MULTI-NATIONAL DIVISION – BAGHDAD

Media Release

HQ-MND Baghdad

Camp Liberty

Baghdad, Iraq

APO AE 09344

IRAQNA

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

RELEASE No. 20060821-04 August 21, 2006

Sgt. 1st Class Brent Hunt

1st BCT PAO, 4th Inf. Div.

CAMP TAJI, Iraq – Nestled on the outskirts of Baghdad lies a tiny U.S. Army camp dubbed Patrol Base Courage,
where many Soldiers of 1st Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, call home.

As the 1st BCT Soldiers move into their ninth month of a year-long deployment in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom,
they often visit the base to get their trucks fixed, some hot food and cool liquids, take a shower or just get a much needed break
from the 12-hour patrols they conduct in the stifling August heat of Iraq.

To help out the “Regulars” of 1st Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment, a group of Soldiers from Company E, 4th Support Bn.,
attached to 1st Bn., 22nd Inf. Regt., make life a little easier for the infantrymen while they are at the base.

CAMP TAJI, Iraq – Sgt. Theophilus Sipley, truck driver, Company E, 4th Support Battalion, attached to 1st Battalion., 22nd Infantry Regiment,
1st Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, guides a forklift driver as he unloads a pallet of Meals Ready to Eat
on Patrol Base Courage Sunday for Soldiers who patrol western Baghdad.

(U.S. Army photo by Sgt. 1st Class Brent Hunt, 1st BCT PAO, 4th Inf. Div.)

“We come out here for a week at a time and then another team comes out here for a week to replace us,”
said Sgt. Jennifer Hartman, a three-year Army veteran who finds her self running the dining facility.
“We feed more than 350 Soldiers a day, and we can sit about 80 at a time in the dining area.”

In a field setting, a dining facility normally serves two hot meals a day with a Meal Ready to Eat for lunch.
Soldiers usually have to stand while eating their meals because there is no formal dining area,
but Hartman believes everyone deserves a decent place to eat.

“Some of these guys who do the 12-hour patrols only come in here once a day. We serve three hot meals a day
so everyone has a chance to get one while they are here. They deserve it.”

If a hot meal is not enough, Soldiers can jump in the shower to cool off and clean up at the base,
which uses a Reverse Osmosis Water Purification Unit to pump water into the shower trailer.

CAMP TAJI, Iraq – Sgt. Pedro Jauregui, water purification specialist, Company A, 4th Support Battalion,
attached to Company E, 1st Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, tests the water Monday
on a Reverse Osmosis Water Purification Unit (ROWPU) used on Patrol Base Courage for showers and the dining facility.

(U.S. Army photo by Sgt. 1st Class Brent Hunt, 1st BCT PAO, 4th Inf. Div.)

“We are the only ones who come and do this,” said Sgt. Pedro Jauregui, water purification specialist, Co. A, 4th Support Bn.,
attached to Co. E. “This system is capable of producing 600 gallons an hour, although we only go through about 6,000 gallons a day.
We use about 4,000 gallons for the showers and 2,000 for the dining facility daily.”

The water purification system pumps water from a local stream and takes it through a series of three filters before it is chlorinated.

“I’m going to stay out here for the duration of the deployment just in case something goes wrong with the ROWPU,” Jauregui added.
“If this thing breaks down, there are no showers for the Soldiers and the DFAC has to go to bottled water to clean their pots and pans.”

CAMP TAJI, Iraq – Sgt. Ross Rutledge, Bradley Fighting Vehicle mechanic, Company E, 4th Support Battalion,
attached to the 1st Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division,
changes the tire of a humvee Monday that was hit by a roadside bomb on Patrol Base Courage.

(U.S. Army photo by Sgt. 1st Class Brent Hunt, 1st BCT PAO, 4th Inf. Div.)

In addition to serving Soldiers with hot chow and showers, the Soldiers move tons of supplies out to remote bases such as Patrol Base Courage.
They take supplies out to Soldiers who patrol the area so they spend less time driving back and forth to Camp Liberty
and more time keeping Baghdad safe.

“We are out here every day, resupplying bases like this,” said Staff Sgt. Mark Overturf,
convoy commander of one the logistical package convoys who is on his third OIF tour. “Today, for instance,
I thought we were going to have to come here, go to another patrol base, supply them and then come back here again.

“Instead, we decided to combine supplies on one truck and put a disabled vehicle, which we were going to have to come back for,
on the empty truck,” Overturf added. “This will save us a lot of time and it will be a whole lot less dangerous
because we don’t have to be out on the road as much today.”

CAMP TAJI, Iraq – Sgt. Mark Sanchez, truck driver, Company E, 4th Battalion, attached to 1st Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment,
1st Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, straps down a truck to a wrecker on Patrol Base Courage Sunday.

(U.S. Army photo by Sgt. 1st Class Brent Hunt, 1st BCT PAO, 4th Inf. Div.)

When it comes to being on the road, there is probably nothing worse than a broken-down vehicle, especially in Iraq.
To help Soldiers out with keeping their patrols rolling, mechanics from Co. E are on the base in case a vehicle needs a little tender loving care.

“Whenever one of the 1-22 vehicles breaks down, we can fix it here,” said Sgt. Ross Rutledge, a Bradley Fighting Vehicle mechanic.
“We get about two or three vehicles a day in here.”

CAMP TAJI, Iraq – Staff Sgt. Mark Overturf, petroleum supply specialist, Company E, 4th Support Battalion,
attached to 1st Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division,
unloads a pallet of bottled water with a forklift on Patrol Base Courage Sunday.

(U.S. Army photo by Sgt. 1st Class Brent Hunt, 1st BCT PAO, 4th Inf. Div.)

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