Soldiers from the New Mexico National Guard 515th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion, stationed in Belen before arriving in Iraq in August, are helping the Iraqi Army prepare for the United States’ drawdown there next year.

Captain Bradley Bock, the battalion’s company commander, said the Mosul-based battalion has been working directly with the Iraqi Army and others to prepare them and the United States military for when the United States begins leaving that country in a couple of months.

The “soldiers are an essential part of this process,” he said, and every “soldier’s skills are being utilized to their maximum.”

He also said the soldiers have been traveling throughout Iraq, visiting schools and preparing future missions.

“Our soldiers’ presence is felt everywhere, including church services where we play instruments and use our voices to create choirs,” he said.

Major Jeffery Whorton, the battalion’s chaplain, has taken soldiers on tours of the 5th Century Saint Elijah’s Monastery. He also presided over a Catholic mass there.

Whorton celebrating a mass at St. Elijah's Monastery.

“There have been hundreds of pounds lost, muscles gained, books read, church services attended, foreign languages learned and personal lives improved,” he said. “I think we are learning to appreciate what we have been blessed with in our lives. Ironically, it takes a long journey to a faraway place to clearly see what is in front of you each day.”

The soldiers, remaining healthy and in good spirits, have also taken time for flag football and barbecues, even cooking up some New Mexican cuisine.

This page was published on November 5, 2009 at 11:44am and is filed under Archive.