Camp Taji units spreading out into the community to build relationships, curb violence

[unhappycamper]

Spc. Chris Eastman, a soldier with B Company, 52nd Infantry, holds back traffic on a road just outside Camp Taji while guarding an empty train that was passing by. The mission was one of several that Eastman and his fellow soldiers had to do that day.


Camp Taji units spreading out into the community to build relationships, curb violence
By James Warden, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Sunday, March 23, 2008

HOR AL BOSH, Iraq — Valentine’s Day wasn’t a very loving time this year for the soldiers of the 1st Battalion, 27th Infantry Regiment.

An insurgent shot one of the soldiers in the elbow that day. Battalion leaders also marked it as the date when they’d push more soldiers out to smaller bases in Iraqi communities — giving them less time in comparatively luxurious Camp Taji.

The events’ simultaneous occurrence was coincidental but indirectly related. Like other units in Iraq, 1-27 is pushing a higher proportion of troops into the community to build relationships that they hope will prevent incidents like the shooting.

Soldiers consider this the battalion’s own minor “surge,” and it comes as the drawdown from the Army’s actual “surge” is forcing units to spread out over more area.

Junior soldiers, though, are less charitable. One NCO sees it as a macho contest between commanders.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=53537