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Airmen support Iraqi army

  • Published
  • By Francesca Popp
  • CENTAF-FWD News Team
CAMP HABBANIYAH, IRAQ --  Located 55 miles west of Baghdad, Iraq, and sandwiched between Fallujah and Ar Ramadi, Camp Habbaniyah is where a small contingent of Air Force members has called home for nearly six months.

Airman 1st Class Francisco Garcia is the youngest member of the Coalition Military Assistance Training Team at this Iraqi army base in the Al Anbar Province.

Team members advise and help train the Iraqi army. The 20 team members provide assistance that helps ensure the Iraqis learn to become self-sufficient.

It is Airman Garcia's, a native of Kennewick, Wash., job to mentor the Iraqi army and contractors on how to purify water drawn from the Euphrates River. He also helps train Iraqi soldiers how to maintain the base's power grid and generators that support the nearly 4,000 people who live on base.

"I advise the IA (Iraqi army) and other Iraqi contractors on how to do generator service and other basic repairs the right way. I make sure they do what they're supposed to be doing and not leave it to be repaired whenever they want. The same goes for the ROWPU (Reverse Osmosis Water Purification Unit).

"I make sure they are doing the proper maintenance and that they don't contaminate the system so that we can have clean, potable water," said the 2003 graduate of Kennewick High School, who is deployed from the 43rd Civil Engineer Squadron at Pope.

The oversight the Airman gives to mission "contributes by teaching the Iraqis how to do things on their own and teaches them good habits at the same time. I know that eventually the IA will be able to run the whole show on their own, without having to depend on coalition forces to get them out of tough situations."

In the months since Airman Garcia deployed, he has faced many challenges. He and the team have been living within the confines of a neglected base. Habbaniyah has crumbled buildings, overgrown vegetation and is a skeleton of how it used to be. It's been rocked by mortars and small arms fire during the first Gulf War and since Operation Iraqi Freedom began in 2003. During its' heyday, the base was a British run installation from the late 1930s until it was turned over to Iraq in 1959.
Other challenges he's faced is learning the cultural differences of the Iraqi people, overcoming the language barrier, not having standard living supplies readily available and more. Additionally, team members said the insurgents hamper the logistical flow of
supplies and necessities to the camp.

The Airman, who has been in the Air Force for two years, said he's overcome those challenges by being patient and by stepping back, taking a big breath and thinking about it.

"The main challenges (we) are having to deal with is the different ways of doing things and trying to break the half a century long trend of doing things the 'Iraqi way'-- not that it's wrong, but it's not always the best way of doing things," the power production specialist said.

The 22-year-old Airman and the rest of the team agree they are having success in training the IA every day.

"So far it hasn't been as bad as I thought it would be ... it could be a lot worse," he said. As this deployment for Airman Garcia winds down, he said he looks forward to celebrating the holidays with his family. He added that he'll never forget the experiences the Air Force has provided for him and what he has called home since June.