Baghdad, Iraq- One of the issues that has helped with reclaiming the country of Iraq has been the members of the Sons of Iraq.
These are groups of civilians that have helped man checkpoints, provided intelligence and information, and assisted in security from every possible angle.
Part of the way the Government of Iraq has been able to keep these brave citizen soldiers and security forces has been to begin to pay them for their services. This turns the brave volunteers into professional security forces, and has helped increase their pride and their morale.
The Government of Iraq has worked with the United States and Coalition forces, and recently made the third payment to their Sons Of Iraq security force members. This was done at the Yusifiyah Army Patrol bases on January 14th.
Since November the Sons of Iraq have transferred control of their units from the Coalition, who first began to pay these brave individuals last fall, to the Government of Iraq who have continued with the security payments since December of 2008.
Working with the members of the Iraqi Army and National Police, the members of the Sons of Iraq have began to feel like part of the solution, and to assume a professional level of ethics, morale and pride that is a credit both to their unit, and the Nation of Iraq.
