CENTCOM News for the week of 05/08/06

Community Celebrates School Renovation; Iraqi and MND-B Soldiers Provide Supplies to Students
By Army Spc. Rodney Foliente, 4th Infantry Division Public Affairs

BAGHDAD, Iraq — Soldiers from the Iraqi army and Multi-National Division – Baghdad surprised between 400-500 children of Al Hudaybiya Elementary School April 23 with free school supplies during a celebration to mark the completion of the school’s renovations in Bakaria, within the Gazaliyah neighborhood, located southwest of Baghdad.

Troops from 1st Battalion, 87th Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division, visited the school they supported throughout the reconstruction project to distribute school supply packages.

Assisting them were soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 1st Brigade, 6th Iraqi Army Division, in addition to Soldiers from Brigade Special Troops Battalion, 1st BCT, 10th Mountain Division, and from Company A, 448th Civil Affairs Battalion, which is attached to 4th Infantry Division.

“We’re doing this to provide for the educational welfare of the people of Gazaliyah and the children of Al Hudaybiyah School,” said Capt. Mark Taum, a Honolulu native and team leader with Co. A, 448th Civil Affairs. Read more…

Coalition Doctors Deliver Baby Girl at Tarin Khowt Provincial Reconstruction Team Clinic
By Army Sgt. Cain S. Claxton, Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force-Afghanistan

KANDAHAR AIRFIELD, Afghanistan – Coalition medical providers performed an emergency Cesarean-section delivering a healthy baby girl and preserving the 22-year-old Afghan mother’s life at the Tarin Khowt Provincial Reconstruction Team clinic April 23.

“We received a phone call from a U.S. Special Forces medic saying there was a young woman who was in the late stages of her pregnancy with preeclampsia,” said Army Lt. Col. Kevin Johnson, the PRT’s chief surgeon. “They called and asked if I could treat this.”

Preeclampsia, a syndrome which may cause seizures and requires immediate delivery of a baby during the second or third trimester of pregnancy, threatened the mother’s life and the health of the unborn child, the surgeon said.

A C-section was the mother’s only option for delivery. Read more…