BASRAH, Iraq – !e employees at the Basrah International Airport now have 20 brand new laptops, desks, chairs and a variety of o"ce supplies thanks to U.S. Division-South’s Emergency Response Program.

Valued at $30,000, the new equipment is part of a computer lab project initiated a year ago by Farida Samano, the USD-S Women’s Initiative Advisor.

“It’s very exciting for them,” said Samano, from Phoenix. “!is computer lab is a wonderful opportunity for so many employees, especially for those who have no computer skills and those with no access to

computers.”“Overall, it’s to encourage them to

use computer technology which will be bene#cial for their business by expediting their (airport) work process,” said Samano.

Samano, who has been providing career enhancement training to the women employees at the airport and other venues in Basrah, saw the need for the computer lab to meet today’s demand for computer skills, but had encountered certain obstacles.

“At the time, it took too long to approve it because of other important projects,” Samano said. “!en when the 36th ID took command and saw my projects, (they)pushed them right away.”!e good deed extends to providing

computer and software training for airport

employees according to Sta$ Sgt. Francisco Estrada, with the 350th Civil A$airs Command from Pensacola, Fla., attached to the 36th Inf. Div.

“!is falls into the (equipping) portion of our objective for Operation New Dawn,” said Estrada. “Currently the Basrah International Airport is behind in international standards as far as the way they do things… because of a lack of equipment.”

According to Estrada, small civic-action projects for the Iraqi people could be expected to continue.

A ribbon-cutting event is scheduled for a later date once the lab is fully operational, according to Samano.

Estrada said, “I’m glad to be here and have a positive impact on the Iraqi people.”

Public Affairs Officer Lt. Col. Eric N. Atkisson Deputy PAO Capt. Brian Melanephy Command Information OIC 1st Lt. Adam J. Musil Editor Sgt. 1st Class Merrion LaSonde Print NCOIC Staff Sgt. Chanelcherie DeMello Layout & Design Sgt. Jason Kaneshiro Writers and Photographers Sgt. James Kennedy Benjamin, Sgt. David A. Bryant, Sgt. Thomas Kappus, Sgt. Raymond T. Quintanilla, Sgt. Jeremy Spires, Spc. Eve Ililau

KARBALA, Iraq – Joint Security Station Hussayniyah was o"cially transferred to Iraqi government authority in a ceremony held May 14.!e 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, who has operated from

the base since 2010, relinquished its responsibility to the 33rd Iraqi Army Brigade who will use it for its future operations.

“With this transition ceremony, the security forces of this land assume an even larger part of its security and stability,” said Lt. Col. Gregg Athey, commander of 1st Squadron, 3rd ACR. “My Troopers and myself are honored and humbled to be a small part of this signi#cant act.”

U.S. forces established JSS Hussayniyah in 2005 as a forward patrol base. Since that time, the purpose for the base shifted to that of a joint base for U.S. forces and Iraqi forces to work together and to support the Karbala Provincial Reconstruction team.

In his speech to the Soldiers and guests present at the ceremony, Athey described details of the many successes in the region.

“Truly great things have been achieved in Karbala, to include

1,126 civil capacity projects valued in excess of $198 million U.S. dollars,” he said. “In fact, more than $50 million dollars were spent on electricity distribution alone while $30 million dollars were spent on public water infrastructure, including the renovation of two sewage treatment plants.”

New courthouses, schools, and roads now exist throughout Karbala province as a result of these same PRT projects.

“!e U.S. presence has de#nitely been bene#cial to the people here in Karbala,” said Col. Reginald E. Allen, commander of the 3rd ACR. “As I have said, I believe that the Iraqi security forces are fully capable of providing security to the mid-Euphrates area and to Karbala.”

Iraqi security forces assuming the base will #nd it equipped with containerized housing units, a complete dining facility, a covered equipment maintenance area and a sound suppressed, indoor shooting range for weapons training.

“Today’s ceremony marks yet another step forward in the strategic partnership between Iraqi security forces and U.S. forces,” said Athey. “Make no mistake, the transition of this patrol base, from USF to ISF, is part of the planned and agreed upon drawdown of USF scheduled to be complete by December of 2011.”

TALLIL, Iraq – !e sound of an air compressor and the smell of grease #lled a dimly lit bay while mechanics wearing cover-alls concentrated over their work.!ree Soldiers hovered near a heavy

equipment transporter vehicle (HET, like a semi-truck) and trailer, connecting the interface cable.

“!e plate is upside-down and all bent up,” said Spc. Luis Reyes, a wheeled vehicle mechanic from Dallas with Field Maintenance Company, 215th Brigade Support Battalion, 3rd Advise and Assist Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division, pointing at a round port about the size of a man’s #st, “so the cable won’t go on right. I’m just gonna take it o$ so we can replace it.”!e mechanics chatted as they worked,

moving quickly from project to project. !e Soldiers keep their skills tuned and attitudes positive by learning from each other and boosting their morale with camaraderie.

“Our guys work really good together,” said Sta$ Sgt. Michael Witherow, the motor sergeant and native of Chattanooga, Tenn. “I’ve been in other motor pools where they don’t get along, but I don’t have any of those issues.”!e mechanics love their jobs, and

love working on tough projects. !e relationships developed between the team helps them tackle big tasks.

“I love the bond I have between the other mechanics and the ful#llment of getting a big job done,” said Spc. Kerry Jones, from Sarasota, Fla. “I like working on the HET because it’s the biggest thing we have.”

Many mechanics develop a knack for #xing things at a young age. From taking tools from their parent’s garage and #xing the family lawn mower, to getting a radio for Christmas and promptly taking it apart to see the inner workings, some people are born and bred to work with their hands.

For Jones, he found his niche for tinkering as a teenager, and developed a taste for the Soldier’s life through basic training, advanced individual training and

upon his arrival at 3rd Brigade.“I’ve wanted to be a mechanic since I

was 16, but I didn’t think I’d be doing it for the military,” he said. “I love the military, though. I think I like the honor of the job mostly.”

Working with military vehicles makes the job unique compared to being a mechanic in a city.

Witherow said his Soldiers work through problems among each other, so he usually puts an experienced specialist with a new private so one can shadow the other.

“!ey want to improve themselves by learning their jobs and by doing things themselves,” he said. “!e privates look up to the specialists and want to do what they do. !ey want to take their place.”

Spc. Dante Battle has been with the company since 2008 and recently went to the promotion board for sergeant, earning “promotable” status.

He owns a paint and body shop in Los Angeles, so he had never considered enlisting until his brother said he caught “the bug.”

“My family’s been in the military since the 1800’s. I had never really considered it, but that commercial kept coming on and I’d go into a trance,” he said. “My country

is important to me.”All over the GREYWOLF Brigade,

Soldiers become leaders and later non-commissioned o"cers. !e Creed of the Noncommissioned O"cer guides men and women through their careers and beyond, shaping the way they conduct their lives at work and at home.

Battle said he intends to mold his Soldiers from the ground up, supporting and developing them into strong individuals and mechanics.

“Hopefully I can take part in teaching them their life lessons, you know, like personal #nance. I want to support them whether they want to be family oriented or workaholics,” he said. “!e Army values are not just for the Army, but can be applied to life too.”

Battle stood over the back-end of the trailer with the cable issue, using a voltmeter to test the electricity levels reaching the taillights. Nearby, Jones sat in front of the trailer’s massive wheel-well, scraping the grime from a hubcap.

“Me and Jones work really well together,” said Battle. “If we don’t know how to do something, we’ll #gure it out. !at’s what I love to do, is help subordinates and leaders with anything I can.”

BASRAH, Iraq – Eric Martinson began his military career during the spring of his senior year in high school. He was a cavalry scout with the Louisiana National Guard. After high school, he worked for a grocery store, hoping to one day make it to the managerial level, while continuing to take college classes.

Martinson soon had to make a di"cult choice, continue towards a college degree or stay at the grocery store. He opted to delay college and begin a steady climb up the managerial ladder at the store.

In 1990, the young Michigan native met his future wife and married her two years later. She was o$ered a scholarship to go to college in Texas and the two made the move from Louisiana to Texas where the Martinsons continued their education at Stephen F. Austin State University.

“I went through the ROTC program that junior and senior year,” said Martinson, now a major with the Texas National Guard. “In ’97, I graduated and commissioned as a medical service corps o"cer.”

Now serving in Iraq as a strategic planner for United States Division-South, Martinson embarks on yet another journey that will challenge his mind as he begins the process of applying to the School for Advanced Military Studies (SAMS).!rough this, Martinson hopes to be an even sharper

instrument for the Texas Army National Guard in solving problems the guard may face in the future by cultivating his intellectual ability to solve complex issues.

Martinson, who holds several military occupational specialties, said it was through this mobilization tour he found out about SAMS.

“I never really heard of the school until I joined the 36th Infantry Division for this deployment,” Martinson said. “!en I met Maj. Herrera who had just returned as the #rst Texas Army National Guard graduate from SAMS.”

Maj. John Herrera, the deputy planner for USD-S, explained the overall mission of the school and what Martinson was in for if he got accepted.!e school selects “top notch o"cers” and trains them for one

year to solve complex issues on strategic and operational levels, Herrera said. After completion of the school, o"cers are placed usually at a division or corps level where their skills are put to use.

Admission into the SAMS program is a selective process involving a Board nomination from the National Guard Bureau, a written exam, and a phone interview.!e graduate level course requires a lot of time and sacri#ce,

Herrera said, adding that students have roughly 150 to 175 pages of reading material per night. It also includes countless research papers and a thesis.

“!e advantage that Maj. Martinson has is he is almost doing his in reverse,” Herrera said. “He is seeing all of the products and the types and caliber of what is expected of him. So knowing that

I think he is going to do very well.”Unlike the typical active duty o"cer, Martinson will not have

that opportunity to go through an Intermediate-Level Education (ILE) program prior to SAMS. It is there that potential SAMS candidates begin their research and read up on curriculum classes.

“I know he is going to be #ne,” Herrera said. “I look forward to going to his graduation.”

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