VBC Service Members, Iraqi Scouts Leave Their Mark on Community

By Sgt. 1st Class Ron Burke, MND-B PAO

VICTORY BASE COMPLEX, Iraq – Twenty-five children lined up outside the entrance to Saddam Hussein’s old Flintstone Palace, on Camp Slayer, here, August 2. The boys and girls were split into two groups, each led by a volunteer service member. Maj. Gary Farley, an Iraqi Ground Forces Command Military Transition Team advisor for Multi-National Corps - Iraq, led one of the groups up the winding path to the entrance of the main structure while the other group was led around the palace to the edge of a man-made lake.


Today, the Iraqi Boy Scouts and Girl Guides of Victory Base Complex ventured out to begin a community service project and learn a little about fishing. The organization recently celebrated its one-year anniversary after establishing a scout camp and community to teach valuable scouting lessons and implement new sporting activities for the area’s youth. Over 100 service members take time from their schedules and meet with the children each Saturday.

After Iraq embraced the scouting movement during the British occupation in 1921, its Boy Scout and Girl Guide program became a member of the World Organization Scouting Movement. Due to war and instability, it has been decertified twice by the World Organization Scouting Movement. After its one year mark this past April, the program is only growing stronger.

Inside the main structure of the Flintstone Palace, Farley led the children through the doorway. The children look around, wide-eyed, at the graffiti that has accumulated over the years, and a linguist explained to the children what they were to do.


The Flintstone Palace was commissioned by Saddam Hussein for his grandchildren and modeled after the neighborhood in the Hanna-Barbera cartoon. Over the years, the unused structure has fallen into disrepair in some areas and is covered with graffiti. The scouts’ mission was to beautify the building after learning its history and take a break by fishing from the back porch of the building.

“Maj. Raheem wanted to do something off site,” said Farley, who is from Gowanda, N.Y. “We wanted to show the kids that this place is part of their history and that community service begins by connecting ideas and bringing people together to accomplish a mission,” he added as the linguist finished explaining what was required of the children. Maj. Raheem Falah, a member of the Iraqi Special Operations Forces, and Farley have worked together for several months now, organizing events for the children.

The kids wasted no time grabbing paintbrushes and paint. With VBC service members by their sides, they began white-washing the walls of the palace as other service members took care of the higher areas with rollers.


On the porch outside the palace, the water glistened as the sun slowly drifted west. Small groups of scouts and service members huddled over fishing poles, showing the children how to bait the hooks, swing the poles back and cast the lines. Once the children understood what do to, they began to cast out, disturbing the water’s smooth surface as each baited hook plopped down.

Spc. David Hughes, an ammunition specialist with 2nd Platoon, 664th Ordinance Company, 10th Sustainment Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division, Multi-National Division-Baghdad, and 13-yr old Mohammad picked their spot and were baiting their line.
“I got a 2-yr old back home and I’d like someone to do this with my daughter if the opportunity came up,” said Hughes, a Branchville, S.C. native.


On the edge of the structure that resembled a balcony, Maj. Raheem blew a whistle, signaling that the groups needed to switch places. Children who were fishing eagerly climbed the steps leading to the main building, entered the rounded doorway, and picked up the brushes that their fellows dropped in the pans and began covering the spray-painted walls. Others who were painting now stood at the water’s edge with their eyes fixed on a linguist who explained how to set up their fishing poles as they were picking at the dried paint on their hands.

Back inside the main building, 1st Lt. Jacqueline Zuluaga, an ambulance platoon leader with the 256th Area Support Medical Company, 421st Multifunctional Medical Battalion, 1st Medical Command, attached to MND-B, seemed to be everywhere at once. The Florida National Guard Soldier, who was one of the event’s main planners, was shoving water bottles into the icy depths of a big cooler.


“We wanted the children to paint the palace and clean up the graffiti here,” said the Orlando native. “It’s more for them than for us. Scouting is all about giving back to the community and here they’re doing that and establishing a new footprint. This can empower them to take ownership of their community,” she said.

As the children moved from room to room, they would stop and marvel at the explosion of color on one large wall where Abdul Sajad, an artist, was hard at work painting a mural depicting a summer landscape with flowers and birds in flight.


After both groups had painted and tried their new-found skill at fishing, they lined up outside the rear entrance of the building. Each child came in, dipped their palms in colorful paint, and left their little handprints on the wall.

“The kids need to learn about giving back,” said 1st Lt. Jessica Burton, of the 644th Ordinance Detachment, 620th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion, 10th Sus. Bde., 1st Cav. Div., MND-B. “They can learn to take pride in their work and in their community. These kids weren’t even allowed here in Saddam’s time,” said the New Braunfels, Texas, native who serves the officer in charge of an ammunition supply point.

“The handprints signify them leaving their mark and when they come back they can say ‘Hey that’s my hand,’” said Farley as he watched the smiling children pressing their painted palms on the walls. “I hope this artwork deters any future graffiti,” he added.


Outside the main entrance, the high-pitched squeal of a power drill attracted the scouts. A sign was being fixed to the wall. It read in Arabic and English: “Restoring one place at a time. The Iraqi Boy Scouts and Girl Guides worked to improve this site. Please keep Iraq beautiful. The future of Iraq thanks you.”
“Another group of kids will come next month to continue the painting until it’s finished,” said Farley. Thanks to dedicated service members and the youth of Iraq, the eyesore at the edge of Camp Slayer can be a place of pride for the community that surrounds it.

VBC Service Members Invest Time, Effort to Bring Back Scout Program

By Sgt. 1st Class Ron Burke
MND-B PAO

CAMP VICTORY, Iraq - After Iraq embraced the scouting movement during the British occupation in 1921, its Boy Scout and Girl Guide program became a member of the World Organization Scouting Movement. Due to war and instability, it has been decertified twice by the World Organization Scouting Movement.

Improvements in security have led to a resurgence of scouting thanks a to group of dedicated service members. That group, called the Victory Base Council, is working to get the adults of Iraq to become more involved and, very soon, take over the program they’ve began to build toward recertification.


Since the Victory Base Council established a scout camp and community center here in April 2008, up to 150 service members have come together each Saturday to teach valuable scouting lessons and implement new sporting activities to the area’s youth. Today, the elementary-age children learned about heat injuries and worked with arts and crafts while older children played soccer, volleyball and learned how an airport fire truck puts out fires.


“Today we have a small group,” said Maj. John Crawson, who is the Victory Base Complex base defense operations center supply officer for Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 56th Infantry Brigade Combat Team. Last week the turn-out was large, with 80 children and over 40 adults playing baseball said Crawson.
In one tent, Maj. Ken Broussard, the environmental science officer from the division surgeon’s office of the 1st Cavalry Division, taught the younger children via an interpreter how to spot and prevent heat injuries. “The first thing you want to do is bring them into the shade,” said Broussard, who is from Pensacola, Fla. “You also need to make sure they drink plenty of water,” he continued and on cue, one of the little girls said she was thirsty and she and a few others ran out of the tent to grab water bottles.

When they returned, Broussard finished his lesson by answering the children’s questions and Zaina, 9, raised her hand and said, “You drink water so that it can cool your heart.” Amid the applause, Broussard nodded his approval saying that water helps cool your internal organs.

After the heat prevention lesson, the children moved over to the arts and crafts tent and began painting, coloring and putting together small, wooden model airplanes that were donated by schools in the United States.

“This gives me a sense of belonging and they [the children] accept me and have grown quite fond of the activities that we do,” said Staff Sgt. Kelly Greene, a reservist and supply noncommissioned officer with Alpha Company, 301st Military Intelligence Battalion, Multi-National Corps - Iraq, as she helped with the children’s artwork. “I’ve been doing this since September and it’s a good outlet for me,” said the 5th grade elementary school teacher from Enterprise, Ariz., who is also the Girl Guide program officer for the Victory Base Council.

One table over, Mariem, 5, concentrated on the wheels of her wooden model plane as Maj. Gary Farley, an Iraqi Ground Forces Command Military Transition Team advisor for Multi-National Corps - Iraq, prepared the glue.


“I love to be with the children, compared to 2003, where I just looked at people and they looked at me. Now, I get to interact with them and it’s a lot more fulfilling to see the little ones. They’re so open to new things,” he said as Mariem looked at him for assurance after assembling the wheels. Farley, who is from Gowanda, N.Y., continued, “Sometimes you may not know what you’re doing now, but later on after we leave here, your hope is that these little ones remember the good things that they did and good people helping.”

Amid the shouts from the kids playing volleyball and soccer with Air Force and Army personnel, a high-pitched alarm and the deep rumble of an airport fire engine signaled the next installment of instruction, courtesy of the firefighters from the 447th Civil Engineering Fire Department from Sather Air Base. A geyser of water spewed from the front of the truck and children ran over to get doused while others climbed into the cab of the truck to see what was making all the noise.

“I come because I like the fun and we get to play,” said Mohammed, a 13-year-old Scout, as children’s voices echoed over the fire truck’s public address loudspeaker. “I’ve learned about volleyball and baseball too!” he exclaimed.


Back at the main tent, joy was evident on the faces of the children running around as they tried to avoid the colorful water balloons zipping through the air.
Sgt. Kassidy Fitzwater, a multi-channel system operator with the 146th Expeditionary Signal Battalion, Multi-National Corps - Iraq, was lovingly bombarded with water balloons by the squealing children. After the raid, she walked toward the camp’s flagpoles to mark the day’s closing ceremony. Fitzwater, a resident of Pensacola, with the Florida National Guard, was today’s event coordinator.

“The water balloons were our back-up if the fire truck wasn’t able to show up,” she said as she smoothed her hair back. “I’ve been doing this since January and I’ve seen that we haven’t had to use our interpreters as much because the kids are learning some English,” she said. Fitzwater continued as the children lined up in front of the Iraqi, Iraqi Scout and U.S. flags, “All this makes an impact on the kids because they remember our names and our faces so I intend to keep volunteering until I leave.”


As the sun slowly descended past the tops of the palm trees, the youth of a new Iraq lined up shoulder to shoulder to say their scout motto while the service members who took a little time from their day gathered some distance behind them. Afterward, happy children and smiling service members streamed out of the camp, back home and back to work after taking another step toward helping to build a successful Iraqi scout program and a brighter future for Iraq.

I Guess It Isn't Always Dust & Haze...

As I woke up this morning, I checked the clock. It read 0734 and I promptly rolled over for a few more moments of sleep. Once in a while, on certain Sundays I can sleep a little longer and I relish it. I kicked myself out of bed after a few moments of stretching and got dressed.

When I opened the door to my CHU, I couldn't help but squint out at the blazing brightness. There's always a tinge of haze or dust in the air around here. The wind kicks it up. Today, however, was very clear with a brilliant blue sky and light winds. I was marveling at the clarity...it reminded me of home.

Yesterday was nice too. Perfect for the story I had the luck of covering for MND-B. My commander, SSG Edson (a broadcast journalist), Osman (our interpreter/translator), and myself ventured out to see how some people here on Victory Base Complex work with the youth of Iraq to help rebuild a Boy Scout/Girl Guide program. It was great! I saw and interacted with kids ranging in ages from 3 years old to 17 years old. I'll post the story and photos once it's released by MND-B.

So, today I was bringing SGT Risner to the Reserve retention office and we had the windows down and the radio blaring out "Rocket Man" by Elton John. I felt like I was somewhere in L.A. or Miami with the nice weather and tall palm trees swaying in the wind.

But, alas, all good things must come to an end. The wind, which got stronger as the day waned, brought in more dust and now, like days before, we have a beige haze that engulfs everything. It's like someone turned down the contrast on a photo.

So much for that beautiful weather. It was nice while it lasted and I'm glad I got to revel in it while it lasted. I'm actually missing the big, fat, dark clouds that precede a good thunderstorm that we see in Houston. Clouds rarely appear here. So I guess it isn't always dust and haze...once in a while we'll enjoy a jewel of a day. Pretty soon we'll endure the heat...that's another story altogether.

---And look out! Less than an hour later, that haze and dust moved out and the clear sky dominated the landscape again. Now, you can see all the stars twinkling and it's cooling down....time to head to my CHU.