JOINT SECURITY STATION SALAAM, Iraq – Progress in Multi-National Division - South, was evident June 8.
Soldiers of Battery A, 2nd Battalion, 20th Field Artillery Regiment, 41st Fires Brigade “Renegades,” have packed their equipment in preparation to hand over Joint Security Station Salaam in the Province of Wasit. Battery A is on schedule to be out of the JSS this month.
“Obviously there are a lot of logistical concerns,” said Capt. Drew Narcum, a Newtown, Connecticut native. “We have to get our stuff out. They get their stuff in. But most of it is just us doing a hand-off.”
In the hand-off, Narcum was sure about what some of the Iraqi Army’s key challenges would be. “Communication is always an issue with them,” he said. “They don’t have the same equipment we have, so command and control is a little harder for them. We’re trying to get them spun up on running a good (command post).”
Managing officers of the move-out are focused on making sure the Iraqi Army can complete their mission once the battery leaves. But the logistical side of that also means taking interest in some of the most plain concerns of any human, not just any Soldier.
“They’ve asked us for a couple things,” said Spc. Rollan Mead, a Soldier from Cincinnati. “More port-o-potties for them, and we’re trying to get things together for them so when we leave, they have water and they have electricity."
Even though the operation to hand over the station is moving along swiftly, the Soldiers, both Iraqi and American, are still conducting their mission.
“At the same time (as moving all the equipment out) we’ve still got to maintain security of this place, just in case something happens,” said Sgt. Robert Stitham, a Boston. native. “The biggest thing right now is just maintaining security.”
