By Sgt. Mike Pryor2nd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division
BAGHDAD — Staff Sgt. Shane Glowcheski is normally a man of few words. Out on patrol, the platoon sergeant with the 82nd Airborne Division is all business, dark sunglasses and an unreadable expression on his face.
But on a recent afternoon, as he described the renovations his unit was helping to make on a girls’ school in the northern section of Baghdad’s Adhamiyah District, Glowcheski’s poker face suddenly lit up with enthusiasm.
“We got marble floors. We got computers. We got artwork up on the walls. We’ve even got gardens. It’s Beverly Hills!” boasted the Rapid City, S.D., native.
Glowcheski and the rest of his platoon from Battery B, 2nd Battalion, 319th Airborne Field Artillery Regiment, have good reason to feel proud about their achievements. With the new Iraqi school year just around the corner, the platoon has six school renovation projects on the verge of completion. Even so, when his deployment began eight months ago, he never imagined he would care so much about a flower garden at a girls’ school, Glowcheski said.
“We’ve done stuff I never thought we would do, let alone be excited about,” he said.
Early this year, the 2-319th “Black Falcons” became one of the first units to push into Baghdad as part of the “surge,” an influx of thousands of troops into Baghdad neighborhoods to improve security and give the government breathing room to get on its feet. They know they are making an impact on this community; one they think will be sustainable. And, in some surprising ways, the community is making a lasting impact on them.
“If you’re only here for six months, you can just say, ‘OK, let me just do my time and go home.’ But 15 months? It’s a commitment. We’re going to have guys who have lived in Iraq longer than they were in the Army before coming here,” said Fayetteville, N.C., native 1st Lt. Larry Pitts, Battery B’s commander.
“It’s hard for the Soldiers and it’s hard for their families back home, but in the long run, with this 15-month, stable operation – not moving around from sector to sector – we’ve been able to provide exactly what the surge was intended to do: security and transition,” Pitts said.
Stabilizing the security situation was the first priority when the Black Falcons moved into the northern portion of Adhamiyah in February and established their headquarters at Coalition Outpost War Eagle, a joint U.S.-Iraqi Army compound straddling the east bank of the Tigris River. The immediate task was to clear the area of hardcore insurgent cells responsible for attacks on Coalition and Iraqi forces. The first few months were a blur of constant foot patrols and nighttime raids, Pitts said.
“In the beginning, the most important thing was to make the people feel secure,” said Staff Sgt. Antonio Alvarado, a squad leader from Edcouch, Texas.
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