Engineers Build Road, Help Locals in Southern Baghdad
Soldiers
of the 458th Engineer Battalion, attached to the 1st Cavalry Division,
build a road and improve structures for Iraqi citizens before heading
home to Pennsylvania.
By U.S. Army Cpl. Bill Putnam
122nd Mobile Public Affairs Detachment
CAMP AL-SAQR, Baghdad, Iraq, Dec. 21, 2004 — Engineers working with the 1st Cavalry Division's 5th Brigade Combat Team have begun working on a road through farming areas in Baghdad, Iraq, that will cut a patrol's commute time down to almost 10 minutes.
The road-building project, dubbed "Operation Hardball," started about a week ago, said Capt. Pat Marsh, an engineer project planning officer assigned to the 5th Brigade Combat Team.
"This road will do a lot of good down here," said Marsh. "Now it will take about 11 minutes to get to River Road instead of almost 30 minutes."
The new road, running through 1st Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment's area of operations, runs east-to-west from the Tigris River to Highway 8, a distance of almost seven kilometers.
Before the road was started, a patrol from 1-8 Cavalry's Company D had to take either one of two routes to reach River Road that added minutes to their reaction time to rocket attacks or Improvised Explosive Device explosions.
"This road will do a lot of good down here," U.S. Army Capt. Pat Marsh, 1st Cavalry Division |
The purpose of the road is really two-fold, said 1st Lt. Matthew R. Henderson, a platoon leader assigned to Company B, 458th Engineer Battalion. First, he said it helps the patrols from Company D, 1st Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, move around their patrol areas. Second, it'll help the locals move around.
The road, built by engineers from the 458th Engineer Battalion, will be about 30 feet wide and made up of gravel provided by a local contractor, Marsh said. Around him a road grader and bulldozer leveled a section of the road where it made a sharp S-curve around a canal.
It took almost three hours on the morning of Dec. 9, but the
grader and dozer leveled the road, straightened it and knocked down a few palm trees to make the road easier to drive.
Part of one mud-brick home lived in by a couple of farmers and their families ran into the road. Marsh and the engineer platoon from the 458th Engineer Battalion's Company B supplied building material for a new house.
One of the more alarming things for Marsh about the house was the roof. It was simply canvas tarps held down by bricks and rocks. Part of the supplies Marsh brought in was tin to build a proper roof.
"Even though we had to bring a road in here - which will help them too - we had to help them," Marsh said.
The males in the family were also compensated $100 for losing part of their front yard and a small mud storage hut.
"A $100 will go a long ways here," Marsh said.
The original intent was to build the farmers a new barn with the materials, Marsh said. But then they took a look around and realized something.
"They were going to have a better barn than a house," Marsh said.
"Is this building ready? Because I'm going to tear it down today," Marsh asked one of the farmers through a translator.
The road-building project is also the last mission for the Army Reserve engineers before they head home to Pennsylvania and demobilize, Henderson.
Out of all the places he's been around the Baghdad area, Henderson said this mission ranks as one of the best.
"It's helping the Soldiers [and] it's helping the locals," he said.