22The Military Engineer L January-February L 2010 Military News (continued) gineering assistants and vehicle main- tainers. Weve come together as a good team. An Iraqi-owned and operated busi- ness has a contract with the Armys 13th Sustainment Command (Expedition- ary) to repair the containers, but base of?cials realized they needed military muscle to get the restoration area ready in time. Because of the tight timeline and the need to get these containers repaired to support the responsible drawdown, military engineers were called in, Maj. Jajliardo said. Using the equipment that we have—provided by the Army and Air Force, in addition to some of the heavy equipment owned by Army companies in Task Force Eagle—we all came together to tackle this very large project. For the deployed engineers, who normally have an outside-the-wire mis- sion working on local forward operat- ing bases, this project offered a change from their normal work day. In order to complete the mission, the airmen were required to learn new skill sets and broaden their knowledge of other spe- cialties. (Contributed by Senior Airman Andria J. Allmond, USAF, 332nd Air Expedition- ary Wing Public Affairs) Iraqi Army Opens New Center for Engineers With the opening of a new Joint Tac- tical Operations Center (J-TOC) on K-1 Military Base in Kirkuk, Iraq, engineers with the 12th Military Engineer Regi- ment, 12th Iraqi Army (IA) Division, have a place to work with their U.S. mil- itary partners. With both units working in the same building, it allows the two to plan missions, training and patrols together on a regular basis, explained one IA of?cer. Because this unit was formed as recently as September 2008, it is still adjusting to the many responsibilities expected from an engineering unit, the of?cer explained. These duties can include providing engineering support to the 12th IA Division., designing and planning new projects, disposing of explosives, providing force protection, constructing forti?cations, and any- thing else requested by the divisions commander. However, with the new J-TOC, the responsibilities placed on the IA can be shared with their U.S. partners. Accord- ing to Lt. Col. Scott Petersen, USA, Com- mander of the 65th Engineer Battalion, the new J-TOC will help make conduct- ing missions and training much easier by allowing both sides to participate on an equal level. It also makes it easier for the 12th Field Engineering Regiment (FER) to request assistance when they need to borrow equipment, such as bulldozers, from the U.S. Because the U.S. military in Iraq will soon be reducing its presence, this helps us to offer as much support to our Iraqi Army engineer brethren as
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