Battery A, 1-10 FA Regt. Holds Clinic in Fursan

By Spc. Ben Hutto
3rd Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division

FORWARD OPERATING BASE HAMMER, Iraq – Soldiers from Battery A, 1st Battalion, 10th Field Artillery and the 489th Civil Affairs Battalion, a reserve unit from Knoxville, Tenn., currently attached to the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, held a coordinated medical engagement at a school in Fursan, a small village east of Baghdad, Feb. 4.

Combat medics were able to help 175 people by providing minor medical treatment and assistance.

“Every week we attend the Sabah Nissan Council meeting and Fursan was brought to our attention by the representatives there,” said Capt. Chas Cannon, from Moultrie, Ga., commander of Battery A.” Their representative expressed their needs to us and we were happy to help.”

In addition to providing medical assistance, Battery A also handed out 80 backpacks filled with school supplies to children there.

The schoolmaster was pleased with the supplies his students received.

“Captain Cannon is very good to us,” he said through an interpreter. “We appreciate this visit very much. He has always helped the people in this area with their needs.”

According to Capt. Josh Beard, from Opelika, Ala., the civil-military operations officer for 1-10 FA, school supplies are badly needed in the Mada’in Qada.

“As much as the bag drop affects the kids, it really affects the teachers just as much,” he said. “An important need is filled through these bag drops. Essential tools such as pencils and paper are needed so that teachers can focus on teaching and not on acquiring supplies.”

Beard also explained that the Sabah Nissan Council and Sons of Iraq are directly responsible for the success of 1-10 FA’s operations in the area.

“Since the council has organized, it has been much easier to set up operations like this one,” he said. “The council has done a great job organizing these events and getting the people who need help down to them. They are really doing all the hard work and letting us know where to be. The Sons of Iraq have stepped up and have provided security at all of these operations. All of these people are working with us to help secure their communities.”

Cannon believes the operations are part of the reason Battery A has been able to find insurgent caches. In the past two months, Battery A has received information leading to the destruction of 10 weapons caches.

“We’re building trust with the locals,” he said. “They feel much more comfortable with giving us and the Sons of Iraq information because they know we are both trying to help them.”

The 1-10 FA is assigned to the 3rd BCT, 3rd Infantry Division, from Fort Benning, Ga., and has been deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom since March, 2007.