Desks for Al-Hussein Elementary School in Umm Qasr, Iraq
As I take my first trip outside of the gates, into a world that I have only read and heard stories about, I have a mixture of emotions, excitement, anxiety and fear of the unknown. I decide to ignore the latter as I am reminded by Command Sergeant Major Drew D. Zelle, of the 2-127 Infantry Battalion HHC out of Appleton, WI., that there is nothing to worry about. He has taken this trip many of times before and has yet to have any problems. I look out the window upon a place that seems to be worlds apart from the one I call home, but still shares some resemblance.
An Iraqi checkpoint
The people here are very friendly and welcoming as we drive through the city of Umm Qasr. Pedestrians greet us with smiles and waves while the street vendors attempt to flag us down to buy sodas or whatever other goods they have to sell. The Iraqi Marines and Police greet us and grant us passage as we enter their check points. Children as young as ten or twelve drive motorcycles in and out of traffic. Buildings made of brick and mortar vary from poorly built and partially demolished to buildings that display a sense of elegance and stand apart from the rest of the community.
A street vendor along the way to Umm Qasr
As we reach our destination and the mechanical gears of the Mine Resistant Armored Personnel Vehicle (MRAP) winds and begins to open the back hatch, I see a building that resembles a place that seems to have been forgotten by the local community, windows shattered, trash on the ground everywhere, even though in walking distance there are several commercial sized dumpsters. As we approach the building, which besides the shattered windows and graffiti written in Arabic on the fading paint of the surrounding three foot wall, seems to be structurally sound, I am informed by our Bi-Cultural, Bilingual Assistant (BBA) whom grew up in northern Iraq near Baghdad, that Iraqis used to take great pride and demonstrated great skill in the construction and design of buildings and this was a mere shadow of buildings from that time.
As the soldiers from the 2-127 Infantry Battalion make sure the building is secure, we await the arrival of the Mayor of Umm Qasr and the school’s principal. We come to find out that there is a family that is living on one of the floors of the school and has locked all of the doors. When the principal arrives he informs us that they are the caretakers of the school and they watch over it during the summer months when class is not in session.
We enter the school and the first thing that we see is the new school desks stacked neatly in an opening in the foyer. We make our way past the desks into an auditorium style room. In here the ceiling fans are broken, pieces of the ceiling are missing and falling off, broken glass litters the floor mixed in with trash and about thirty broken desks scattered about the room. The paint was peeling off the walls and had graffiti on some parts of it. In one corner sat two bright, red, plastic water tanks where a hose ran about two feet from the tank into a pump, which had another hose that ran out of the room into the trash covered courtyard and up over the second floor balcony where the family living on the second floor lives. As we made our way up to the second floor where the family has been living, we encountered a hallway that was blocked by a pile of old desks, barbwire and plywood. We were then informed that this here to keep people out of the area where the family lives.
Barricade set up by family living with in the school
We turn around and began to explore more of the school, as we looked across the courtyard to where the family is staying I could see clothes that were thrown across a rope to dry, another red water tank, a few personal items and a pipe leading into the courtyard that I was informed by the principal is what the family uses as a toilet. I wondered if we would see the family that lives there and a few moments later a little girl who I assume to be the daughter of the family peeked over her balcony to wave to us as.
Daughter of the family that lives in the school
A few of the school desks donated by Camp Bucca
The Mayor and the principal walked us around the rest of the building, including the other classrooms and all of it was in the same condition. Trash everywhere, more broken desks, no air conditioning, broken ceiling fans, no plumbing of any kind in the entire building and no electricity. I have never experienced a school in this condition or any other building that is actually occupied by people. This trip was bit of an eye opener for me, because it made me even more grateful for all the things that I have in my life.
Staff Sergeant Litersky listening to 50 Cent’s “In the Club” on the child’s cell phone
Camp Bucca continues to return to Umm Qasr to help the citizens there take charge and improve their living conditions. Regardless of if you agree or don’t agree with our involvement here it becomes irrelevant when see the good deeds that are being done here and the appreciation by the citizens here of Umm Qasr is an added bonus.
Click here for a gallery of pictures from the visit to Umm Qasr.
Oct 14, 2009 at 11:36 a.m.
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'Lord, hold our troops in your loving hands Protect them as they protect us Bless them and their families for the selfless acts they perform for us in our time of need. Amen.'
Oct 6, 2009 at 2:51 p.m.
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I am proud of our service men and woman I will support them as they are doing what they were ordered to do. Come home soon all of you and thank you for what your doing.
Sep 16, 2009 at 11:18 a.m.
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This is my second tour. I arrived back in the states in 2006, and then redeployed for a second time recently. I have noticed a definate change in Iraq since my last visit. I've talked with several Soldiers who go over the wire often. Even though Iraq still has its problems, the Iraqi Police and security forces are taking care of it themselves. For the most part, there seems to be peace throughout this war-torn country. The Iraqi people have earned a much needed "peace" in thier lives. I hope it lasts long after we've left. Good reporting SPC Morrow.
Sep 15, 2009 at 8 p.m.
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"STORIES ABOUT spat-upon Vietnam veterans are like mercury: Smash one and six more appear. It's hard to say where they come from. For a book I wrote in 1998 I looked back to the time when the spit was supposedly flying, the late 1960s and early 1970s. I found nothing. No news reports or even claims that someone was being spat on.
What I did find is that around 1980, scores of Vietnam-generation men were saying they were greeted by spitters when they came home from Vietnam. There is an element of urban legend in the stories in that their point of origin in time and place is obscure, and, yet, they have very similar details."
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editori...
(Note: the author served in Vietnam.)
Sep 15, 2009 at 12:03 p.m.
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Well said hkeat05!
Why do people think it is Okay to turn a blind eye to what is going on in the world? It was not okay to leave Iraq the way it was. Are some of you the same people who think the Holocaust didn't happen as well? Not trying to compare the two just making a point that we can't ignore horrible things going on throughout the world. Sure we could spend some more time on our own soil but then again even our most unfortunate people still have more than most people in countries like Iraq.
Sep 15, 2009 at 10:06 a.m.
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I love how so many people attack this war and say Iraq didn't attack us so why are we there? Besides WWII when Japan attacked us, not one war we have been in involved us yet we fought anyways. My husband and brother are both over there and I couldn't be more proud of our servicemen. SSG Litersky is my brother and as you can see in the picture above, he is seeing what we are doing over there and the changes we are making. This is his 2nd deployment and until he tells me we aren't making a difference, we belong over there. Thank you Spc Morrow for keeping us informed!
Sep 15, 2009 at 9:52 a.m.
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You and your company's service and dedication are appreciated.
Sep 14, 2009 at 9:43 p.m.
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I don't believe anyone posting here holds any ill will towards our service people.
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They should be applauded for serving their country. As a veteran myself, I know they are following orders, it's their job.
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It is our leaders that have caused this horrific loss of lives, and a price tag that future generations will curse us for.
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Bring our people home!
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Bring all our equipment back too!
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Thank you!
Sep 14, 2009 at 5:38 p.m.
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some of these posters are probably the same kind of ilk that spit on our troops when they returned from Vietnam. You should be ashamed of yourselves. I am sure that the school was probably the site of some lurid and heinous acts, like when Saddam's sons were torturing the Olympic soccer teams in torture chambers on campus when they did not win, do you really think they treated children any different?? I for one am glad Saddam and his evil spawn are gone, you can claim it was is an unjust war all you want, but the citizens of Iraq are much better off with out Saddam and so is the rest of the world.
Sep 14, 2009 at 5:11 p.m.
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so tell me do you who don't agree with US policy support our young men and women deployed? It makes me sad to think that people may not support our men and women no matter what their believes are. They are only doing what they have signed up to do.
Sep 14, 2009 at 4:37 p.m.
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The US Policy is NOT my policy.
Bring our people, and our money home.
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Our Dept of DEFENSE is deployed in a foreign country that we are not at war with!
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This is morally and fiscally outrageous!
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Let's rebuild America, not Iraq.
Sep 14, 2009 at 4:19 p.m.
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mpalm1968, what lurid and unnecessary speculation.
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I have wanted our troops to come home for five years running, but I support everything they are doing to rebuild Iraq. sannio -- it looks as though the building is relatively intact despite Umm Qasr (a port on the Gulf) being one of the more intense battles of the 2003 invasion, but it clearly has been neglected as a school.
Sep 14, 2009 at 2:55 p.m.
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to answer your question sannio, there most likely were raped young girls hanging from a cieling. To SPC Marrow, thank you for your service.
Sep 14, 2009 at 1:55 p.m.
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Disagree all you like with U.S. policy. That's your right. But these men and women we sent to Iraq have nothing to do with making policy. They do their duty under difficult circumstances, which is why we honor them. If they can do a little good along the way, great.
Sep 14, 2009 at 11:46 a.m.
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A Co and all of the WI 32nd I am proud of all you are doing! Stay safe and hurry home!!!
Sep 14, 2009 at 11:05 a.m.
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I disagree with the USA being in Iraq, and none of these stories are going to change my mind. Doing "good deeds"? What did that school look like before the USA invaded the country?
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