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FORWARD OPERATING BASE KALSU, Iraq (January 2, 2008) - With
small additions like street lights, a sense of safety is returning
to the streets of two Iraqi communities.
More than a month after street lights were installed in Arab
Jabour and Buaytha, south of Baghdad, local citizens and soldiers
of the 3rd Infantry Division's 2nd Brigade Combat Team, from Fort
Stewart, Ga., are enjoying the peace of mind the lights have
brought to the area.
Yassin Majid Yassin, a member of the concerned local citizens
group that helps to provide security in Arab Jabour, said the
street lights are just the first step in securing the night. He
said he hopes that in time, he and his fellow citizens will be able
to take on a larger role in securing their neighborhoods at night,
for a role now performed largely by soldiers of the 1st Battalion,
30th Infantry Regiment.
Army Spc. Dwight Arceneaux, a combat medic with Headquarters and
Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion, 30th Infantry Regiment, said
the street lights have made night patrols a little safer, because
anyone out after dark now is easily identifiable, a fact that
Yassin and his fellow concerned citizens find comforting. Arceneaux
added that the lights also help him and his fellow soldiers
recognize which vehicles should or shouldn't be out on roads after
curfew.
Yassin agreed with Arceneaux, adding that nighttime visibility
also has meant that roads can stay open in the daytime, as those
who would plant roadside bombs no longer have darkness to hide
their activities.
"If you were to ask all the people around here, they would tell
you the same thing: The lights have made things safer," he
said.
As coalition forces push further south into areas where al Qaeda
has been pushed, concerned local citizens like Yassin will take on
a larger role in defending their communities, military officials
said.
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