Soldiers Help Baghdad Governor With Ceremony
Forward Operating Base Hammer, Iraq- A ceremony was held recently to announce the latest bridge across the Diyala River. The Governor of Baghdad Province, Hussein Tahan was on hand February 17th to cut the ribbon and declare the bridge open for service.
Last May an extremist truck bomb went off and damaged the old bridge. The new bridge runs right next to the old one. The old bridge is still in use but needs to be repaired. With the advent of the new bridge, the old bridge can now be shut down and extensively repaired.
“Security has improved, it is a great day,” said Governor Tahan during his bridge opening speech. The governor of the Baghdad province went on to talk about several projects that the current government will be working on.
“This will be the year that many great services happen for our country,” said Tahan. “I have been authorizing many contracts for projects recently, and are more projects yet to come,” said Tahar.
“This bridge repair project was done entirely by Iraqi Efforts,” said Lieutenant Colonel Ryan Kuhn. “We merely provided support and security, the Iraqi people are getting better at taking charge of repairing their land,” said Colonel Kuhn.
Lieutenant Colonel Kuhn is the deputy commanding officer from 3rd Brigade Combat Team, and spoke about the cooperation and leadership of local Iraqi citizens in bridge construction.
Kuhn stated that the construction of the bridge would allow many more agricultural projects to occur now that traffic across the Diyala River can resume at the same level.
