thedrifter
03-09-06, 07:17 AM
Two Sides of War: US Soldiers Help Iraqi Orphans
By Nathan Burchfiel
CNSNews.com Correspondent
March 9, 2006
(CNSNews.com) -- U.S. soldiers in Iraq last week delivered hundreds of dollars worth of goods to Iraqi orphans in central Baghdad, according to a release issued by Central Command.
Troops from the 425th Civil Affairs Battalion distributed $500 worth of supplies to the Salhiva Orphanage in conjunction with the Army Corps of Engineers.
"There are two sides to war," Capt. Scott Ginsburg said in the release. "There is a lethal side and a non-lethal side, and obviously our job is to form great relationships with the people."
Ginsburg said handing out donations is "probably one of the best things we do here in Iraq."
Civil Affairs units work with civilian and government leaders in nations with a U.S. military presence. The soldiers help "a host government meet its peoples' needs and maintain a stable and viable civil administration," according to the U.S. Army Special Operations Command, which currently oversees Civil Affairs.
The majority of Civil Affairs soldiers are in the Army Reserves, so they bring skills from their primary jobs as judges, physicians, bankers and firefighters into the field with them.
"They're not the Red Cross in uniform," said Dennis Wilkie, a former Civil Affairs commander and a spokesman for the Civil Affairs Association. "They are soldiers and in Iraq they are, each time they go out, they're in danger just like any other member of the military."
Wilkie said the mission of Civil Affair units is "to get the civilians back on their feet."
By Nathan Burchfiel
CNSNews.com Correspondent
March 9, 2006
(CNSNews.com) -- U.S. soldiers in Iraq last week delivered hundreds of dollars worth of goods to Iraqi orphans in central Baghdad, according to a release issued by Central Command.
Troops from the 425th Civil Affairs Battalion distributed $500 worth of supplies to the Salhiva Orphanage in conjunction with the Army Corps of Engineers.
"There are two sides to war," Capt. Scott Ginsburg said in the release. "There is a lethal side and a non-lethal side, and obviously our job is to form great relationships with the people."
Ginsburg said handing out donations is "probably one of the best things we do here in Iraq."
Civil Affairs units work with civilian and government leaders in nations with a U.S. military presence. The soldiers help "a host government meet its peoples' needs and maintain a stable and viable civil administration," according to the U.S. Army Special Operations Command, which currently oversees Civil Affairs.
The majority of Civil Affairs soldiers are in the Army Reserves, so they bring skills from their primary jobs as judges, physicians, bankers and firefighters into the field with them.
"They're not the Red Cross in uniform," said Dennis Wilkie, a former Civil Affairs commander and a spokesman for the Civil Affairs Association. "They are soldiers and in Iraq they are, each time they go out, they're in danger just like any other member of the military."
Wilkie said the mission of Civil Affair units is "to get the civilians back on their feet."