Tuesday morning, I woke up at 0300 so I could travel down to Al-Faw in far southern Iraq to escort a humanitarian mission.

The Americans I rode with were the 4th DBE BiTT. That means they are a Border Transition Team that supports the Iraqi Ministry of Interior Department of Border Enforcement — 4th District. Now you know why the military abbreviates it.

The city of Al-Faw rests between the Persian Gulf and the Shatt al-Arab Waterway. For the last two years, the salinity levels in the water have steadily risen. It’s gotten so bad, it seems they would get better water strait out of the gulf. The Government of Iraq doesn’t seem to have the infrastructure to support a pipeline or even consistently trucking water down to the people of Al-Faw. I read of cities in North Texas every year that have their wells dry up and people end up having to move away because the city isn’t big enough to tap into another area’s water supply. This situation is not unique to Iraq. My personal opinion, this is a big deal for the GoI for two reasons: 1. Their people all over Basra Province are suffering and they are compelled to help; 2. Al-Faw has huge strategic value for Iraq because it is Iraq’s 19-miles of coast-line. This was a piece of land constantly fought over during the Iran-Iraq war. If the Iraqi people leave this land, they are worried the Iranians will take it over.

This was a mission where Americans were designed to stay out of the way. We coordinated getting the donated food, but it was up to the Iraqi Security Forces to distribute the food. We followed their trucks with their food down to Al-Faw. We watched them coordinate 300 meals for 400 families. That proved a little bit of excitement. At one point there were some females pushing their way and crowding one of the Iraqi Generals. I never thought his life was in danger, but I know our security guys were nervous about our colonel attending the event. Side note on why I love security whether they are infantry or artillery. In this war, combat arms is combat arms. I made a comment about how this was the first time I’ve really noticed the separation of where men and women sit. One of the guys said, “I like it that way, makes it easier.” I gave him a curious look and he explained, “I know where my potential threats will come from.” From his point-of-view, it made total sense.

I was impressed with how the Iraqi’s handled the overflow. They got the names of all the families who got food. They are planning a second trip soon, and this way they can assure families who didn’t get help will get assistance. The meals consisted of some common sense items. My favorite was the water filter system, but I’m not sure if it will really help with salt.

It was a good day where I actually saw Iraqi’s helping Iraqi’s. It was a relief because on the way home, I didn’t have to think of a way I had to spin it.

This post is tagged 17th FiB, 17th Fires Brigade, 343rd MPAD, 4th BiTT, Good Iraq News, Humanitarian Drop, Iraqi's helping Iraqi's