CAMP COOKE, Taji Iraq— For the children of Iraq, just staying alive is a challenge.  Just as with any other child, education is the key to their future.  As the children of the Ibnal Bitar Primary School in Taji prepare for another school year, the school is once again facing a major obstacle...lack of money for school supplies and other educational materials.  This was a wall that the 39th Brigade Combat Team wanted to help take down.

 “We did a survey down at the village with the schools and asked them what they needed,” said Chaplain Capt. Patrick Moore, of the brigade’s 1st Battalion, 206th Field Artillery Regiment.  “They needed stuff from big things like generators, air conditioners, heaters, and water coolers to school supplies…especially notebooks.”   Once again, the civilian backgrounds of the Soldiers in the 39th BCT proved to be an asset for the Brigade, and a blessing to the Iraqi people.

“We have several educators in the battalion that coordinated with their schools and fellow teachers,” Moore said.  “Throughout the summer, some of them, plus their kids, have been collecting school supplies.”

 The mention of the shortage, resulted in notebooks, pencils, markers, glue, constructions paper and a wide variety of other much needed materials.   “The University of Arkansas at Fort Smith sent a large donation of supplies,” Moore said.  “Various organizations in Russellville, Ark. sent a lot of supplies.  There’s a lot of supplies waiting in Arkansas being consolidated together from our battalion area…Russellville, Paris, Dardanelle, Morrilton and even in Little Rock that are [about] to send a bunch of stuff.”

 Moore, who pastors two Methodist Churches in Glenwood, Ark., said the generosity of the people of Arkansas opened the door for his battalion to deliver some goodwill before school begins on Sept. 15.   “Taji village is right outside my battalions area of responsibility,” he said, “so we have adopted the village.  We want to develop relationships with the villagers to find out what’s going on, to see if we can help them, to find out if there are bad folks there.  The more relationships you can build the better off the relationship between Iraqis and the [Multi National] forces are, so school is one of the prime opportunities.”

 The Ibnal Bitar primary school, an all girls’ school, is one of three educational institutions in the village.  Moore said they received a lot of attention when the Multi- National Forces initially arrived, but hadn’t heard from anybody in over nine months.“So we thought it was important for them to receive the first batch of supplies,” he said, “to let them know that were committed to this.  We’re going to try to help as much as possible.”

 Now with donations in hand and a school in need of assistance identified, all the 206th FA needed now was a method to deliver the goods before school started.  With their battalion’s resources fully tasked on security, stabilization, and combat operations, they looked to the Iraqi National Guard (ING) to lead the way on the humanitarian mission.   “It has been helpful to be able to develop these relationships, because you don’t want to go in there without adequate force protection,” Moore said.  “A lot of times it’s hard to get the American resources that you need to go run and do a school project mission.”

 The 206th FA, which trains Soldiers from the ING’s 307th Battalion, was already prepared to accompany the men on a dismounted patrol through the village.  Staff Sgt. Shawn Buffalo, a Jacksonville resident who helps train the ING at Camp Cooke, said it was a great opportunity for them to be involved.   “When the children see these guys act with discipline and self control, it gives them some heroes to look up to, which is something in short supply around here,” he said.  “For them to go in there and do the patrol in their presence means a lot when they actually go in town and give out goods to the schools or the children and things like that, that’s outstanding.”

 The donations effectively served a dual purpose, providing the children with more than just the materials necessary to grow intellectually.  The image of an Iraqi face doing good things to help stop the violence, which has plagued their nation for so long, potentially provides hope for a positive future Moore said.“The more that we put an Iraqi face on this the better off we are, and the ING helps do that,” he said.  “We want to begin to transition any help that we have through the ING face, so the villagers see this is not just the Americans, it is their own countrymen trying to help them out.”

Buffalo, a full time Guardsmen who works as a training noncommissioned officer for the 39th Support Battalion in Conway, Ark. said he felt good being able to help the kids. “It was a good mission,” he said.  “I’m sure the kids in the school really need it.”