDIERS OF INCOMING 1/6 FIELD ARTILLERY 0.07 2. TRAINING ON ASSAULT RIFLES 0.13 3. VARIOUS OF U.S. SOLDIERS TRAINING (5 SHOTS) 0.41 4. SOUNDBITE (English), 1st SERGEANT SINGH OF THE INCOMING 1/6 FIELD ARTILLERY, SAYING: "Most of my soldiers are young soldiers never experienced to stop environment. I am pretty sure with a forced stand and the day to day operation with the stress and the climate and everything they are going to go through some tough times, but, like all American soldiers, we are formed, we are standard growing and we have resolve." 1.02 5. SOUNDBITE (English), 1st SERGEANT BONILLAD OF 1/6 FIELD ARTILLERY, SAYING "The biggest milestone that I can see in the near future is the elections that are due to be in June sometime. And that are the elections that will give authority back to the Iraqi people. For our unit and our soldiers the biggest issue that we face is the continuing threat of the insurgency in the terrorism that still exists." 1.30 6. U.S. SOLDIERS CHATTING AND MILITARY VEHICLE IN FOREGROUND 1.37 7. CLOSE-UP OF TWO U.S. SOLDIERS CHATING 1.41 8. CLOSE-UP OF AMERICAN FLAG ON U.S. MILITARY UNIFORM 1.46 9. SOUNDBITE (English) LTC STEVEN L. BULLIMORE, COMMANDER OF TASK FORCE 1/6 FIELD ARTILLERY, SAYING: "On one block you are conducting offensive operations, actually going in a house to take down terrorists -- dangerous business, fire is often used. On the next block, you are in the city council, working with the city council on rebuilding Iraq, making decisions, empowering them to govern entire country. On the third block you are handing out soccer balls or medicines to children and doctors, all at the same time with the same soldiers. There is no switch. None of us has a switch on the back of our head and we are all human beings, so that will be a challenge to be able to shift from offensive operations to peace-keeping operations to possibly humanitarian operations all in the same time, all in close proximity. That is the biggest challenge in my mind." 2.45 10. U.S SOLDIERS OBSERVING MINUTE OF SILENCE ON SOULS OF FALLEN SOLDIERS (3 SHOTS) 3.01 11. SOLDIER PUTTING ON HELMETS 3.14 12. SOUNDBITE (English) MAJOR OWEN OF THE OUTGOING 588 ENGINEERS BATTALION EXECUTIVE OFFICER SAYING: "It has just been a tremendous year in terms of activity here in the area we are operating in. I think also about the 11soldiers that we have lost due to, being killed in action, so in the price they have paid, were not being forgotten and we will certainly be carried on with what we are doing here now." 3.36 13. U.S. SOLDIERS AT THEIR BASE 3.41 14. U.S. SOLDIER IRONING CLOTHES 3.45 15. U.S. SOLDIER PACKING BAG 3.49 16. SOUNDBITE (English), SERGEANT 1st CLASS COLLINS OF THE 588 ENGINEERS BATTALION COLLINS, SAYING: "When we first got to Baqouba, here, the children were not going to school, pretty much there was chaos at fuel stations. It was a lot of chaos and since then, the thing that impresses most is when we do patrols now I can see low kids actually going to school, carrying books and playing, doing what children do. People are actually walking in the streets now at noontime, when we first got here there was not a lot of populace out and now seems like people have a sense of freedom and movement and they do not fear so much moving around, and opening little stands. I see a big change since we have gotten here." 4.35 17. U.S. SOLDIERS MOUNTING TRUCK (2 SHOTS) 4.55 18. U.S. MILITARY VEHICLE DRIVING OUT OF BASE (2 SHOTS) 5.15 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 3rd April 2004 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: BAQOUBA, IRAQ
  • Country: Iraq
  • Reuters ID: LVAPXXWIM7J824U8XYKG8TDEUCK
  • Story Text: Soldiers of the U.S. 588 Engineers describe their
    yearlong service in Iraq as "tremendous".


    On the eve of the war anniversary on Iraq soldiers
    of the outgoing 588 Engineers Battalion are getting ready
    to handover authority in Baqouba, north of Baghdad to the
    1/6 Field Artillery, to a unit recently arrived from
    Germany and comprising around 300 soldiers.

    The battalion has been deployed to Baqouba since the
    fall of president Saddam Hussein in last April.

    "It has just been a tremendous year in terms of
    activity here in the area we are operating in. I think also
    about the 11 soldiers that we have lost due to, being killed
    in action, so in the price they have paid, were not being
    forgotten and we will certainly be carried on with what
    we are doing here now," said Major Owen, 588 Engineers
    Battallion Executive Officer.

    Soldiers of the outgoing battalion said the area have
    changed a lot since they first arrived in as people are now
    feeling more secure to move around.

    "When we have first got to Baqouba, here the children
    were not going to school, pretty much there was chaos at
    fuel stations. It was a lot of chaos and since then,"
    Sergeant 1st Class Collins of the 588 Engineera Battalion
    said.

    "When we first got here there was not a lot of populace
    out and now seems like people have a sense of freedom and
    movement and they do not fear so much moving around, and
    opening little stands I see a big chance since we have
    gotten here," he added.

    The outgoing battalion are conducting daily patrols
    together with the new unit and raids in preparation for a
    handover of duties and to familarise it with the area.

    "Most of my soldiers are young soldiers never
    experienced to stop environment. I am pretty sure with a
    force stand and the day to day operation with the stress
    and the climate and everything they are going to go through
    some tough times, but, like all American soldier, we are
    formed, we are standard growing and we have resolve", said
    1st Sergeant Singh of the 1/6 Field Artillery.

    The 588 engineers have been in the region for over a
    year. After several months of training and waiting in
    northern Kuwait, they crossed into Iraq at the start of the
    war and set up in Baquba. They had been scheduled to leave
    several months ago, but - as with most units - security
    concerns and the situation on the ground forced extension
    of their tour of duty.

    Baquba, 65 km (40 miles) north of Baghdad, is in a
    largely Sunni Muslim area and is a hotbed of resistance to
    the U.S.-led occupation. U.S. forces have mounted major
    operations in and around the town to capture insurgents and
    quell resistance.

    Roughly 140,000 troops, many from the Germany-based 1st
    Armored Division, will depart Iraq this spring after a
    one-year combat tour. Replacing them are about 110,000
    soldiers from the States and from the 1st Infantry Division
    in Germany.
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