Welcome To The District Six Website

 

Visit to Iraq

Palace Compound

101st Airborne

Iraqi Police

Turning Over Vests

Kurdistan

Kuwait

"Hundreds of thousands of American servicemen and women are deployed across the world in the war on terror. By bringing hope to the oppressed, and delivering justice to the violent, they are making America more secure."
 -President George W. Bush

 

 Turning Over Vests

With nearly 20 tons of gear on it's way to Iraq, we hand carried several vests to present to the Salah ad-Din Provincial Governor Hamed Hamoud al Shakti and Police Chief General Mazher Taha Ahmad. These vests were to be used by their body guards. Before the ceremony, we had a meeting with General Ahmed where Colonel Steele discussed with the General how the vests and other gear would be distributed. It was an interesting discussion.

Over the 30+ years of Saddam's tyranny, the Iraqi people had lost the ability to be self-sufficient. As a result, the primary goal of our forces in Iraq is to teach the people to function on their own. The challenge of doing this is a big one. Colonel Steele will be using this gear that the Iraqi's as a tool to help teach accountability and responsibility.

The day before these pictures were taken, General Ahmad narrowly escaped assassination when one of his body guards convinced him not to ride in his regular car on a convoy trip from Bayji. He convinced the General to ride in a different car. On the way back an IED blew up the car he normally would have been in and killed four of his bodyguards.

Click on picture to enlarge

Ready For Delivery

This picture shows the vests in the back end of the Humvees shortly before we left Camp Speicher for the ceremony.

Meeting with General Amhad

Colonel Steele, Lt. Colonel Holden, Ron Sawl and Brian Burry and I meet with General Mazher Taha Ahmad to explain that the vests will be distributed by the Colonel as the police department meets certain goals.

Sample Vests

This is a picture of the sample vests we brought. They were given to the Provincial Governor Hamed Hamoud al Shakti and Provincial Police Chief Mazher Taha Ahmad for use by their bodyguards.

Vests for The Chief

This is a photo of Salah ad-Din Provincial Police Chief General Mazher Taha Ahmad receiving the ballistic vests brought to him by Operation Soldier. With our team is Colonel Michael Steele.

Salah al-Din Governor Hamed Hamoud al Shakti Receives Vests

This is a photo of the Provincial Governor Hamed Hamoud al Shakti receiving the ballistic vests from Operation Soldier. The man on his left is his chief bodyguard.

Holden, Amhad and Steele

Provincial Police Chief General Mazher Taha Ahmad takes a picture with the senior leadership of the 101st Airborne, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 187th Infantry Regiment Lt. Colonel Curtis Holden and Colonel Michael Steele.

General Mazher Taha Ahmad's Son

The young son of Salah ad-Din Provincial Police Chief General Mazher Taha Ahmad trying on a protective vest.

 

Not paid for at taxpayer expense